The menu offers many Quebec specialties, including caribou and Lac St. Jean meat pie, as well as other fine choices such as lobster. All meals are available as either a complete dinner including entree, soup, mail meal, dessert, and coffee or tea, or a la carte. Prices for the complete meal are according to the main meal selected. Vegetarian options are available, but the selection is limited. An extensive wine list is available to accompany the meals.

The lunch menu is a good option for those who are more budget-conscious but still wish to dine in this fine restaurant.

Aux Anciens Canadiens is well known and reservations are quite necessary during the busy tourist seasons.

You can feast on Tortiere or Lac St. Jean Meat Pie, eat pork and beans as only a Canadian makes them, or if you are Alex and Al you can find something that resembles the food back home to satisfy your hunger.

We stopped here on a Sunday afternoon at about 2:00pm and were able to order from their fixed luncheon menu. For 14.75,

you get to have a biere (blonde or brun) or wine, I chose the blonde which was a Bolduc, soup which was cream of mushroom, (for a supplement you can have onion) a selection of entrees which included meat pies, salmon or the beef (for an additional $4) dessert and coffee. If you want to eat game, the Lac St. Jean Meat Pie has elk in it. There are also entrees which include bison, caribou and pheasant.

You will have the impression that you have stopped at a friend’s home for dinner. The atmosphere is warm and homey. There are displays of pretty glass and crockery in every nook and cranny and two fireplaces in the dining room where we ate. The tables have blue plaid tablecloths and the servers are dressed in traditional costume. Alex was the only child in the restaurant, so he got extra special treatment.

Our waitress Julie

served the rolls from a large basket; you pick it she puts it on your bread plate. My mushroom soup was thick and creamy with chunks of mushrooms. The meat pie was served with red cabbage, boiled potatoes, peapods and delicious sweet compote. In case you have never had meatpie it is ground pork cooked with spices and served in a rich lard pastry. Al and Alex both had the beef, which was roasted with gravy and served with au gratin potatoes and pea pods.

For dessert without a supplement you can choose tarte au sirop d’erable or upside down pudding with maple syrup sauce. I had the sugar pie which though not as good as my mother’s was enough to send me on a sugar high. Al had the fudge pie with raspberry coulis

and Alex had vanilla ice cream with his raspberry sauce on the side. After one taste, it was no longer on the side. We finished with coffee and serious smiles on our face.

Located just around the corner from the Chateau Frontenac, this really is a dining experience without being too touristy.