Pbenjay's Blog

Gite Chez Marie-Claire has a delightful second floor living room with a huge TV and a wall of bookcases and big comfy furniture;  It was a cosy comforty refuge from the cold wind and rain.  I tucked myself into a huge armchair, legs propped up on an equally large  ottoman, computer on lap and happily playing Scrabble online.  I DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE!  But we gotta eat….

And it’s still raining, yuk!  Well Stacey and I have umbrellas but our coats are still wet from this afternoon.  Being typical New Yorkers we wonder out loud if we can order in Chinese food.  Apparently not.   Having already read about and experienced first hand the not-so-reasonable price of dining out in Old Quebec, we searched online for someplace nearby and not outrageously expensive.  That’s pretty much an oxymoron since if it’s nearby it would be in the heart of the Old City (where we are) and therefore in the heart of tourist center of Quebec.  So it was to the Canadian YELP we turned.

Les parapluies de Vieux Québec

Reading the reviews was a bit disheartening since the majority of them noted the overpriced and only average food and often slow service.  There was one place we considered but when we read the reviews we were shocked that they were still in business.  Don’t the restaurant owners in Old Quebec ever check YELP?  Maybe they’re not looking for repeat business because there’s such a steady influx of tourists.  We finally settled on a restaurant named Parmesan restaurant which was close enough and we headed out delighted that it wasn’t raining.  We didn’t even get to the corner when the drops came down 😦

Restaurant Parmesan graciously welcomed us and we stepped out of the rain into  a warm and lively and busy restaurant.  We had a great corner table affording us a view of what was going on and the intimacy that comes from sitting at a table just a ways apart from the others.  There  were wine bottles with candles stuck in them, strings of red peppers  and garlic cloves hanging everywhere, red walls and even an accordian  player!

Bella Musica

Needless to say the combination of music and martinis made us forget the rain and we had a great time and ate a lot.

Martinis Make Everything Nice

Bon Soir!