Snails and rabbit poutine at Le Lapin Sauté, Québec City

Snails and rabbit poutine at Le Lapin Sauté, Québec City

I was in Québec City last week for work. On Tuesday night I went into Lower Québec and ate at Le Lapin Sauté. A small but lively suburban restaurant in Québec.

Le Lapine

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Dedicated to all the rabbits raised for food

Not dedicated to the vermin covering Australia

Here comes Peter Cottontail…

You may have guessed by the name that the specialty of this restaurant is rabbit. The rabbits are reared specially for eating.

The environment of Lower Québec is delightful. Even at the end of February, there was still a Christmas feel with star decorations up. There was snow everywhere making the scene even more beautiful.

I dislike snow and I hate ice. I fell a few times after leaving the restaurant. Readers who don’t know me may think I was inebriated, however, I do not consume alcohol beverages. No, I was wearing inappropriate footwear. If you want the details head over to my weekly diary blog “My Thoughts and Stuff” and you can read the tantalising details.

The atmosphere inside the restaurant is cosy. It’s warm while outside it was –22 °C (–7.6 °F). I’m impressed by the heating in Canadian buildings. It’s never too hot. Not like the buildings I experienced in Lyon, France in winter.

The tables and chairs are sturdy. There is a good amount of low level noise so my tinnitus did play up and hearing people speak asking me what I’d like to drink and eat was a little difficult. My poor hearing wasn’t helped by the need to ask everything in French first. I managed to make my requests clear though.

English language menu

In North America, you don’t start with an entrée. An entrée in North America is a main meal. What Australians would call an entrée is known as an appetiser.

Snails and rat lung worm

Escargot, brie, honey and mustard puff pastry at Le Lapin Sauté
Escargot, brie, honey and mustard puff pastry

For an appetiser (or what Australians call an entrée) I asked for snails with brie and puff pastry along with a two mustard sauce. It is ironic that I asked for snails. My youngest two children were recently in Hawaii and I suggested they should be careful of salads because of some reported cases of rat lung worm in Oahu.

Rat lung worm is better known as Angiostrongylus cantonensis. It is parasite of rats and the vector is snails. When humans eat uncooked snails with the parasitic nematode worm in them, a sometimes fatal eosinophilic meningitis can occur.

I’m a fan of cooked snails though. Especially done in a French fashion. I’ve had snails in Ha Noi too and they were nice, but these snails were exceptional. I really liked the Brie cheese with them.

I had to pace myself. I could have gobbled up the snails in no time. I went slowly and savoured each individual snail and enjoyed the flavours of the cheese and sauces with each bite.

Québec’s best known provincial dish

Rabbit Poutine, Perron cheddar cheese curds and two mustard or thyme and garlic sauce at Le Lapin Sauté
Rabbit Poutine, Perron cheddar cheese curds and two mustard or thyme and garlic sauce

While I’ve been told unadulterated poutine should be what I eat for my first time in Québec, it was hard not to ask for the rabbit poutine.

This dish was delightful. I’d eat it again and again I reckon. The rabbit was nicely cooked. The meat was tender and full of flavour. It wasn’t gamey. It had a delicate textures because I assume it was pulled. The gravy was thinner than I anticipated but it was really very nice. Not too salty. The Perron cheddar cheese curds were light and fluffy and stringy with a good pull. The chips were soft, but the chips weren’t soggy. It’s an important distinction and I don’t know how chips can be covered in thin gravy and not be soggy. I really enjoyed the two mustard sauce too.

The rabbit poutine comes out in a large bowl. There would be about at least four standard rice bowls of poutine in this bowl. Each bite I got some rabbit, some cheese curd, some chips, and some of the wonderful sauce. It was delicious. It wasn’t too salty. It was very comforting. This is a wonderful winter dish. This would be the congee of Québec I reckon.

Should I do dessert?

Maple syrup Crème brûlée at Le Lapin Sauté
Maple syrup Crème brûlée

It’s always worth looking at the menu, and I’d already decided if I wasn’t feeling uncomfortable, I would ask for the maple syrup crème brûlée. I mean, I’m in Canada, I need something with maple syrup.

Dessert was good. The burnt sugar cracked with a sharp tap of my spoon nicely. The maple-flavoured crème was delicious.

Photographs

This is a gallery of photographs. Click on one image and then scroll through the photographs.

Questions and answers

What was the service like at Le Lapin Sauté?

It was really friendly and helpful. The people who I spoke with were pleasant, courteous, and very helpful with questions about the dishes.

I’m grateful they were happy to speak with me in English.

If you returned to Québec again would you dine at Le Lapin Sauté?

Yes, if the opportunity came around again, I’d want the terrine of duck foie gras with onion confit. I think I’d like it with confit duck leg, braised rabbit leg, rabbit rillettes, duck sausage, applewood-smoked duck breasts, confits, croutons, potatoes, roasted garlic, pickles, olives, and vegetables.

What was the damage?

With taxes and a tip I paid $CAD44.

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Final thoughts

  • Would you go for poutine or foie gras?
  • If you went to a rabbit restaurant would you choose a rabbit dish?
  • Would you like to see more restaurant reviews on Yummy Lummy?

Lapine refers to rabbit. I knew this because when I was in medical school and working in a medical testing laboratory, I had to use a lot of lapine serum conjugate in serology assays.

27 Responses

  1. It sounds like you found a delightful little neighborhood restaurant and the food must have been delicious. Sorry to have read about all your troubles on this trip but it seems that everything worked out ok in the end except for all the falls.

    1. Thanks Karen. This was a delightful restaurant to visit. The food was delicious. I’m now home and have a full range of movement in my shoulder so I’m happy.

        1. I also went meat-free last night (Sunday) when I made my own Yummy Lummy version of poutine. I used potato gems, Gravox®️, bocconcini, bird’s eye chillies, and spring onions along with some peas and corn 😃

  2. Blimey, that looks delicious. And Quebec looks beautiful in the snow. I haven’t eaten rabbit for years. I grew up on a farm so used to have it as a child, but not really since. And if people ate more rabbit in this country, it would certainly tick sustainability/environment boxes.

  3. The poutine looks amazing. From how you described it, non-soggy soft chips and mouthfuls of cheese, it was a dish to be savoured 😀 I would definitely go poutine over foie gras any day, and wouldn’t mind trying rabbit. Never tried it, and maybe I will one day 😀 I didn’t mind reading this restaurant review at all. Very well put together.

    1. Thanks very much, Mabel. I really enjoyed the two poutine dishes I had, my favourite was the rabbit poutine. I also liked the snails with brie. I ended up eating a lot of brie this week.

  4. I really enjoyed reading your review and, yes, I’d enjoy reading more of them! I especially like reading about your travels and foreign dining experiences.

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