This
is our second time attending the holiday party for my hubby's work.
Last year, we had a nice time at a restaurant in Sillery, but that
restaurant went out of business just a few months before, so this
year they decided to have it at the restaurant La Girolle in
Saint-Foy. As it turned out, it was also a very nice place. The food
and service were both very decent, and it was BYOW (bring your own
wine), which is great for a big party to cut costs!
The
night we were there happened to be the biggest snow storm of the
year, but nonetheless the restaurant was filled as we entered at
18h30! (And I'm not counting the people from our party at all!!!)
They offer a pretty sophisticated and varied French cuisine menu,
although people who don't eat a lot of meat may be left with not so
many options.
I
can't really say much about the atmosphere of the restaurant, since
we were sitting in a private room in the back the whole time. It was
cozy but not roomy. Even though the restaurant is located in a less
touristy area--and something tells me that it is also a little bit
under the radar--it's worth it to give it a try if you're in the mood
to taste some authentic French cuisine. We're certainly going back!
(Click "read more" below for more photos/閱讀中文請看續文)
這是我們來魁北克之後，第二次參加老公工作單位所舉辦的聖誕party了。去年
在另一家餐廳舉辦得還不錯，但那家餐廳竟然在幾個月前倒了!!!
(晴天霹靂)
所以他們決定今年大膽的換選這家
-「Restaurant La Girolle」。拉KEY(LUCKY)的是，大家對這間餐廳的評語都還不錯!!
不僅好吃，服務也周到，還能讓客人自己帶酒，人多去吃的話，不失為消減開消的好辦法呀！(顯是為精打細算臉孔)
Party那天晚上正好是這個冬天以來最大的一場暴風雪，儘管如此，我們仍努力趕在六點半抵達餐廳，令人驚訝的是，店內竟然已經高堂滿坐
(我開始擔心我們這團人擠得進去嗎?)
他們提供的菜單包括各式各樣的傳統法式菜餚，但對於不太愛吃肉的人，選擇性可能就比較少….
至於餐廳的氣氛，我沒辦法做太多詳細的說明，因為當天晚上，我們一直都坐在後面私人的空間
(對!
沒錯!
是大牌的VIP區..母哈哈哈哈哈)，雖然不算寬敞，但也還算舒適。這家餐廳雖然不是開在有名的觀光區，也不像其它餐廳那樣知名，但它那既道地又傳統的法國餐還是很值得一試的喔！(如果沒倒店的話!
XD)
Menu
The
portable chalkboard menu is supposed to be their thing and I love it!
Everytime you hear the rumbling sound, you know the menu is coming! We
were also very happy to learn that the menu wasn't a prix fixe party
menu like last year (since it's cheaper for the restaurant to offer
that.) Besides, who wouldn't love to have plenty of choices to choose
from!
這間餐廳非常特別的一個特色
-
移動式黑板菜單。每當聽到轟隆轟隆的聲音，就知道菜單U勾來囉！除此之外，當晚的菜單跟平日菜單是一毛毛一樣樣的，不像去年那家餐廳，為我們特別準備了沒得選擇的獨家套餐(美其名好貼心，但其實他們這樣做是為了結省經費)。
It's
a complex menu, especially when you're reading it in French! Our
waiter, who obviously paid attention, noticed that we're English
speakers and kindly offered to translate everything into English for
us. In the end, he was probably glad that we didn't ask him to
translate everything!!!
菜單上的選擇相當多但也相對的複雜，且再加上是個法文菜單啊啊啊!!!
服務生很明顯的注意到我們講英文，佛心來的問我們是否需要他把整個菜單翻成英文，不過想到翻完天都黑了，我們也就善解人意的放過他，只是可憐了我身旁的朋友…XD
Appetizers/前菜
Fowl
with squash and thyme $19.50 (野禽和百里香與西葫蘆)
Veal
cutlet with hazelnuts and Madeira wine sauce $26.25 (小牛肉片與榛果和馬德拉酒醬)
Potage de carotte (potage du jour)/Carrot
soup (soup of the day): I know the soup doesn't look anything special
from this picture, but it was quite delicious with lots of flavor!
胡蘿蔔濃湯(當晚的特別濃湯)：雖然照片上看起來不怎麼樣，但是味道很不錯喔！
Feuilleté d'escargots au bleu/Escargot
in puffy pastry with blue cheese: In
France, we've tried the escargot with butter and garlic before, but
never this dish. Therefore, we decided to order it. (Well, not we, my
hubby, I should say, since he's the escargot and blue cheese fan!) It
was pretty good with the puffy pastry sheets to give it a
different texture. The blue cheese that was incorporated in the sauce was very subtle and not strong at all. For someone who's not a
big fan of blue cheese, I was able to enjoy it quite well.
田螺酥皮與藍紋奶酪: 我在法國有吃過奶油蒜烤田螺，但拌著藍紋奶酪的田螺酥皮還真沒見識過。因此，愛吃田螺與藍紋奶酪的老公吵著一定要點這道菜，上菜力馬吃了起來! 放在田螺上的酥皮使它整個吃起來有脆脆的口感，包裹著的醬是那麼出乎意料外的好滋味，連平時不大吃帶有臭味的藍紋奶酪的我也吃得很盡興呢!
田螺酥皮與藍紋奶酪: 我在法國有吃過奶油蒜烤田螺，但拌著藍紋奶酪的田螺酥皮還真沒見識過。因此，愛吃田螺與藍紋奶酪的老公吵著一定要點這道菜，上菜力馬吃了起來! 放在田螺上的酥皮使它整個吃起來有脆脆的口感，包裹著的醬是那麼出乎意料外的好滋味，連平時不大吃帶有臭味的藍紋奶酪的我也吃得很盡興呢!
I
have to apologize for not having a photo for this next dish. Don't ask me,
I don't know and don't remember what happened after a couple
drinks.....but fortunately, I do remember what it tasted like, so I
can still share this dish with you (if my memory is correct! XD).
Poêlée de foie canard sur pomme et mousse foie gras/Pan
seared duck liver on apple and foie gras mousse: This
was my favorite dish of the night! The duck liver was perfectly
cooked and without much of a liver taste, but the best part was the
foie gras mousse and the sauce. I could really taste the sweet apple
flavor in there! It's a must-try dish!!
而這道我極力推薦的菜餚，怎麼沒有照片為證呢?
我得向大家說聲
I
M SORRY，看到菜餚時還記得等等要拍一定要拍，但喝了(不知)幾杯之後，茫到完全不知道也不記得後面發生了什麼事
(人妻有時壓力也很大也需要放鬆一下嘛)。不過奇怪的是，我竟還記得吃起來的感覺!!
(如果你願意相信我的記憶力)！
香煎鴨肝和蘋果鵝肝慕斯: 這是我那天最喜歡的一道料理，鴨肝吃起來不像在吃內臟那樣恐怖，反而還能嘗到蘋果的甜味，而最好吃的是鵝肝慕思，我極力推薦這道菜！
Boudin noir sauce pomme et gingembre/Blood
sausage with apple and ginger sauce: I
can't say that this was one of the best blood sausages I've had or
that I liked it that much--here in Quebec, it looks like I'm becoming
somewhat of a connoisseur--but It was at least homemade, for which I
was glad! The sausage went well with the apple and ginger sauce. All
the main dishes come with several vegetable sides such as cabbage,
zucchini, a piece of spinach pudding, and some sort of mashed turnip
and squash mixture. Very generous "Quebec" portion!
血腸和蘋果與薑醬: 我不敢說這是在魁北克吃過最好吃的血腸(好像來到這裡之後突然搖身變成血腸品嘗專家?!)，但是我敢說它至少是自製的，與稍有甜味的薑味蘋果醬汁吃起來還算對味。所有的主菜都有付高麗菜、瓢瓜、蔬菜泥、菠菜布丁之類的，份量非常多。
Duo de ris de veau sauce espagnole/Sweetbread 2 ways with Spanish sauce: To be honest with you, I was a bit disappointed by this dish. The highlight was actually the sweetbread sausage for me, not the sweet bread! I loved the sauce, but the sweetbread did not live up to the sauce, maybe because I had such a good one at L'Affaire Est Ketchup and that set my standard. This one didn't quite melt in your mouth, and it also tasted a little bit organ-like, but hey, this is just my personal opinion. I was actually told that they were supposed to have one of the best sweetbreads in town, so those of you out there who love sweetbread, you can give it a try and judge it for yourself!
小牛胸腺與西班牙醬: 老實說，我對這道菜有點失望，我最喜歡的部分竟是那小牛胸腺香腸與醬汁，而不是小牛胸腺，可能是之前在 L'Affaire Est Ketchup 吃的真的太好吃了，害我把表準往上提升。這道菜不但沒有吃起來似融化在嘴裡的感覺，反倒還讓我覺得有吃內臟噁心的感覺…不過這些只是我個人的意見。實際上，我聽朋友說他們的小牛胸腺是這裡聞名的，所以你如果是小牛胸腺粉絲，可以嘗試看看，自己判斷！
Magret de canard sauce orange et ananas/Duck
breast with orange and pineapple sauce: This
was actually our friend's plate and I got to taste a little bit of
it. I thought it was quite good and the duck was perfectly prepared.
鴨胸與橘子鳳梨醬: 這盤其實是朋友的，我只是順便嘗試一點，我認為相當不錯。
Our
wine of the evening: on the left was a French wine; on the right was
a California wine. I loved both! Our friend was the one who selected
all the wines for the party, and one bottle of wine was to be shared
among four people. Knowing that I was a "lightweight," he
joked that it would be a good deal for whomever was in our group. As
the night went by, and to his surprise, he found himself repeatedly
filling my glass, and by dessert we had already moved to his group's
bottle!
我們當天晚上的酒：左邊是法國葡萄酒；右邊是美國加洲的葡萄酒。這些酒由我們朋友精挑細選過的，四人分一罐，喝完了再開新的。之前見識過我酒量的朋友，笑著跟其他人說，誰和我一組分一罐一定穩"賺"的
，但殊不知..
長夜漫漫好戲還在後頭，朋友驚呼連連發現我喝了好~~~幾杯，完全忘記還有飯後甜點的存在，一昧的嗜酒，形象盡失！XD
Crème
brulée $6 (布蕾)
Christmas
log $6.25 (樹幹年輪蛋糕)
Charlotte
cake "Exotique" $6 (Charlotte蛋糕)
Cheese
plate for 2 $11.50 (2人份奶酪盤)
Gâteau au marron/Chestnut cake: Our
friend told us that the chestnut cake, the Christmas log (bûche de Noël ), and the
exotic Charlotte cake are the three staples for the holiday season
here. Since I love chestnuts, and we wanted to follow the holiday
tradition here, we ordered the chestnut cake. I liked the plating
with the fruit sauce, but it was a bit too sweet for me and it was
difficult for me to appreciate the taste of the chestnuts.
栗子蛋糕: 朋友告訴我們栗子蛋糕、樹幹年輪蛋糕與Charlotte蛋糕
是這裡聖誕節前後常見的甜點。因為我愛栗子，也想遵照魁北克的傳統，我們因此點了栗子蛋糕。雖然喜歡盤上那漂亮的水果醬，但是蛋糕對我來說太甜了，無法品味到栗子的味道。
Overall,
we had a really good time there. It was a bit pricey, but if you
compare it to the restaurants in NY or any other big city, for a meal
like this, it's still quite a bargain!
我認為有些菜有點昂貴，但要吃這樣傳統又複雜的法國菜，與紐約或其它大城市比起來還是相當划算的!
For more information on La Girolle:
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