06/09/2005 Archived Entry: "food blogging"

One of the greatest aspects of travelling is being able to try foods from different places. On our trip, we made a somewhat conscious effort to eat stuff that wasn’t available where we come from. It’s a difficult proposition without knowing off hand which restaurants are interesting – it would have been nice to have a local in each city showing us around and telling us where to eat, travel books can be hit-and-miss. Another difficulty is the widespread visibility of chains and franchises. Most large (and, I guess, small) cities look very similar when you’ve got Tim’s, McD’s, etc around every corner (shopping is a similar experience). Thirdly, when you come from a metropolitan area, you can pretty much get any kind of food you want (although, I despair at Ottawa’s lack of a good sushi place) – so it makes it a bit more difficult to get something unique, the best you can usually hope for is getting something that you’ve had before but infinitely better.

So then, our culinary experience began on the way to Quebec City with what is, for sure, THE most recognizable of Quebec dishes, roadside poutine. And yes, it is pretty much the best poutine I’ve ever had – thick gravy (know as “sauce”), large chunks of cheese curds, and fries that remained somehow crispy.

The next meal worth mentioning was our crepe breakfast in Vieux Quebec. Crepes are a thin (pastry?) that’s somewhere between a pancake and an omelette. They can be eaten stuffed with omelette fillings (bacon, ham, veggies) or pancake toppings (fruits, whipped cream, syrup). Will and I each had omelette-type crepes, and Will followed up with a strawberry filled one while I had an “assiette sante” – a plate filled with fruits, sorbet, and cottage cheese (the cheese really didn’t go too well with all the sweet stuff). The crepes were excellent but not as excellent as Arshwana’s less flaky ones, I thought.

One of the best things about Quebec city is that all the restaurants have their menus posted outside, we can walk around browsing for something we like without having to actually step into one and then deciding to leave. One of the not so best things about Quebec City is that they insist on a 15% tip. One of the restaurants we went to included the tip in our bill (called “addition”) while the creperie made sure to point out to Will that gratuity was 15% when he didn’t tip enough.

Everything east of, and including, Quebec City seems very heavily focused on lobster. So, obviously, we had to have some. Seen here is the 1+ lb can of fresh lobster I bought in Shediac, The Lobster Capital of the World. And for your viewing pleasure, a video of me sucking lobster juice after having opened it with a can opener borrowed from a random person in a random motel in PEI. More seemly, is the lobster dinner we had in Charlottetown at Lobster on the Wharf. The lobster was utterly fantastic, but what truly put it over the top were the two delicious salads that came with it and the best-ever butter to dip lobster meat in. We did the math, I had consumed something like 300% of my daily recommended intake of cholesterol on this lobstery day.

Although we did not eat here, this particular Chinese restaurant claimed to have The Real Chinese Taste of Toronto. The Chinese restaurant we did end up eating in in Cape Breton, unfortunately did not have the real Chinese taste of Toronto.

Moving on, in Halifax we had what was one of the best meals of my life (may not be an exaggeration). The Economy Shoe Shop is a set of three restaurants operating under one name. I forget the name of the one we went to, but it was the middle one. We split a lobster flambé, while Will got the lobster eggs benedict and I ordered an avocado and spicy pork omelette. (some of you will know that I am a huge avocado freak). Hopefully the pictures speak for themselves, if not “it was really, really, really, really, good”. The best part was that the entire meal only cost us each 20$ with tax and tip.

Too tired to conclude, so here ends this entry.

Replies: 21 comments

note to self: do not read entries about yummy food when lunch time is still a while away.

Posted by melpie @ 06/09/2005 11:50 AM EST

Man, it's funny now to think that we've brought our cameras to each restaurant and taken lots of photos. I remember you were fairly insistent on having a photo of each plate, no?

I wish I had more motivation to post things about the trip.... too lazy...

Posted by Will @ 06/09/2005 09:52 PM EST

Yeah, dunno what's up with these Asian people & taking pictures of food..

Though come to think of it, I think my older brother does it too. And last I checked he's white.

Posted by Arshwana @ 06/10/2005 07:25 AM EST

Well you never know, He might have changed recently.

Posted by sbdep @ 06/10/2005 08:02 AM EST

I think that was one of the most entertaining posts I've read in quite some time! I loughed out loud when i saw the video and the pic at the Wharf. Thank you for it. :)

Posted by Étienne @ 06/10/2005 12:22 PM EST

Taking pictures is all for the blog, man.

Posted by Rayne @ 06/10/2005 08:34 PM EST

FYI: I mentioned the tip thing to Anne-Marie, she said they now insist on 15% tips because the government assumes that all servers get 15% tips from everyone they serve and they tax them for it.

So if you were to NOT give them 15%, the servers pay that tax out of their own pocket.

That's what she told me.

Posted by Arshwana @ 06/12/2005 07:43 PM EST

It's true

Posted by Étienne @ 06/13/2005 02:03 AM EST

hmmm ... that makes sense. tax policy ideas are now starting to dance in my head. do servers in quebec make a lower minimum wage like they do in ontario?

Posted by melpie @ 06/13/2005 12:18 PM EST

I'm not sure but i think their wage is the minimum wage minus the expected hourly tip.

I'll ask a friend who works in a restaurant and confirm it soon.

Posted by Étienne @ 06/14/2005 03:02 AM EST

I just checked with my friend. Quebec's minimum wage is 7.60$ but it's cut to 6.30$ for waiters and waitresses.

Posted by Étienne @ 06/14/2005 04:47 PM EST

That's disgusting. I guess they just want the waiters & waitresses to be down there with the rest of 'em minimum-wagers.. jeez.

Posted by Arshwana @ 06/14/2005 09:03 PM EST

Y'know, sometimes I feel like tipping is somewhat overboard. Especially with expensive restaurants where you end up tiping like 10$, they end up with quite the deal.

Posted by Rayne @ 06/15/2005 12:39 AM EST

Personally, I think tipping in North America has gone completely out of proportion. The idea of tip is that you felt the service provider (be it haircutter, driver or server) did a good job so you slip them a few extra bucks for making the effort; the idea of mandatory tipping puzzles me, especially if the government assumes 15% tip. It doesn't encourage servers to do a good job, but punishes them for doing a bad job; if the restaurant insists on 15%, then it can possibly even encourage servers to give the least effort since they'd get the 15% anyway. Besides, if 15% is required, why not just add it to the menu?

I enjoyed my time in England when it is assumed that you wouldn't tip your server(although they've started putting in block letters SERVICE NOT INCLUDED on the bottom of your bill) unless you want to. You'd never tip your bar-tender (which I find kind of weird doing still). I wish we'd get to that system; I'd rather that the servers get a better base salary and I end up paying more in the meal price.

Posted by Will @ 06/15/2005 12:53 AM EST

What's also tricky though, is that the servers don't even get the full amount that you leave them. My fiance used to work in a restaurant, and the tips were always pooled and then divided by percentage among servers, the bartender, and the host/hostess that seats you. That doesn't seem fair either, if I tip my server, it's because they did a good job and I want to recognize that, what has the host/hostess done for me lately? On the same note, the host/hostess is also only getting paid that ridiculous modified minimum wage like the servers.

Posted by Jen Smuj @ 06/15/2005 10:46 AM EST

the restaurant business can be a strange one. i remember when my sister was serving at one place, she had to pay out like 5% of every bill to the host/bartenders/kitchen. if she got less than that as a tip (which sometimes happened .. there were quite a few european tourists who would be at that restaurant who didn't have the same ... ideals, i guess we could say, that north americans have when it comes to tipping.)

a tip should be a gratuity though - no matter what. if i get good service, i don't mind paying more. if i get horrible service, i'll give something as i do know that servers receive a lower-than-the-rest minimum wage - but i won't give them all that much.

i totally understand quebec's reason for assuming a 15% tip for taxation purposes. tax administration and enforcement can be a tricky thing.

Posted by melpie @ 06/20/2005 03:27 PM EST

this is all getting very technical.

Posted by Rayne @ 06/23/2005 02:45 AM EST

apparently tax policy *is* my thing. who'd 'a thunk it?

Posted by melpie @ 06/23/2005 12:33 PM EST

Isn't it related to what you do for a living?

Posted by Rayne @ 06/25/2005 04:22 PM EST

yes, yes it is. but apparently i also have an interest in this stuff outside of work. scary.

Posted by melpie @ 06/27/2005 11:30 AM EST

Hey guys, came across this blog by accident and it made me very very hungry! I ate at the Economy Shoe Shop about a year ago and it was fantastic! I'm also a server and wanted to say that the tip out to hostesses/other servers/cooks is different at every restaurant. Personnaly I have to give 20% of my total tips to the kitchen and they split that up amoungst themselves. I've never heard of having to share your tips with other servers though! It's the same thing in nfld as ontario (the two places i've worked in restaurants) where servers make less than minimum wage and mainly rely on their tips for income. I personnally give 10 % for average to not great service, 15% regularily and way more for fantastic service. A good server can make or break a meal! Enjoy the rest of your travels!

Posted by Leah @ 07/07/2005 06:22 PM EST