Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants, Bars and Chefs.

Tourist traps are the rule in the exceptionally picturesque Lower Town of Old Quebec. But here, behind the heavy wooden doors of what was once the Union Bank of Lower Canada (erected 1866), you find a glorious exception. Initiale is a very elegant restaurant, with soft lighting and its walls and chairs all cast in shades of beige and grey. At first glance the menu looks to have been lifted directly from the south of France, where chef-patron Yvan Lebrun did most of his training (asparagus velouté with green olive, halibut with gremolta and soubise). But on closer inspection the ingredients are resoundingly local, and sourced from the region’s best small farms. The cooking is highly refined, and the flavours are very sophisticated. Think flounder glazed with sea urchin hollandaise. And when is the last time you ate sweetbreads with an Escoffier standby like Albuféra sauce? Lebrun and his wife and partner, front of house manager Rolande Leclerc, work together to ensure each meal here is a splendid and engrossing experience.