The chef of Le Canard Huppé, Philip Rae, and his wife, Maggie, made Dr. Mel Borins feel right at home.

This dazzling array of restaurants offers culinary delights featuring local produce and new twists on traditional dishes

Normally I am not crazy about new cuisine, fancy décor, extravagant prices, small portions and pretentious chefs—I’m just a meat and potatoes kind of guy at heart. However, there is something quite different about Quebec restaurants and their distinct gastronomical treats.

While many tourists will visit in October when the fall colours are breathtaking, or in early spring when maple syrup is flowing, one of the big attractions no matter what time of year you visit is the food—particularly the offerings made available on the Gourmet Route.

This is a network of 50 food producers, processors, grocers and chefs who have banded together to create a standard of excellence in the food business in the greater Quebec City area. All are committed to making sure the food that is served to us the customer is made from locally grown, fresh, high quality produce.

Every time I ate at one of these restaurants on the Gourmet Route I went away inspired by the care and attention to detail by which the food was created.

Stop One: Auberge Saint-Antoine
I was lucky to stay at the luxurious Auberge Saint-Antoine, located in the heart of the Old  Port in Quebec City. My first night there I ate at the Auberge Saint-Antoine’s Panache Restaurant, which offers traditional French Canadian Cuisine with a twist.

Chef François Blais explained that he takes the essence of his grandmother’s traditional recipes and reinvents them for contemporary tastes. Impressively, the local produce he relies on often comes from a farm the hotel owns; everything is exceedingly fresh and never frozen. My spit-roasted duckling in a spiced sauce was mouth-wateringly delicious.

Beautifully renovated in July 2004, this restaurant has already won many culinary awards.

Dr. Borins became addicted to duck after succulent dishes at Panache and Restaurant Initiale (above).

Stop two: Restaurant Initiale
The next day I explored the Old City, the Plains of Abraham and the Citadel, and later ate at the Restaurant Initiale. After a unique tasting appetizer of tartare of duck liver made with cinnamon and hysope oil, I ordered breast of duck with a Jerusalem artichoke noisette as  my main—only two days into my excursion, I had become addicted to duck.

Equally splendid, too, were the perfectly matched wines the waiter chose for each of these courses.

Stop three: Île d’Orléans
On my last day I journeyed along the Gourmet Route to discover Île d’Orléans, an island just 20 minutes outside of Quebec City, with a history dating back more than three centuries. Living up to its motto—“J’accueille et je nourris” (“I welcome and feed”)—the island is like the bread basket of Quebec City, filled with local producers of wine, duck, lamb, fruit, vegetables and specialty foods who supply the kitchens of the surrounding area.

Chef Francois Blais updates classsis dishes at Auberge Saint-Antoine.

While here, I visited a local fisherman named Jos Paquet, who can trace his family tree back 13 generations in Quebec. Paquet catches sturgeon and eel, and smokes them in his maple wood burning smokehouse.

On the outskirts of the village of Saint-Pierre is the winery Isle de Bacchus, which Donald and Lise Bouchard and their son, Alexander, started some 16 years ago. What began as a hobby with 600 grape vines has grown into five hectares of 9,000 vines and production of more than 30,000 bottles a year. I especially appreciated their sweet ice wine, which they produce in January.

It was also a treat to visit Bernard Monna and his two daughters Catherine and Anne at Cassis Monna & Filles. He came from France and started growing blackcurrants and now produces more than 30,000 bottles of various blackcurrant liqueurs, apéritifs, port and other fine delights. You can taste, smell and learn about blackcurrants at his Economuseum and have a bite to eat at the restaurant, La Monnaguette.

Finally, I stopped for lunch at Le Canard Huppé, a friendly inn and restaurant. Chef Philip Rae takes great care to order his produce fresh from some 35 different suppliers on the island. Surprisingly, I did not order the duck, which was from a local neighbour’s farm, and instead had the rack of lamb, which was melt-in-your-mouth superb. Philip and his wife, Maggie, served in such a gentle, welcoming and hospitable way that it made me feel like I was a guest eating in their home. 

More often than not, top restaurants in my hometown of Toronto have two meal sittings, and after a few hours you’re instructed to leave because the next party is arriving for its reservation. This was not the case in Quebec City, where I lingered over meals with friends.

It was nice not to feel rushed, and the food was an extra bonus that made my visit memorable.

Mel Borins is a family physician in Toronto. He is the author of the books “Go Away Just for the Health of It” and “Photos and Songs of a Pronoic Physician.” Visit www.melborins.com.