Thursday 12 September 2013

Rabbit Cuisine, Part 1


I love rabbits, yes, but I'm also not squeamish about eating them. Rabbit doesn't appear often on restaurant menus here in Canada but when it does, I order it. Too often, however, the restaurant is "out" of it on that particular day so I end up eating something else.

However, when we were in Quebec City a couple of months ago, I hit the rabbit cuisine motherlode! In Old Quebec, we descended the long flight of stairs down to Lower Town and found amongst its charming shops and old buildings . . .


. . . a restaurant called Le Lapin Sauté -- The Jumping Rabbit! I suspect its name is also a bit of a double entendre on the cooking term "to sauté." Anyway, I knew we had to have lunch here!


Look at the cute "rabbit crossing" sign on the restaurant's outside wall, along with the carrot bucket full of greenery and a cherry tomato plant!


Tomorrow: the restaurant's interior decor and my delicious lunch!

[First photo from the internet. Other photos by Debra She Who Seeks.]

37 comments:

mxtodis123 said...

I don't think I could make it up those steps.
Mary

turquoisemoon said...

I must go to Quebec sometime...Looks fun!

Unknown said...

My Gran knew how to cook a rabbit. In those days, if we didn't hunt, we didn't eat.

jaz@octoberfarm said...

oh how i miss quebec. i love that city so much. i don't eat rabbit. we ate it too much when i was young and my father hunted it. you can always get lots of rabbit to eat in germany!

Anonymous said...

uh oh, don't like the look of where this is going, run little rabbit run!
Love the look of the place though, cute huh? Garry's family raised meat rabbits, tastes like chicken, not as strong as wild,

Miss Val's Creations said...

This restaurant has so much charm on the outside. The inside must be beautiful!

DEZMOND said...

love those little pots used as decoration in front of the restaurant.

Sunnybrook Farm said...

Some of the best food that I ever had was southern fried rabbit, not a greasy mess of deep fried breading like KFC would do but breaded and fried in cast iron. It is far superior to chicken. Now these are wild rabbits, not cuddle bunnies, they run for a living, there are no slow ones left, according to the coyote daily news.

OmaLindasOldeBaggsandStuftShirts said...

It has been many years since I have eaten rabbit but as I remember it....yummers. But after we had pet rabbits...um a little harder to do I fear. Something about the cuddle factor and all. Oma Linda

Adam said...

reminds me of a high school classmate who claimed he ate squirrel. I'd be afraid of the parasites and disease from that.

Lois said...

I can't wait to read about Quebec! Such a treasure we have here in Canada. I love the stairs and the hills and the food... I can eat anything, once it's dead. lol.

Snap said...

I don't eat rabbit, but I don't eat much meat. I remember stories my Mother told about the depression days -- growing their own veggies and raising rabbits for food. Looks like a fun place. I'll enjoy seeing more.

A Beer for the Shower said...

As an adventurous foodie, I would totally eat rabbit (Sorry, cute neighborhood bunny. I mean, I wouldn't eat you specifically). Looking forward to tomorrow's pictures of lunch!

Jeanne said...

We ate rabbit a lot while I was growing up. It was quite tasty. And even though I had a pet rabbit, it didn't bother me to eat it.
Love the outside of the restaurant. Such character! Anxious to see what you had to eat. :0)

Anonymous said...

I think I'd give it a go. I've tried frogs legs, snail and all sorts of sea creatures...

Leanna said...

Such a cute place. Can't wait to see the inside tomorrow.

Plowing Through Life (Martha) said...

No...I just can't eat rabbit. My dad LOVED it and no one else in the family could go near it. My mother couldn't even cook, so his niece would bring him some when she made rabbit stew.

Ol'Buzzard said...

I can't find rabbit on the menus here in Maine - and don't particularly want to. I am a person of habit (not rabbit.) I always read the entire menu and then order the same thing.

the Ol'Buzzard

klahanie said...

I love me a rabbit. In fact, I have a jack rabbit wearing a jacket.

Ah, Quebec City, a place I must visit around Christmas time.

Are you sure that's a "rabbit crossing" sign. Maybe I um just splitting hares, or hairs...

Take care, eh.

Gary

The Happy Whisk said...

I haven't tried it, but I would give it a go.

Mistress Maddie said...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Say you didn't!

Laurent said...

love Lapin à la moutarde!!!

Birdie said...

Going back to Old Quebec is on my Bucket List. I think I had rabbit once but found it fatty.

DWei said...

I've rarely eaten rabbit but I will order it when given the chance.

Same with horse. Still haven't eaten horse, but I'll order it if I find it.

Unknown said...

That restaurant is beautiful! I have had rabbit stew before, it was delicious and mostly tasted like mushrooms.

Victoria said...

Love that picture of the restaurant, how enchanting....beautiful colors..
Hope you had a smashing summer too..hugs kindred!
Victoria

Magaly Guerrero said...

That rabbit crossing sign is priceless. And to answer the question posted by the first sign, I'm with you, they are nutritiously cuddly.

Dexter Klemperer said...

Wow, we definitely need to get there sometime! Can't wait to see more!

Magic Love Crow said...

This place looks so beautiful! I love the rabbit sign!

Magic Love Crow said...

Oh, I forgot to say, I have never tried rabbit. I was always told, it's a more fatty meat? Don't know if that's right?

Debra She Who Seeks said...

@ Magic Love Crow -- I didn't find it particularly fatty. My rabbit must have been in good shape.

Cperz said...

I don't hardly eat meat at all so eating rabbit isn't likely to happen but I love the cute pictures of the restaurant. How charming!!! I would find something on the menu to eat just to go there.

Magic Love Crow said...

Thanks Debra ;o) LOL! Good to know ;o) Maybe one day, I will try rabbit ;o)

Jim said...

I love Quebec City.
This place looks interesting and appealing.

Riot Kitty said...

Even before I was a vegan, I was a hypocrite - I felt weird about eating animals from the age of 9 but felt more weird if they were cuddly.

Guillaume said...

Oh I KNOW the Lapin sauté! Quite well actually, it used to be the family's lunch time and breakfast restaurant when we stopped in Quebec City. I had Easter breakfast there back in 2006. Sauté also means a bit crazy, as in eccentric. The restaurant has the same owners as Le Cochon dingue, which means crazy pig (and is a word play on cochon d'Inde, i.e. guinea pigs).

I don't remember eating rabbit at the Lapin sauté, although I may have had. I remember a lapin à la moutarde de meaux at La Pignoronde, which is in the Charlevoix region. And last Christmas holidays, mum made a curry rabbit that was quite yummy. My favorite rabbit recipe is still the one I had in La Pignoronde.

CraveCute said...

Don't think I could eat it unless I was literally starving.