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Eating and drinking
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As you might expect of a capital city, Ottawa has a good range of
restaurants
, some geared firmly to the expense account, but the majority informal, reasonably priced affairs - surprisingly so considering the amount of political money floating around. Indeed, a main course and a drink should rarely cost you more than $25. Ethnic restaurants are commonplace - from Italian through Mexican, Chinese and Spanish - and although there is no distinctive Ottawa cuisine as such, the city's chefs borrow strongly from the French-Quebecois tradition - Quebec is, after all, just across the river. The trendiest joints are in the Byward Market area, but there are also a number of good places in the few blocks to the south of Parliament Hill, and a small Chinatown on Somerset West and Bronson. In addition, Ottawa has sprouted dozens of
cafe-bars
, some offering little more than glorified bar food, but many dipping into Asian, French and Italian cuisines to provide excellent food at very affordable prices - $10-15 should see you fixed in all but the priciest of places. These cafe-bars have dented Ottawa's
bar and pub
scene, but there is still a reasonable range of downtown drinking places with a particular concentration in and around the Byward Market, which heaves with revellers on the weekend. Finally, a word about
snack and fast food
. Chip vans are something of an institution here, so be sure to try their mouthwatering
poutine
- fries covered in gravy and cheese curds. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Canada,
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