Quebec’s food-forward Charlevoix region just got even better

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There’s a lot cooking in the small, sweet city of Baie-Saint-Paul, and if you’re a food nerd, you already know the deal. For years, IYKYK foodies have been quietly flocking to this tiny Charlevoix municipality, but a wave of buzzy new restaurant openings and expansions has injected some serious and fresh main-character energy into the region. It’s only a snappy hour-and-a-half drive from Quebec City, but between the dramatic St. Lawrence River views and the rolling hills blasted into existence by a massive meteorite millions of years ago, it feels like another planet.

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“So, where is the main part of the city?” I ask Frédérick Tremblay over beers at his longtime Le Saint-Pub restaurant and microbrewery (he’s about to open a second location nearby with a large terrace and an outdoor beer garden).

“You’re in it!” he laughs, gesturing toward the delightfully compact main drag of rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste. The quaint stroll is packed with historical buildings, small galleries and restaurants, including the modern Mexican joint Nixtamal and the new, casual eatery L’Accalmie. 

Baie-Saint-Paul might be tiny, but it punches above its weight when it comes to food. In 2026 alone, it nabbed its first Michelin nod, welcomed back Quebec’s first Michelin-starred chef, Hugue Dufour, to open a brand-new spot, and is celebrating the 30th anniversary of Charlevoix’s famous “Flavour Trail” — the ultimate self-guided agri-tour for sampling wares at local cheesemongers, farms and cideries. 

Novel fare à la ‘funky dudes’

Which brings me to the ultimate first stop on my food pilgrimage. Tucked just outside that main drag is Faux Bergers. This restaurant — which only serves blind tasting menus — has become a lighthouse for food geeks since it started serving out of a farmhouse in 2017, and they’ve just reopened in larger digs at Laiterie Charlevoix up the road. “This gives us more of a canvas to play,” says co-owner and chef Émile Tremblay.

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The concept of Faux Bergers, however, remains the same. It’s hyper-local, wildly creative cooking that’s served to the whole restaurant at the same time. Every table starts dining at the same hour — 6:30 p.m. for dinner, 11:45 a.m. for lunch — and the chef comes out and explains each dish to the room. (They do the spiel in French first, but will take pity on English speakers like me who barely manage to catch the word “champignon” and translate afterwards.)

It’s a good thing too, because this is the kind of food where there are so many elements to each dish, you’re not always entirely sure what you’re eating, you just know it’s fresh, bright and definitely not poutine. I devour small capelin fish served on a bed of homemade ranch dressing garnished with potatoes, kimchee and dill oil followed by lightly baked asparagus topped with scallops that have been dipped in hot brine, dolloped with Béarnaise sauce and sprinkled with toasted oat grains. Dessert is a delightfully think-y chaga flan covered with miso crumble and koji cream. 

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“It takes courage to come eat a blind tasting menu at the end of a field cooked by a bunch of funky dudes,” admits Tremblay, as he drags on a cigarette at the end of a field like a funky dude. “But this allows us to live our passion.” 

At only $115 for dinner (lunch is $110 for five courses, which includes drinks), it feels like a steal for this type of inventive dining. The drinks pairing too, is a cut above. While most of my fellow dinner guests opt for wine, I take one look at my car keys and the dark, country roads and opt for the $50 mocktail pairing instead. Mocktails are so often treated like an afterthought, but here they’re painstakingly created by the chefs to integrate seamlessly with each dish. “It’s a bit like liquid cuisine,” says chef and co-owner Sylvain Dervieux. No one is more surprised than me when I find myself relishing a drink made with the cooking water from peas mixed with lobster mushroom syrup, unripe grape juice and soda. 

The Michelin stamp of approval

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I’m still basking in the afterglow of that meal when I rock up Faux Berger’s cool little-sister restaurant, La Buvette Gentille, the next day. The snug shared-plates and wine bar on the city’s main drag has just nabbed a Bib Gourmand nod from the Michelin Guide, an award recognizing top-tier gastronomy that’s easier on the wallet. After plowing through dishes like a choux pastry topped with snow crab that’s been poached in butter and finished with a sprinkling of bee pollen, I can see why. It’s a more casual vibe than Faux Bergers — the name roughly translates to “nice refreshment stand” — but the food is just as good.

While La Buvette’s buzzy Michelin anointment is making tongues wag, the biggest news in these parts is that after shuttering his iconic M. Wells restaurant in Long Island, N.Y., Michelin-starred Quebec chef Hugue Dufour has come back to the province to open Le Relais des Florent on the grounds of longtime cheesemaker Famille Migneron de Charlevoix. 

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I can’t get a reservation, but I do snag an afternoon visit to the space and a chat with Dufour and his co-chef Clément Boivin, the kitchen’s self-professed “double-headed dragon.” The changing à la carte menu goes big on dishes made with local ingredients served with a sense of whimsy. Think a wedge salad dotted with sugared pecans, ketchup chips and a dressing made from Migneron’s iconic blue cheese, or “La Secret du Maurice,” a beef tongue and pineapple salsa dish that’s cheekily listed under the dessert and cheese courses. While the techniques lean classically French, the reasonable prices — the most expensive main the day I visit is $36 — and the relaxed room (which stars an eye-popping communal table inlaid with a kitschy diorama) are anything but stuffy.

“We want to be a bridge,” says Dufour. “I’m digging back into my roots. A relais is historically a halfway point for travellers for a snack, and Charlevoix is the best of both worlds — it’s a beautiful playground and paradise for chefs, but you’re also close to Quebec City. It’s a very foodie, boho area.”

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While the culinary community — and no doubt, the tourism board — are crossing their fingers that this prodigal son may bring a Michelin star to Baie-Saint-Paul, Dufour is less invested in accolades and more interested in returning to his love of being in the kitchen and basking in rural life. “I’ve had the star — I know what it entails. We have no pretension of being perfect here — we want to keep the cooking alive.” 

Where to stay 

If you’re going to visit Charlevoix, you’ll want a base camp that understands the need for aesthetic validation and premium thread counts. Enter Le Germain Charlevoix Hotel & Spa in Baie-Saint-Paul. Built on the site of an old farm owned by the Little Franciscans of Mary, it looks like a collection of chic, minimalist barns that accidentally fell into a postcard. It’s a five-minute walk to the town’s main drag, there’s a machine in the lobby that dispenses wine by the glass and, most importantly, there are pastures stuffed with adorable highland cows. There’s still a working farm on the property which includes cows, sheep, chickens and extensive gardens whose products go straight into the kitchen at the hotel’s Restaurant Les Labours. There’s also an outdoor Nordic spa circuit that comes complete with a bucolic view of the Charlevoix mountains and a sweet soundtrack of chirping birds and the occasional moo.

Not up for the boutique prices? Budget travellers can find accommodations right next door in Maison Mère Baie-Saint-Paul, an old convent that has been turned into a hostel.

Leah Rumack visited Charlevoix as a guest of Bonjour Québec, which did not review this story before publication. 

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