L’Aubergiste

I ordered the Poutine but the purpose of the trip here was to try the fish and chips. Unfortunately I chose to show up on a Sunday and they were out of fish. They are closed on Monday’s so they limit their fish purchase to keep it fresh. The Poutine was excellent and I may end up back here on Tuesday to get a hold of the dish I was hunting during this trip.

Freaking amazing fish and chips that are cooked to a perfect golden brown crisp. Portion is quite large but I believe the price is very fair and can be split between 2 people with a smaller appetite. I will be posting a picture of the dish
Details about my dish:
The fries are shoe string cut seasoned fries that are damn good.
You get 3 filets of haddock that are never soggy with a perfect amount of crisp.
The tartar sauce is paired with an alternative guacamole type spread that is equally as amazing. Ask for mayo and you will get the best homemade sort of garlicky mixture that matches the fries perfectly.
There is a salad in the centre with mixed lettuce and a vinegrette sauce that is also great… But not as great as the fish!

The food here is absolutely great. I had the fish and chips of which I have never seen such a beautiful presentation. The batter was light and airy and crispy and the fish fresh and their fries are to die for!
My husband had a shredded duck and prosciutto poutine which he raved about.
Their servings are very generous. They have a really unique menu and the place has a good vibe. Love this place!

WHOA! Kossé passé?!? EN Aylmer?!? En tous cas, L’Aubergiste, MERCI et FÉLICITATIONS.
The wife and I went out to Gatineau to visit some friends, and thankfully these are not your traditional Ottawa valley habitants, they live the hell out of the Ottawa valley and seek out great places such as L’Aubergiste.
We showed up and parked on a side street and popped on in an innocuous-​looking restaurant. Not too much signage, from the outside it mostly looks like any old small-​town mansion-​cum-​hotel-​cum-​restaurant sort of entreprise. Everything changes once you enter.
The interior is bien chaleureux et reminiscent of a cabane à sucre with log walls etc. It was early Saturday (17h or so) and there was a large gang already seated and enjoying themselves and we were seated promptly. The server got us going with some drinks and explained the specials. The beer selection was Unibroue and a few oters which was great as well as a nice wine/​cocktail list.
As for the meals, our party went with the pulled pork burger, the game sausage plate, la cuisse de canard, and… something else I entirely lost my mind over the saucisses de gibiers and the burger that my wife and I shared. I know that my friends ordered something and possibly continued to talk, but I was off in gastronomic asgard.
The saucisses de gibier were served on a bacon/​sweet potato mash with crème frâiche on one side and the other sausage was served on a compôte de bleuet with some fried ananas (what!?) was lovely and split up on the plate with a simple roquette and vinaigrette to give the ruse of being healthy. The burger was lovely and served with some perfectly done fries. The duck looked good when it first came out, but again, it all happened so fast so I didn’t really see everything.
Finally, for dessert we grabbed the brownie with mousse and coulis de framboise with some whipped cream and that was garnished with a mint leaf and a cerise de terre. Cute. Our local friends got the crème brûlée which was apparently delicious and well-done…our friend from France approved of it, which is always a good sign!
All in all, the food was great, the service attentive but not invasive, and the price was totally fair for what it was. So, if you ever have to go to Gatineau or Ottawa, try and work this into your itinerary!

I visited l’Aubergiste for the first time on August 15, 2014 and was quite impressed overall. We were a party of 4 and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience. L’Aubergiste is one of those little places that oozes charm in a «country meets urban» kind of a way. It is set in an old house on rue Principale in Aylmer. The owners, Pierre-​louis Poulin and Simon Prud’Homme have definitely incapsulated their passion for great food in this tiny little gem. The menu offers unusual dishes which is quite refreshing: seems every where you go these days, the menu is relatively the same. Not so at l’Aubergiste! Granted, you will find popular favourites such as steak-​frites, fish&chips and poutine but done in such a way that old seems new again.
The tone was set for success by the extremely pleasant and knowledgable young waitress. I LOVE it when the servers know the menu and can deliver the chef’s art to the guests before having even tasted one morsel. Service these days often falls flat where servers are often hired for their looks over their ability to provide the ultimate guest experience… We settled for some of the daily offerings and others that were on the regular menu. My sister and I shared 2 appetizers: a red tuna tartar served over a luscious fresh herb cream and accompanied by a cilantro snow (like a salty granita) and a grilled octopus and citrus salad. While the components of the tuna tartare were spectacular, they unfortunately overpowered the delicate taste of the tuna. Nevertheless, the dish was quite exquisite and beautifully presented. The grilled octopus salad, in my opinion, did not quite deliver: the octopus was a bit chewy and compared to the tuna appetizer, it did not have quite the oomph neither in presentation nor in taste. I particularly enjoy grilled octopus but this one left me longing for a really good one. I think the dish dish was lacking a bit of acidity to round it up well. Our two other table companions skipped the appetizers.
As for the main dishes, our selection was a bit all over the map: fish & chips, steak frites from the regular menu and the evening’s version of surf and turf which featured a veal medallion and shrimps. I have one word for all the mains: spectacular! Presentation, taste, originality, temperature: everything met if not exceeded our expectations. The fish & chips featured cod with a homemade remoulade and perfect hand cut fries. The steak frites was served with an awesome deeply rich sauce and a just as good vinaigrette for the accompanying salad. However, I must say that the star of the evening was the surf and turf: it was soooo good! The veal medallion was served over a potato and parsnip purée that was divine and paired with a perfectly balanced and rich sauce au Porto. The garlic infused grilled shrimps came on a bed of sautéed vegetables beautifully paired with crisp salty pancetta and olive tapenade. If vegetables were always done that way, no one would have trouble eating their minimum daily dose!
We did not stay for dessert. Somehow, the offerings did not entice my dinner companions although I would have been happy to try the brownies with salted caramel. Seems I will have to return to l’Aubergiste to sample this one of these days. If our experience was overall fabulous, I will say that I am not fond of the style of furniture; at 5’2″, the popular style of high chairs and tables is difficult to access. Because the restaurant is tiny, the tables are also crammed closely together which is not the most comfortable. Will this keep me from returning to l’Aubergiste? Heck no!!! If anything, I will probably make sure to return in the near future. I think you should to!