Ottawa Dining - Canadian Tulip Festival Hotels

Ottawa Dining

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-Québecois tradition - Québec 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 café-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 café-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.