Mousse Bouvette

Good morning,

According to a report on CBC, Canada has the highest rate of food inflation of all G7 countries (you can view the story under Quick Bites below).

We’ve all been gobsmacked by the insane rise of grocery prices. While I’m not an investigative journalist, I’m starting to get an itch. 

Here’s an example: for most of our adult lives, we’ve never paid more than $0.99 cents for a small bunch of green onions (scallions), irrespective of season. If they were on sale, you’d get two bundles for $0.99 cents.

I buy these frequently, but it was about a month ago that I was hit with sticker shock: the price had doubled to $1.99 and that hasn’t changed. It’s now also the price at all grocery stores. Coordination?

We can point the finger at a number of culprits. Some are legitimate, beyond the control of distributors. Some pricing however, is difficult to comprehend.

I have another concrete example which I will share with you next week but today we head across to Old Hull for the latest in delicious bistro dining.

Let’s get started.

Ralf Joneikies, food and drink editor. [email protected]

BISTRO

Mousse Buvette in Hull is a welcome addition to the bistro scene

Read the review online here.

The pleasure of a bistro menu is that there are a variety of dishes to suit most tastes and sometimes, diets. Mousse Buvette opened in June of 2025 along the pedestrian-friendly strip of Rue Laval in Old Hull. 

There is an uncommon concentration of decent eateries on this street, demanding repeat visits and this bistro is a welcome addition. 

The kitchen is helmed by Stephanie Saumur, who spent years putting out very good dishes at Sans Façon. At Mousse Buvette, she confidently demonstrates her talents with modest and delicious takes on bistro dining.

The menu here is less ambitious but no less appealing, with execution worthy of repeat visits. 

Food trends, like all trends, always come around again. I have a feeling that deviled eggs will soon start popping up on menus everywhere. Sure, the retro feeling is fun, but this is also a tasty starter. 

Here chef has created two variations: jalapeno popper and bacon-ranch. Cleverly, Saumur has crusted and deep-fried both a slice of fresh jalapeno and the hard-boiled egg in panko. It was none too spicy, but the crunch was a pleasant contrast to the smoother texture of the yolk.

Bacon-ranch tasted very much as advertised. The bacon was okay, but then again, most restaurants pay little attention to the quality of this ingredient which I fail to understand. This variation was a favourite of the two. It went so well with the Le Sichuanais cocktail that I would add it as a recommended pairing on the menu.

The bar offers five signature cocktails and three classics, with two of the signatures being among the most exciting in years. 

Le Sichuanais is a composition of gin, Chartreuse, Sichuan peppercorn syrup, olive brine, lime juice, egg whites and made fancy by the addition of a Castelvetrano olive.

It’s an inspired creation that had the palate singing and me, deeply content. The addition of the peppercorn syrup lent a mysterious fruity element that acted as a bridge between the savoury, salty olive brine and the Chartreuse. Surely a contender for cocktail of the year.

The next dish was a highlight of the afternoon. While I wished the portion had been more generous, I would recommend you try it. 

It’s advertised as “thinly sliced raw duck” but this was thoroughly cured breast meat. It ate more like charcuterie than uncooked flesh.

It was all dressed up for a big occasion with crispy duck fat, crunchy tempura bits, pickled hot pepper rings, cilantro and sesame all swimming in a pond of gluten-free house-made ponzu. A mouth-watering and memorable dish that will end up in the best of the quarter summary.

Fried potatoes are a bistro staple. Here, the humble spud is given a mashed and fried twist. Potato mash is delicately scented with rosemary and creamed with Parmesan, rolled into balls and deep-fried. 

The center was as good as you’d expect but the outer shell was a little too hard, making cutting difficult. It was served with an in-house balsamic mayonnaise that made for a perfect combination with the rosemary and parmesan. 

The Hentai cocktail is made using vodka, vanilla liquor, matcha, passionfruit, lime, egg whites and sesame syrup. It’s another example of a signature cocktail that is memorable on its own but also works with food.

I enjoyed the flavour and tannic texture of the matcha against the earthy sweetness of the beets in the winter salad to come. A surprise pairing I wasn’t expecting.

The winter salad was a hearty bowl of fresh goodness that contained everything you needed for a complete meal: carbs, fibre and protein. 

Here again, Saumur nicely reimagined a salad with protein that left the ubiquitous and tired “grilled chicken add-on” of every other restaurant, a pale and distant memory. 

The dish was a riot of colours and textures.  She had added a dense goat cheese whipped with dates, which you were meant to scoop with a side of naan bread. 

Pearl couscous had taken on a pink hue from the beets, littering the baby kale greens along with toasted almonds and macerated cranberries. A refreshing and sweet crunch came from fennel, chayote and sugar snap peas, enrobed in a mildly sweet sage dressing. It’s only February, and already I’m wondering if this is the salad of the year.

As is often the case, our cousins in Gatineau offer more interesting wines on their lists than you generally find in Ottawa. I’ve been contemplating a story on this subject, and subscribers to Lookout Wine will likely see it in the months ahead.

They have a total of 32 wines and eight Champagnes. Interesting whites such as Francusa, Carignan Blanc and Savatiano and reds like Nerello Mascalese, Cinsault and Grignolino are enough to make a wine geek's heart beat a little faster.

I enjoyed a glass of the rarely seen Carignan Blanc, whose savoury, avocado-like richness and plush notes of yellow stonefruit like quince, married so well with a bowl of marinated olives.

Server Martin was friendly and engaged and helpful in retrieving information from the kitchen when I had a question.

Once the weather allows for it, you will likely find me sitting on their patio. It’s worth the trip.

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QUICK BITES

• This interview attempts to shed some light on rising food costs. [CBC]

• A food expert from Dalhousie University takes issue with the federal cuts to agriculture research. [Pattison Media]

• The Ottawa Food Bank is making cuts to a variety of food programs. [CBC]

• Ali Shaker is the man behind Foodeliver, delivering excess restaurant food to newly immigrated locals. [Yahoo]

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