Pub food isn't grey

In May, La Presse ran a feature by Ève Dumas on a subject close to our hearts: Quebec falling for British food. We were in it, in good company.

The line that stuck with us was Mike's, my brother and our chef.

The cliché we wanted to break

"There's this idea that pub food is grey or dull, but we wanted to show it can be alive, seasonal, and full of influences."

That's exactly why we opened. We all grew up with the cliché of English food as brown, flat, and sad. Mike wanted to prove the opposite, one plate at a time.

The scotch egg, again the scotch egg

In the piece, La Presse wrote that "MacTaverne's scotch egg is worth the trip on its own." We'll take it.

It's one of those simple dishes that forgives nothing. An egg cooked just enough for the yolk to run, well-seasoned sausage meat, a golden crust. Nothing to hide. When it's done right, you can see it from the first cut.

The fish and chips is there for the same reasons. So is the maple sticky toffee, our Laurentian nod to a great English classic.

British and Laurentian at once

"Here, the pub is as British as it is Laurentian, a reflection of our family, with three generations keeping the inn running every day."

That's the part I'm proudest of. The roots are English and Scottish, but the pub is planted in Val-David, on the bank of the Rivière du Nord, where Le Baril Roulant used to be. And it's the whole family that keeps it going. My father on the numbers, my mother on design, Mike in the kitchen, me at the bar and on the floor.

Come see for yourself

The menu changes with the seasons, but the classics stay. The scotch egg, the fish and chips, the sticky toffee. Reserve a table on OpenTable, or stay the night at the auberge if you've come from far.

We keep a candle lit on the table. Pub food isn't grey, and we can't wait to prove it to you.