Rarely does one forget their first ever raclette.

Originating from the canton of Valais in cheese-rich Switzerland, raclette refers to scraping off melted cheese and eating it with an assortment of meats and vegetables. The name comes from the type of cheese used in the ritual, which is typically served sliced. A modern way of serving raclette involves an electric table-top grill with little pans, known in French as coupelles, in which slices of raclette cheese are melted.

Now, why am I telling you all of this? Well, in earlier in the year we received an email from Eat the Strip reader Charles who said we needed to stop what we were doing and immediately go to a restaurant specializing in raclette in Gatineau. “You have to try Meule et Caquelon.” Charles wrote in April. “Father and son run the business for over a decade or two.”

“Amazing Swiss/alpine food,” Charles added.

The last time I had raclette was during a 2018 sojourn in the north of France. Believe it or not, I remember the cheese-induced fever dreams quite fondly—around a dozen of us crowded our friend’s long dinner table, grilling all manner of cheese, meats and vegetables. Between bites of melted cheese and charcuterie we would take swigs of cold, Belgian beer and dab our foreheads with napkins to wipe off the meat sweats.

It's one of the enduring memories from my stay there.

On the Tuesday evening we went to Meule et Caquelon, we were greeted by Robert Ataman, the original owner of the business now run by his son. He greets us wearing a traditional Swiss outfit, a big smile under his bushy moustache. He seats us and our server comes by to tell us about the special of the day. We decide to order the La raclette Campagnarde, which came with beef, chicken, ham, Swiss air-dried beef and sausages. We appreciated the size of the restaurant while waiting for our food—it can accommodate over 100 people—and the effort that must have gone into replicating a traditional alpine dining experience. For example, on display are crests of traditional family clans, paintings of Swiss scenery and even a 100-year-old bell that hangs near the restaurant’s entrance.

It turns out, however, that the Ataman clan is not at all from Switzerland. They’re a proudly Quebecois family from Abiti that just loved cooking fondue and raclette at home. In the 1990s they opened the original Meule et Caquelon restaurant in Rouyn-Noranda, before moving to Gatineau around 30 years ago. The costumes, the unique designand the cauldrons of melted cheese is all part of the draw for their clientele which comes from as far as Toronto to dine at the restaurant.

Our food arrives. Word to the wise here: try to work up an appetite if you’re ordering the raclette. We take moment to appreciate the sheer quantity of portions. Fortunately, we were appropriately hungry and immediately started to grill up the meats, broccoli, mushrooms and zucchini. The cheese and merguez sausages were an immediate hit. We followed the steps outlined at the dining table of grilling our meats and vegetables, transferring them to the little pans underneath and layering them with the raclette cheese. Our first bites resulted in closed eyes and silent nods—a good sign. The sharp cheese melted over the meats and vegetables, topped with béchamel sauce, resulted in a delightful bite that immediately took me back to that first raclette.

We continued to grill our food while a Sinatra-esque cover of a Blink 182 song played over the speakers. Our server came by to ask if everything was alright. By the time we were already approaching the signature raclette-induced food coma. Not wanting to doze off at the now-closing restaurant, we nodded in appreciation and asked for the cheque. The $80-meal, including tip, was admittedly quite steep when compared to other strip mall gems we’ve featured on this site.

But where else in the city would you find yourself eating a damn good raclette and forgetting you’re not in an alpine town in Switzerland? It’s an experience that we’re lucky to have in the region.