UPDATE: Merèon will open Jan. 31, 2024.
Soon, diners in the Ambleside neighbourhood can bid bienvenue to a new brunch-focused bistro.
Merèon is slated to open its doors at 1479 Clyde Ave. in West Vancouver early in the new year.
The restaurant’s menu “will marry time-honoured French recipes and classic techniques with West Coast ingredients delivered fresh daily,” reads a statement. Selections include a trio of croque sandwiches, quiche du jour, eggs en cocotte, French onion soup, socca, niçoise salad, duck confit cassoulet and streak frites.
Merèon’s menu was designed by Emmanuel Joinville, the chef/owner of Jules Bistro in Gastown. After opening in 2007, that restaurant will close its doors for good at the end of December. In the new year, Joinville will lead the kitchen at the new West Vancouver eatery.
Joinville started his career in his hometown of Dijon, France as an apprentice at chef Rene Villard’s Michelin three-starred restaurant Chateau Bourgogne. After 12 years there, he moved to Paris where he opened Le 6 Bosquet, a small gastropub-inspired restaurant near the Eiffel Tower.
When it opens, Merèon will host 52 seats for brunch five days a week, Wednesday to Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Owner and North Vancouver resident Ophelia Arida says the idea for the restaurant came from her many travels to France, where she developed a love of the culture, cuisine and the joy of bringing people together around a table to share a meal.
“Those trips helped me develop my passion to host and showcase the sort of hospitality and home-spun cuisine for which French culture is so well known,” she said in the statement. “It’s a place that’s nostalgic, welcoming and evocative where guests can gather around the table and enjoy a little joie de vivre with friends, family and loved ones.”
The name Merèon is a nod to women who helped establish Lyon as the gastronomic centre of France – especially Mère Brazier, the first chef to win three Michelin stars, for her two restaurants at the time.
