Meinhardt Fine Foods opens third location, near Ambleside Beach in West Vancouver

The grocery store, which is owned by the Jim Pattison Group, has patio and indoor seating

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      Meinhardt Fine Foods has opened its newest location in West Vancouver. Located in the Grosvenor Ambleside residential and retail development at 1350 Marine Drive (which also houses Earls Ambleside and Heirloom), it’s the third location for the grocery store and its first on the North Shore.

      “It’s a boutique store with a European feel, to give people a daily shopping experience rather than going to a big-box store,” Michael Meinhardt, Meinhardt Fine Foods general manager, said in an interview at the new 4,000-square-foot space. “There’s a flower market outside the front door.

      “There’s indoor seating—28 seats—and our patio [with additional seating] is in the works,” he adds.  “It was important for us to offer that, because West Vancouver and North Vancouver are both very community-oriented. We’re bringing in high-quality products at fair price points and items that our customers want to see.”

      The store carries everything from fresh produces to various types of olive oils to its own line of fresh pasta.

      In-house pastries include macarons, cream puffs, pistachio-mousse and passionfruit coconut cakes, vanilla-custard fruit tarts, cream-cheese blondies, and panna cotta, to name just a few. All of them, like the sandwiches, deli items, and other house-made foods, are made with sustainable, non-GMO, free-range ingredients; the shop’s fish is Ocean Wise.

      Later this summer, the grocery store will become first in B.C. to participate in the provincial government’s Informed Dining program, meaning it will list nutritional information for its pastry and prepared-food items. Its Healthy Lunch deal features two small salads for $6.50.

      Many of the West Van Meinhardt’s products are local. The barista bar uses JJ Bean coffee, while you can also find artisan ice cream (with seven signature Meinhardt flavours and others that will rotate seasonally) made by Eleanor Chow of Gastown’s Cadeaux Bakery. Current flavours include lavender apricot, fleur de hazelnut, and vanilla latte. (Try the affogato, which is served on a wooden board with vanilla-latte ice cream and espresso in separate glasses for you to mix to your liking.)Take, for example, Chef Enrick’s tourtiere and other savory pies; Georels’ bone broth; halva by Jasmine Mediterranean Foods; matcha from Amoda tea, and cheese from Abbotsford’s Mt. Lehman Cheese Co. and Little Qualicum Cheese Works.

      Beyond B.C.’s borders, there’s Sugarfina candy, Welsh cheese from Snowdownia; organic, slow-cooked black licorice from Denmark’s Lakrids by Johan Bülow; Sal de Ibiza white-truffle chips; Fabbri’s Amarena cherries in syrup from Italy; and more.

      Meinhardt Fine Foods got its start in 1996 in South Granville. It has another location at Pacific Centre (and one more in the works). In 2012, it was purchased by the Jim Pattison Group.

      The shop is open Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Sundays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

      Places to go nearby

      Approx. 15 minutes away

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