Merenda & 24Suns
Since Juran’s grandma lives in Oceanside, it’s an area that we frequent quite a lot & because of that, we’ve had more opportunity to find cool spots & to dive into the culinary scene around there. Recently, I stumbled upon Merenda, as well as 24Suns, which both immediately intrigued me for a variety of reasons.
With Merenda, I was naturally fascinated by the interior of the restaurant, as it’s vibrant with color & has a very charming European appeal to it. Looking through the pictures also got me excited because of their tapas paired with wine approach. After visiting the restaurant, I also ended up learning that in Italian, “Merenda” actually translates to “a snack & a time for a light meal or a break between lunch & dinner”. I personally love that so much & something about it makes me further appreciate the little joys in life :)
During our visit, we ended up getting a few snacks & beverages at Merenda prior to having our main dinner at 24Suns, & wow.. were BEYOND impressed. The quality, flavor, & presentation of the two dishes were perfection. Whenever we visit a restaurant with pretty ceramics & glassware, we love to check the branding of the product, & we noticed that they source Kinto items, as well as a local brand called The Wheel Stoneware. Ugh, I already love Kinto so much, but after that, I’ve now become equally in love with The Wheel Stoneware. Check them out if you haven’t already cause their stuff is super pretty!! (I shouldn’t be buying anymore kitchenware since I have a problem, but this one might need to be an exception).
Although we only had a few items at Merenda, we already cannot wait to return. Also, I’ve always wanted to go to Addison (the three star Michelin restaurant in San Diego), but I’ve never gone yet since it basically costs an arm & a kidney. However, we met the restaurant manager at Merenda & found out that he had previously worked at Addison, which was really cool & such a great surprise. Funny enough though, we ended up going to 24Suns later in the evening, which also happened to be recently created by two former chefs that worked at Addison.
Therefore, if we never get to experience the extravagance that Addison has to offer, at least we got the next best thing(s) that night! You can tell that these chefs have taken the skills that they’ve acquired from Addison into their new restaurant.
24Suns is a play on Chinese cuisine paired with local farm-fresh ingredients. It was a fun time being able to try out a unique & more fancy approach on Chinese food. We really enjoyed the ‘Five Regions Half Duck’, which were 5 different techniques in the preparation of the duck (fujian, sichuan, guangdong, yunnan, & lanzhou). The experience is definitely more on the pricey/bougie side & personally, I prefer the more traditional approach on Chinese food, but we truly love being able to support chefs & their creative vision with food. The service was also great & they were super engaging with us. The chef even came out to speak with us about why he created the restaurant & to show his gratitude, which was memorable & sweet.
All in all, we love the fact that north county is seeing more of these cool new restaurants pop up, & it’s always such a great time being able to support local. Can’t wait to experience more around the area, especially as we venture up north into the new year!
Quick little intermission at Sound by the Sea, Oceanside :)
