A trio of twenty-somethings are taking the Lyon restaurant scene by storm with their wildly successful pop-up restaurants. And it’s not just because of the food – the restaurants also offer diners a slice of theatre.
Three former students of the Paul Bocuse Institute, Loris de Vaucelles, Annaïg Ferrand and Jade Frommer, founded Ephemera last year, specialising in pop-up restaurants which create an enchanted universe for diners to immerse themselves in.
The restaurant Athera, which invites diners to journey through a wild planet with the help of luminescent plants and light installations as well as jungle sounds and smells, took an astonishing 1,300 bookings within five hours of opening. On the roof of the Part-Dieu shopping centre, it takes its inspiration from the movie Avatar, with the setting directly inspired by James Cameron’s movie and the lush jungle planet Pandora, inhabited by the Na’vis. Act fast if you want to see it for yourself – the restaurant is only open until August 31 and July is already completely booked up.
The warmly humorous menu is also themed and includes the likes of Tiger’s Tears, tender pieces of beef marinated in chilli oil, soy sauce, sake, coriander seeds and Voatsiperifery pepper, with roasted peanuts.
The Ephemera team first hit the headlines last summer when they launched a pop-up restaurant in Lyon on the theme of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Jade Frommer, Annaïg Ferrand and Loris de Vaucelles, all in their early 20s, graduated from the Paul Bocuse Institute in Lyon. “We didn’t necessarily know each other at the beginning because we weren’t in the same industry. We met for a project of the students’ office and it immediately matched between us,” Loris told French newspaper Vingt Minutes.
It all began as part of a college project to create a pop-up restaurant from scratch – and the trio discovered a passion for it. They managed to launch Athera in just six weeks, with Loris creating the menus and running the kitchens, Annaïg managing the human resources side of the operation and Jade taking care of development and fundraising.
Two menus are available – five courses for €49 or a selection of tapas for €10- €20. Find out more on Ephemera’s Facebook page or visit ephemerarestaurant.com.
