Workaround for Appmenu missing in remote X session?

[MI <mi lists alma ch>]

I often use Meld through a remote X session (ssh -X). In such a case, I 
cannot access the Preferences, which are supposed to be in the "Meld" 
application menu. But on my client (Ubuntu 16.04), the Meld menu at the 
top of my desktop is empty when Meld runs on a remote machine.

I realize that the Application menu in Gnome will be going away at some 
point, and should fix this problem. But in the meantime I'm looking for 
a workaround that lets me access the Meld preferences.

Would someone have an idea?

Some way to disable the app menu and have the "Meld" menu in Meld window 
with the others?

Or some way to add a shortcut to "Preferences" on the icon toolbar?

(I'm using meld 3.16.4 on Debian 9 and CentOS 7 servers, from my Ubuntu 
16.04 client).

Thanks for any ideas,

MI