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OUR STORY

Founded in 2016, The Hood Paris was created to provide a gathering space in the heart of Paris, with food, coffee, music, community and creativity at its heart.

We are in the heart of one of most vibrant, diverse streets in Paris, Rue Jean Pierre Timbaud, a village in itself. Anyone can walk in and feel somehow they belong.

The Hood Paris is possible thanks to a global and local community who supported our Kickstarter campaign in Summer 2019 to finance much-needed renovations. The Hood Paris hopes to be a continuing catalyst of cohesion, of inclusiveness, of discovery, an inspiring fertile ground where meaningful relationships grow.

No prejudices here, just love and smiles. And amazing Asian food, and good coffee. Alright, and music (lah).

Come and join us !

CO-FOUNDERS

Pearlyn Lee (aka Pearl, the other co-founder) is a Singaporean based in Paris, and the curator behind the events, catering and music playlists at The Hood. Previously in banking & commodities, she decided to move to Paris and opened The Hood Paris in 2016 with the goal of bringing people together through great coffees, music under-represented flavours from South / Southeast Asia.

Khanh-Ly Huynh (aka Ly, one of our co-founders), the winner of Masterchef France in 2015 and creative mastermind behind the day and evening menu at The Hood Paris. Born in France from Vietnamese parents, Khanh-Ly never formally studied cooking before Masterchef France, but later obtained a culinary degree from the Institute Paul Bocuse. She has worked as a private chef for foreign ambassadors, ran pop-ups and served as food consultant in Paris, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and Switzerland.

THE FLAVORS AND INGREDIENTS

Surprising flavours, in-house spice mixes. Our menu is mostly South-east Asian inspired, straight-forward, seasonal, and with ingredients mostly sourced from sustainable farms in France and Italy. Straight up Southeast Asian cooking with French produce, and iconic South-East Asian flavours (including some of our favourites: Pandan, Sriracha, Gula Melaka, Kaya, Ginger/garlic condiments, and Hainanese Chicken). All our condiments are made in-house with love and care.

INSPIRATION

A reflection of our two female, Asian co-founders’ roots in South-east Asia, and their encounters and travels.

“BISTRO DE QUARTIER” THE NEIGHBOURHOOD, RUE JEAN PIERRE TIMBAUD, PARIS 11

The menu was also created to reflect the neighbourhood that was traditionally known to be a bar area. We try to answer this missing link with all day Southeast Asian breakfasts, brunch, specialty coffee, and carefully selected craft beers. We are your liaison through the day, your providers of delicious food, great vibes and good drinks.

PANDAN

A naturally green flavouring derived from Pandan leaves, used in many Southeast Asian desserts. We extract it from Pandan leaves in-house. It’s naturally sweet, with a slight vanilla flavour, and we’re just a little bit obsessed with it. It’s in our house-made Kaya Jam (see below), and our Pandan chiffon cake. We also use it to cook rice!

COOL BEANS

All our coffee beans are sourced from Hexagone Cafe in Paris, and also Drop Coffee in Stockholm!

KAYA TOASTS

Another Singapore breakfast favourite: Kaya fait maison, served with 2 oeufs parfaits, salt and pepper, and dark soy sauce. Throw in the salted French butter, et voila, you have one of the simplest and best Singapore-style breakfasts we can have here in Paris.

THE SRIRACHA & THE SAMBAL

Our homemade Sriracha sauce deserves its own line – 100% vegan, 100% fait maison (homemade) - we currently aim to have our sriracha on the shelves by 2024. We also make our own Sambals, and Ginger Condiment. We started bottling them in 2020 during the 1st confinement, and they are now available for sale and delivery all across Paris.

RICE RICE RICE, CHICKEN RICE.

After almost 900 plates sold out in 7 pop-ups since 2016, we decided to put this on our menu! This is Singapore’s national dish, and we decided to interpret it The Hood’s way, with our own flavours and condiments, using free-range farm chickens from France sourced by our neighbours, Terroirs d’avenir. All day Asian breakfast lovers can try the Congee (or “Chao” or “Zhou” as we call them in Vietnamese or Chinese). Throw in a tea egg or oeuf parfait, and ask for extra Char Siu. One of our co-founders eats a congee literally every day...

DAIKON KIM CHI

We use to make an amazing pickled daikon Korean-style with the perfect crunch, a wonderful match with a plate of chicken rice or congee. Tell us if we should bring it back!

BANH MI

Our star daytime dish (#thebanhmiisyours). Unable to track down a really standout version of Vietnam’s most famous sandwich in Paris, we decided to make our own. We have meat and vegetarian-friendly versions as featured in The Independent. The mayonnaise is home-made with tofu, and the fillings changes seasonally. In July 2021, we decided to give our Banh Mi it’s own stand, and Nonette Banh Mi & Donuts was created, right across the street.

VEGAN AND GLUTEN FREE OPTIONS

To accommodate the dietary needs of our community, we have introduced vegan and gluten free all day Asian breakfast on our menu (Vegan Nasi Lemak). Check out our menu here.

POP-UPS

We love global cuisines, and we’re firm believers that brunch food should be about more than avocado toast and pancakes (as much as we adore both those things). We’ve hosted over 25 pop-ups to date, with food from Tel Aviv, Korea, Texas, Singapore, Vietnam, the West Indies… we could go on. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for news about the next one.

In 2023, we launched a Singapore series #CHOPECHOPE SG sharing Singapore food and heritage stories from Singapore chefs, thanks to Singapore Global Network, and Airbnb!

BEERS & NATURAL WINES

NATURAL CIDERs!

What’s Asian food without a light lager and Asian beers? We also carry a select list of natural whites, reds and pet nat that go perfectly with our menu. Ask The Hood team for a recommendation!

We have Vegan and Gluten Free options !

MISSION STATEMENT

The Hood Paris is your home.

You can come here to eat and drink, you can come here to create.

We’re a Coffeeshop & Asian Canteen.

We’re your social space the neighbourhood, a welcoming family of strangers,

united by a universal love of things that bring people together:

food, music, coffee, you.

The Hood Paris is for old souls and the young-at-heart.

Tourists, locals, visitors from space.

Host an event, come for the food & drinks, enjoy our playlist, sit at table 5, befriend a stranger. The Hood is for everyone,

The Hood is Yours.

10 FUN FACTS ABOUT
THE HOOD PARIS !

i.

THE NAME ("THE HOOD")

Derived in part from the idea of neighborhood, as you’d expect, but also from the etymological roots of the word for ‘cappuccino’ (capuche, which in French means… hood!). As a tribute, we call our Cafe Creme (the "Capuche") !

ii.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD, BIstro de QUARTIER:

Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud—a highly diverse street whose social mix and village-like spirit forms a huge part of our identity : a melting pot, a street mix of cultures, a creative enclave. The New York Times called the are “ a little reminiscent of Parisian intellectuals and jazz centers of hte 1970s : Saint-Germain-des-Prés, or the East Village of the 1980s, with all that foretells… Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud is a microcosm of Paris.”

iii.

THE COLOR GREEN

We’ve always loved GREEN. Our very first purchase was a bright green Marzocco FB80 espresso machine, and we’ve essentially built The Hood’s decor around it. We’ve got green walls, green cakes (aka The Pandan), green business cards, green cocktails… and most importantly: a green philosophy. We tackle food waste with Too Good to Go and take care to locally-source from sustainable farms in France as many of our ingredients as possible.

iv.

THE 70s

One of the best decades in musical history and the inspiration for our decor. The era represented dynamism, hope, pre-internet fun and simple pleasures.

v.

MUSIC LOVERS

Pearl, one of our co-founders, got the idea for The Hood after participating in a street jam session during the Fête de la Musique. Seeing how music could bring together total strangers got her wondering how she could create a permanent occasion for that. The rest is history! We have instruments lying around waiting for a jam - they aren’t ornamental, but yearning to be played. The piano, the guitar, the djembe, ukelele, violin, shakers..

vi.

ASIAN FOOD

The Hood Paris is the only coffeeshop in Paris serving up South-east Asian street food, home to the Pandan Chiffon Cake, Kaya Toasts (first in Paris !), the famous take on Singapore’s favourite Chicken Rice, and our Pork & Chicken liver pate Banh Mi. Refer to 14 fun facts on our menu here.

vii.

TABLE FIVE

We are convinced this table is magical pre 2020 (currently table five is known as Table 1). People who sit there always end up connecting, and many an unexpected creative or work gig has been scored at this table.

viii.

SOCIAL MEDIA

We love how social media create and inspire communities—but we also believe strongly in logging off from time to time. At The Hood Paris, we have laptop-free hours in place during certain hours and strongly encourage real-life conversation. Talk to strangers! They’re just friends you haven’t met yet.

ix.

OUR SPOTIFY PLAYLISTS

You were going to ask for it eventually. Our baristas are mostly music-lovers / musicians. They curate all music played at The Hood Paris. We also have a collaborative playlist if you wish to participate in our Weekly Mixtape selections. Ask the team when you're at The Hood !

x.

CROWDFUNDED BY THE COMMUNITY

The Hood is Yours—because even though we technically run this place, you’re the ones who made The Hood happened and worth coming back to. Our role is to provide a space with quality food and drink. We've been reviewed as probably the "happiest place on earth", we hope you'll experience and have memories at The Hood Paris this way too.