The Hood

Wander off the beaten track to Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud in the 11th arrondissement, and you’ll find the one of the only Singaporean restaurants in Paris. The Hood serves traditional delicacies like Hainanese chicken rice (poached chicken served with fragrant rice, broth and homemade sauces) and nasi lemak (fried chicken with coconut rice, eggs, chili paste and crispy peanut fish garnish), alongside vegan and gluten-free renditions of other Singaporean favorites. 

Opened in May 2016 by Singaporean Pearlyn Lee and French-Vietnamese Chef Khanh-Ly Huynh—the first Asian woman to win Masterchef France in 2015—The Hood aims to celebrate their shared Southeast Asian roots. The food is packed with flavors typical of the region, like pandan, kaya, sambal, ginger and gula melaka, all guaranteed to tantalize your taste buds. They also use quality meat, sourced from small free-range farms across France and offer a selection of natural wines and specialty coffee.

The Hood adds to the multicultural dynamism of the 11th arrondissement, a neighborhood shaped by immigrants— provincial French from the south and middle of the country, eastern European Jews, North Africans primarily from Algeria, West Africans, and Vietnamese and Cambodian. “This is the real Paris,” says Pearlyn, proudly.

As passionate about food as it is about community, The Hood is more than a restaurant. It is a place to gather. The narrow road on which it is nestled is often abuzz with locals and tourists attending the jam sessions, film screenings, book launches and art exhibitions hosted there. Their culinary pop-up called Chope Chope (which flies famous Singaporean chefs to Paris) also occurs to great fanfare several times a year and is not to be missed.  

Come for the food, stay for the kampong (village) spirit. It’s no Champs-Élysées, but sometimes that’s the point.