The dream team behind Paris’ classy and cocktail-forward Le Mary Celeste, Candelaria, and Glass hits a high note with the greatly anticipated opening of Hero, a three-story Korean canteen and bar. The small menu revisits traditional Korean street food, artfully prepared by Haan Palcu-Chang, former chef at Le Mary Celeste and inventor of the restaurant’s beloved deviled eggs.
A stone’s throw from Porte Saint-Denis, Hero welcomes a constant flow of thirsty Parisians who assemble around the ground-floor bar. Colorful cocktails, champagne flutes, and shots of soju slide across a pink marble countertop. Cocktail enthusiasts will appreciate creations like the refreshing mezcal, citrus, and soju-based slushy Thug Life (12€) and the creamy Bubble Trouble (10€), combining almond milk, orgeat, absinthe, bekseju, and tapioca pearls.
Designed by Swede Jeanette Dalrot and New York agency Safari Sundays, Hero’s interior is original and playful. Diners can climb the staircase lined with potted plants, graffiti, and neon hearts to the restaurant on the second floor, where a quirky arrangement of elevated tables and wooden stools wraps around the walls of the dining room. A quick glance around the small space shows Chinese lanterns made of yarn and fabric, and a multicolored flashing projection on the far wall. The ambiance veers towards new-age club meets Korean spa. In the center of the room is a pretty marble sink, perfect for cleaning up after devouring an order of fried chicken with your bare hands.
Haan wows diners with his variation of yangnyeom, crispy Korean fried chicken covered in sesame seeds and a good dose of garlic sweet and sour glaze or (for the courageous) a spicy gochujang sauce. A half chicken (19-23€) is just right for two people and a whole chicken (36-43€) works well for groups of three or more.
Not to be missed are the flavorful pork buns with ssamjang (7€) and homemade kimchi (3€). Fresh salads (7-9.5€) help to cut the spice and Haan’s seared rice cakes with shiitake ragout, Chinese salted radish, gochujang, and tofu purée (8€) is a personal favorite. The desserts are fun and original, combining ingredients like roasted sweet potatoes, meringue, and maple syrup (7€) or rice krispie treats with matcha and yakult mousse (6€).
Visit Hero with two or three friends (so you can order everything on the menu) but not with a first date. Korean fried chicken is a messy business and after two cocktails and an order of yangnyeom, you can expect to be covered in hot sauce.
Hero – 289 rue Saint-Denis, 75002. No tel.
Related Links
- Emma also checks out Ellsworth, another new opening in Central Paris.
- Craving more Korean? We also checked out Ibaji at La Jeune Rue.
Written by Emma Stencil for the HiP Paris Blog. All photos by Emma Stencil. Looking for a fabulous vacation rental in Paris, London, Provence, or Tuscany? Check out Haven in Paris.
WRITTEN BY
Emma Brode
Emma’s love for France began at the age of three when her aunt bought her an adorable gilet and skirt from Paris. Since then she’s jumped at every chance to explore Europe. She spends her weekdays studying (and tasting!) food and wine in Paris and travels on the weekends with her German husband. Check out @emmarosebrode on Instagram for her favorite restaurants in Paris and beyond.
I had high hopes for this place, the menu sounded nice but unfortunately the whole experience was a typical parisien/hipster/overcrowded waste of money.
You can only book online, which is fine, but when we needed to add a 4th guest to the table we called the phone number listed on Facebook (which is a fake number..0123456789)
I then wrote them an email asking if it was ok to add another guest to the table.
No response.
Luckily when we arrived there was space.
The food was ok, but menu was limited.
Service was shocking, very non-chalant waiter who spent the whole night on his phone.
Seemed very uninterested.
Place got too crowded and noisy to hear ourselves speak.
Definitely not recommending this to anyone, might be better for a weekday lunch if anything..