5 restaurants for traveling to Korea without leaving Paris

Located on the edge of "Little Tokyo" on Rue Sainte-Anne, this bistro with raw walls populated with wooden tables and hanging garlands of chili peppers, which has a little sister on the left bank (La Table de Mee), is full at lunchtime thanks to its generous and reasonably priced lunch menu, where you can enjoy traditional Korean specialties: fried dumplings with kimchi (mandu), thin leek white crepe, chicken fritters, whelk and cucumber salad, then bibimbap, bulgogi, stir-fried rice and noodles, as well as a vegetarian menu... Note the temporary terrace for sunny days.

Bistrot Mee. 5, rue d'Argenteuil ( ^1st ). Tel.: 01 42 86 11 85. Daily. Lunch menu at €19. A la carte menu approx. €30. Open all summer.

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For ten years, this chic, contemporary, Zen-style restaurant, which has since expanded to the Champs-Élysées, has been showcasing Korean cuisine just a stone's throw from Place des Vosges! The wooden tables, inlaid with plates for cooking barbecue and bulgogi, blend seamlessly into this exotic setting, combining light and shade, concrete, metal, stone, and leather. While the menu offers many classics with varying degrees of modernization (grilled shrimp ravioli, kimchi pancakes, beef tartare, bibimbap, etc.), the star of the place is the barbecue, with a wide selection of beef, pork, or seafood, served with a host of spicy sides (kimchi, lotus roots, etc.).

Soon Grill. 78, rue des Tournelles ( ^3rd ). Tel.: 01 42 77 13 56. Daily. Lunch menus: €21 (weekdays) and €29. A la carte: €50-110. Open all summer.

On a small street near Odéon, a restaurant with the look of a neat bistro, all wood veneer, whose menu strives to move away from the usual dumplings and bibimbaps. The two chefs Mingoo Kang and Chang-Ho Shin create bold and sharp recipes that modernize the Seoul tradition: mandu filled with oyster, tofu and lemon soy sauce, chicken broth, tofu, vegetables, shrimp, oyster and chili (hémuldoubutang), fried surf and turf chicken with anchovies and Padron peppers, chestnut mochi...

Sétopa. 6, rue Dupuytren ( ^6th ). Tel.: 09 77 91 95 01. Daily except Sunday. Lunch menus at €25 and €30. A la carte: €45-60. Closed from August 11 to 16.

The canteen with its bohemian decor (fir green tiled counter, Formica chairs, vintage frames, shelves lined with knick-knacks) by Indian chef Manoj Sharma (Jugaad, Sharma Ji), founded in 2018 with his South Korean wife Sangmi Lee, and since expanded near Luxembourg, seduces with its short menu mixing classics from the Land of the Morning Calm and fragrant fusion recipes. The mi-mandu, steamed dumplings with thin dough filled with pork or vegetables, the kimchi balls, a kind of arancini with fermented cabbage and shrimp, the KFC - Korean Fried Chicken - ultra-crispy fried chicken with soy or spicy sauce, or the brownie with gochujang chili condiment are all devoured with relish, washed down with soju or somaek.

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Seoul Mama. 33 Violet Street ( ^15th ). Tel.: 09 51 45 37 38. Daily. Menu: €35-40. Closed from August 11 to 17.

Since the beginning of the year, the Guimet Museum of Asian Arts has been welcoming a new Korean restaurant called Hanok - a nod to the wooden dwellings of the Land of the Morning Calm - and orchestrated by chef Young Kyoung Lee under the brand "Misso", which means smile. Inspired by ancestral recipes passed down by her mother, she offers behind a surprising door and in a traditional decor Korean hot dog, steamed puffed eggs, pork belly stewed with Chinese cabbage leaf, bulgogi, bibimbap, grilled eel... For sunny days, Misso also sets up its street food on the museum's rooftop terrace, at Han Rooftop , which hosts DJ sets from Thursday to Saturday evenings (until the beginning of October).

Hanok at the Guimet Museum. 6, place d'Iéna ( ^16th ). Tel.: 01 56 52 53 55. Daily except Tues., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Menu: €35-55. Open all summer.