First off, the smiling owner brings over a small Staub® pot filled with sticky rice and chicken, "gueban" in Korean. Then in a quick movement of the arms, he pours on soy sauce (which is made in-house). The whole thing is sweet, but the umami of the soy sauce goes perfectly with pine nuts, pumpkin seeds and walnut chips.
The owner is the perfect teacher, keen to show any novices how exactly to eat a bibimbap. It comes in a small wooden salad bowl, with spinach, courgette, an omelette, soy sauce (served cold) with a (steaming) bowl of rice with sesame seeds. Mix it all together and it’s bliss.
Chef Sun Hee Kim’s refined cuisine combines perfectly with the vintage decor in this lovely loft. Suspended from the ceiling are delicate glass panels and the kitchen is all white tiles and fifties earthenware. A perfect marriage between France and Korea.
The evening menu includes a selection of broths and stews, and even though you have to get to the 15th arrondissement first, it’s the closest you’ll get to Seoul without leaving the périphérique.