Hakata Choten Opera (Paris, FRANCE) ★★☆☆☆

Less than a week into our trip to France, little nugget has already voiced his displeasure on having French food everyday on a number of occasions. So, I decided to change things up tonight by treating him to a Japanese ramen dinner at Hakata Choten Opera.



When visiting a ramen shop named "Hakata" (based on the district of Fukuoka, Japan), you can expect a strong focus on tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen, a specialty that Hakata is renowned for.

Tonkotsu Special + Chasu (€20.5) – One of the signature tonkotsu ramen here, combining the secret ingredients from their Tonkotsu Red (broth infused with a secret spicy sauce) and Tonkotsu Black (broth infused with scorched black garlic sauce) recipe. This came with 3 slices of barbecued pork, a soft-boiled egg, fresh chives and bean sprouts (no bamboo shoots!). 

As usual, I sampled the tonkotsu broth with a quick sip but it fell way short of expectations. There was no depth of flavors coming from the broth and instead, just a lot of saltiness (kind of like the broth of instant noodles made with seasoning powder). The red sauce apparently  added some mild spicy kick to the broth but nothing too overpowering there.

The soft-boiled egg.......well, became a hard-boiled egg. 😔😔

Right after the meal, we took a relaxing walk around rue Sainte-Anne and Avenue de l’Opéra. This is where you find all these little Asian restaurants (mostly Japanese and Korean). We also stumbled upon Gyoza Hohei, a Japanese restaurant that used to be called "Izakaya Taisho Ken 3" in 2017. It was there that my little boy was having his breakdown screaming and yelling after our meal (Who could blame a 2 year old kid having a meltdown on his first trip in Europe). This brought back a lot of memories for us.

Once again, this ramen dinner highlighted how fortunate we are as Hongkongers. The diverse range of foods we have the privilege of savoring in Hong Kong, be it Japanese, French or Italian, comes with authentic flavors that transport us to the very essence of these same dishes as enjoyed in their respective native countries.

Food Rating: 3.8/10

Price: €€€

Address: 53 Rue des Petits Champs, 75001 Paris, France

Closest Metro Station: Opéra

Tel: +33 (0)1 4020-9888

Website: www.hakata-choten.com

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm (Mon - Fri), 12:00pm - 4:30pm (Sat - Sun), 6:00pm - 10:00pm (Mon - Sun)