What a year, 2020 ! And we’re still here. Rolling with the punches, taking each day as it comes. Despite the many lows and set backs this year (including the inability to fulfil some of our obligations from the lack of resources), we want to take a step back to highlight the good things we’re grateful for in 2020 and what we’ve achieved thanks to everyone’s support and patience.

Here’s 8 reasons why you and us deserve a big virtual hug for everything we’ve accomplished together :

1) RELATIVELY UNKNOWN DISHES WELCOMED IN THE PARIS FOOD SCENE , MERCI !

Laksa Noodles (vegan), Nasi Lemak, and Sambal were welcomed with much curiosity and a welcomed appetite in Paris this February (thanks to inspirations and guidance from Sri, our Indonesian friend and chef). Breakfast congee and Paratha & Dhal made a brief appearance prior streamlining our menu during the confinement.

The Vietnamese Fried Chicken and Bunlycious with Chef Khanh Ly (our co-founder) was such a hit this summer, we kept it going until now. The discreet but crazy delicious Vietnamese Porc au Caramel rice bowl became a neighbourhood best seller.

Khanh Ly made the Singapore/ Malaysia staple Kaya such a dessert delight in Paris and because you love it, it’s now an all day staple ! From Kaya Toasts, to Kaya pots. Rumour has it in 2021 , we might be looking at Kaya subscriptions and more Kaya flavours ;) The Hainanese Chicken rice remains our best-seller since day 1, with the roast chicken version introduced for Thanksgiving and Christmas weekends ! if you’ve tried it recently, we’ve levelled up the flavours to get closer to the best in Singapore !

2) PROMPT PIVOT TOWARDS A DELIVERY MODEL & MEAL KITS, MARCH 2020

With a cuisine relatively unknown in Paris, and post renovations challenges, it also meant = WORKING HARDER.

Staying visible during the confinements, and keeping our cashflow as a priority protect the jobs of our team during and post quarantine, and making sure our food loving community had their chicken rice fix !

An in-house delivery/ click & collect system was set up by end March 2020, enabling Paris and surrounding suburbs to reach us (and us to them) . QR code menus were introduced (inspired by Asia), and daily operations fell entirely on our two co-founders Pearl & Khanh-ly, together with Sri, to ensure the rest of the team could stay in during the confinement in March. Food Rations were provided to the homeless on weekends.

We launched a Banh Mi and Laksa Kit in April 2020, to alleviate the burdens of daily home cooking (especially families). PS: yet in the second lock down, we realised people preferred convenience over meal kits !.

3) HOT SAUCES AND A SUITE OF ASIAN EPICERY

At the request of clients early 2020, we started bottling our signature Sriracha and Ginger/Garlic condiment. The quarantine pushed us to roll out our sauce project quicker than we anticipated, and shortly we introduced Sambal, Chai and Golden Milk Syrup, that occupied a special place in your pantry through the year.

4) CONTINUING COLLABS, CREATIVE, COMMUNITY, CHEFS

And even though it was a difficult time for everyone and running community-driven events as we use to was impossible, we sought comfort and band together with our creative community .

There was a time of collaborating, with Paris Treize Lab for their awesome feature of our co-founder Khanh Ly . We got together with My Parisian Life for a summer pop up of hand-made soaps and merchandise, and worked with the re-freshed L’arrosoir (Adrienne Ryser) in our hood for peonies + pandan Mother’s Day Gift set. Stephen Heiner kicked off our blogs and supported providing perspectives on marketing strategies. Sarah who brought a French-Vietnamese perspective and a tonne of enthusiasm to our social media strategy in the summer. Shantha who launched her food photography gig and helped us with ours for our website. Astrini who created our brand guide and brought along her Indonesian network to The Hood. Puxan who provided us with much needed visual content during a difficult period (while we provided a humble space to launch Taste of Chalinda’s chai masala peanut butter), Preeti launching Harupi Media while providing us ASMR video content of our Pandan, Kaya and Banh Mi. Tima for helping us photograph our Meal Kits! Pola for bringing her Jetting Around tribe to The Hood for wines, aperos & meet ups . Finally, big up to Danielle (our honorary Singaporean friend) for her first public gig / jam and our only Folk Off Dimanche for 2020. Honorary team members of The Hood, Allan and Sharon Au for always giving The Hood all their love, Erica, and Emma in particular for appreciating what we do in the Asian food scene here as chefs. Ryoko, Aurelien, Felyn for always the neighbourly love. We also welcomed Singapore creatives to the team with Jiahao and Xia Yin who helped us with our graphic work at The Hood !

5) FOOD MARKETS

We joined hands with our peer Asian restaurants and took part in our first Chinese New Year street food event with Le Food Market, helping us reach out to especially an Asian community in Paris who were unaware of our existence ! We sold out over 250 plates of Hainanese chicken rice and Beef Rendang that evening. We look forward to food markets/ street food markets making a come back in 2021 ;)

6) CELEBRATING THE TEAM

Until the last day of 2020, we soldier on with optimism as we enter 2021. We stayed open as much as we can taking all necessary safety precautions during the year, as the team chipped in to help outside their comfort zones from photography, to guerilla marketing, to building a terrace for the summer. The team had to adapt their service skill sets and quickly learn the needs to execute orders for our e-shop, delivering the same hospitality in a virtual sense. In the final weeks of December, we also managed to squeeze in deliveries to help the homeless refugees with Sunday dinners. We can’t be more proud of the growth we’ve seen professionally and personally for each of them.

7) SUPPORT AND MENTIONS IN THE PRESS AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Having learnt and evolved every year at The Hood Paris, 2020 brought us a new wave of visibility of our revamped menu, revamped space and our delivery model.

Our social media engagement almost doubled in a span of 7 months, and we received much needed coverage in the French. media on Telerama Sortir, Fou de Pâtisserie, Vogue, Le Petit Journal (for French expats in Singapore), Vivre Paris, Le Figaro, Insidr Paris, No Diet Club tours. We know who you are, and we’re grateful for the highlights and the much appreciated mentions during a challenging period.

Our co-founder Khanh Ly also received a nod from ID-France Magazine as a female Asian chef bringing inventive flavours into the Paris food scene!

8) Music MIXTAPES #THEHOODCHEZMOI

Good or bad times, there’s always music, and it always brings everything together. It’s what created The Hood Paris in the first place. We’re so happy to have a growing community of music-lovers sharing our love for music since 2016 with our weekly mixtape.

Now, who’s ready to rock and roll into 2021 ?