SEOUL, KOREA — Bright lights, scores of university students, cheap eats and numerous bars is what the Shinchon area in northern Seoul is known for. Most of the students hanging around here are from Yonsei or EhwaUniversity, but this popular spot easily draws in young Seoulites from all areas of the city.

Near Yonsei’s main gate, on the second floor of a humble brick building is the French bistro Le Petit Paris. It isn’t located in an area of Seoul where you would most likely expect a French restaurant — those are usually found along the main streets of Itaewon or in the restaurant outlets of luxurious hotels in central Seoul — but Le Petit Paris stands alone as the only French restaurant in Shinchon. As more and more Koreans travel abroad to European destinations, they come back to Korea in search of authentic cuisine they were exposed to while abroad, with French and Italian fare the most sought after in Seoul. The proprietors and chefs at these French restaurants are a mixture of Koreans, many whom have studied culinary arts in France, or French chefs.

Le Petit Paris is humble and quaint, with friendly Korean faces greeting you in Korean, French or English, depending on what language you use to speak to them. Although the two owners, Mathieu and Damien, embody a hybrid identity of being Korean born but adopted and raised in France, they offer no fusion food or any entrees with a hint of Korean influence — not even panchan. The most popular item at Le Petit Paris is steak and frites (fries), and the set menus that include salad, steak, dessert and coffee go over well.

Owners Damien (left) and Mathieu are Korean adoptees from France.

Damien and Mathieu spent most of their life in France but didn’t know each other until a couple of years ago, when they found themselves at a Global Overseas Adoptees’ Link (GOAL) meeting in Seoul. GOAL is an organization in Seoul that provides support for visiting Korean adoptees as well as those who live and work in Seoul. Damien knew he “wanted to open a business or do something in Korea” professionally, and when he first met Mathieu at a GOAL meeting, he suggested they open a French restaurant together. They chose Shinchon because it was where Damien was dropped off when he first boarded a bus at IncheonAirport.

Both owners haven’t spent a cent on advertising and believe that word of mouth and the attention they receive from the Korean media has been enough to attract customers. These days, Korean adoptees who live and work in Seoul are given positive attention by the media, which seems to be the impetus for a lot of the press coverage Le Petit Paris has received since it first opened its doors in the spring of 2006. A two-page spread in the Chosun Ilbo lead to a packed restaurant for a couple of months where customers required a reservation every night of the week during that period.