Inside Mokonuts: The Paris Lunch Spot Everyone's Talking About
Inside Mokonuts: The Paris Lunch Spot Everyone's Talking About
There’s a particular moment when researching Paris restaurants, a point where the sheer abundance of options begins to blur, dining details get disorganized, and only a select few restaurant names consistently surface. After perusing listicles, chef recommendations, TikTok, and countless Reddit threads, Mokonuts kept rising to the top.
After enough mentions, it stopped feeling like a coincidence and began to feel like a sign. Mokonuts isn’t the kind of place you stumble into; reservations—often hard to come by—are required. My excitement grew as I kept reading rave review after rave review. In a city overflowing with places to eat, I couldn't wait to see how Mokonuts compared.
Let’s get into it.
Meet The Minds Behind The Menu
Behind Mokonuts is a husband-and-wife team whose path to the kitchen was anything but traditional. Omar Koreitem and Moko Hirayama opened the tiny Paris restaurant in 2015, yet neither began their careers in food. Both discovered cooking after pursuing entirely different professions, which makes the restaurant feel even more personal.
Omar Koreitem, who oversees the savory side of the menu, was born in Lebanon and raised in Paris before heading ot New York, where his culinary career began. He trained in highly regarded kitchens, including Daniel Boulud’s Daniel in New York and Gordon Ramsay’s Savoy Grill in London. Despite his fine-dining pedigree, his food at Mokonuts never feels stiff or overworked. Instead, it’s thoughtful and comforting with incredible flavors.
Moko Hirayama’s story is equally unexpected. Born in Tokyo and raised between San Francisco and New York, she first worked in law and finance before pursuing pastry. She trained at Ladurée in London and the Michelin-starred Yam’Tcha in Paris, but she’s best known for cookies that have achieved near-legendary status among Mokonuts fans. Her desserts are both familiar and surprising: American-style cookies and rustic sweets infused with Japanese ingredients such as miso, black sesame, tahini, and even seaweed, with coconut. They’re the kind of treats people talk about long after the meal ends.
Today, Mokonuts is just one part of their expanding world in Paris’ 11th arrondissement. Alongside the original lunch-only restaurant, they operate Mokoloco, a residency kitchen for emerging chefs, and Mokochaya, an all-day café that opened in 2024, serving coffee, pastries, and bento-style lunches. In September 2025, they reached another milestone with the release of Mokonuts: The Cookbook, featuring 100 recipes from both chefs. Even as they grow, everything they do remains rooted in the same idea that makes Mokonuts special: cooking that’s personal and thoughtful.
Inside Mokonuts: The Paris Lunch Spot Everyone's Talking About | Menu
Carefully composed, comfortably enjoyed
At Mokonuts, the food is carefully crafted, yet unpretentious. There’s no long menu to pore over, just a concise, midday offering shaped by what’s in season and what excited the kitchen that day. Lunch typically features a few starters, one or two mains, and desserts, all of which change regularly. It’s the type of place where you trust the chefs and let go of expectations, confident that whatever arrives will taste incredible and be beautifully prepared.
The savory dishes are simple yet executed exceptionally well. You might find fresh fish paired with vegetables or legumes, a perfectly cooked piece of roasted chicken, or a vegetable-forward plate that satisfies without leaving you feeling sluggish. The cooking melds French technique with subtle Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences.
When the day of my reservation arrived, I was brimming with excitement. I arrived a few minutes early only to see people clustered around the restaurant, desperately trying to secure a table. At that time, I had never felt so confident in securing a reservation.
While some may dismiss the modest menu, I welcomed it. Only the slightest bit of social decorum kept me from ordering the entire thing.
To Begin | Egg + Porcini Mushrooms
This dish beautifully exemplified Mokonuts’ style: simple, seasonal, and elegantly composed. A sunny egg yolk sits at the center, nestled in a creamy purée. Surrounding it are porcini mushrooms and fresh greens, topped with spices and a drizzle of olive oil. I was given this crusty, delicious bread to break the yolk and soak up every element of the dish.
Inside Mokonuts: The Paris Lunch Spot Everyone's Talking About | Egg + Porcini Mushroom
Main Course | Organic Chicken + Potatoes + Chanterelle Mushrooms
The organic chicken with potatoes and chanterelle mushrooms commanded the table at lunch. Consider the bird itself: burnished skin shattered at the touch of a fork, the result of proper technique and unhurried attention. Beneath it, silken potatoes; around it, golden chanterelles glistening in a sauce so rich and buttery. Pure decadence, and I devoured every single morsel.
Inside Mokonuts: The Paris Lunch Spot Everyone's Talking About | Organic Chicken + Potatoes + Chanterelle Mushrooms
Save Room, Trust Me.
Dessert is where Mokonuts has earned a near legendary reputation. Moko Hirayama’s cookies, in particular, are a reason people return time and again. I had no idea that a simple plate of cookies could somehow manage to stop conversation. But I observed it repeatedly as these cookies and other desserts made their way to the table. While the chocolate-chunk cookie is the most talked-about, the real charm lies in the variety. The selection changes regularly, but the flavors often reflect Moko Hirayama’s signature style: familiar forms layered with unexpected ingredients such as miso, sesame, tahini, rye, or dried fruit. The cookies are typically served warm or just slightly soft, with crisp edges and a chewy center, making them feel indulgent without being heavy.
Pro-Tip: Enjoy a warm plate of cookies after lunch, then place a to-go order so you can savor the goodness later. I’d do just about anything to get my hands on a few of those right now.
Inside Mokonuts: The Paris Lunch Spot Everyone's Talking About | Cookie Plate
Dining at Mokonuts is like discovering a place you almost want to keep secret. The menu is small, the space intimate, and yet the meal is memorable in a way that bigger, louder restaurants rarely achieve. Every detail feels intentional, from the way the food is cooked to the welcome you receive upon arrival.
What lingers afterwards isn’t just a favorite dish or the renowned cookie plate, though those certainly help. It’s the lasting sense of being cared for. Mokonuts makes lunch feel special without effort, and that’s its magic. You leave satisfied and already thinking about your next visit.
Until Next Time!
