Hugo & Co – Tomy Gousset's Cambodian bao bar on rue Monge

On the rue Monge, a short walk from the Jardin des Plantes, Hugo & Co is the second Paris restaurant from chef Tomy Gousset, who first made his name at Tomy & Co in the 7th arrondissement, a bistro that has since earned a MICHELIN Star and turned more formal. Hugo & Co, opened in 2018, is the playful, affordable counterpart: a room built around a concrete communal table, stacked wooden crates thick with greenery, and a neon sign spelling out the chef's own mantra, Life is Food. The name is a nod to Gousset's eldest son, and the cooking follows the same personal logic, moving between the Cambodia of his birth and the New York of his training years. Hugo & Co is selected in the MICHELIN Guide, its kitchen marked out for Modern Cuisine and a moderate spend rather than a tasting menu, and it was voted bistro of the year in 2019. It remains a weekday-only address in the Latin Quarter, built for sharing plates rather than ceremony.

01The room and the setting

Inside, the decor plays on two cities at once: ivory wall tiles recall the New York subway and Brooklyn, while wooden crates stacked to the ceiling and filled with greenery form a kind of living wall behind them. Tables sit at bar height, somewhere between standing-room and a classic dinner table, lined with leather banquettes and chairs, and at the centre of the room a large concrete communal table seats up to eight, lit from above by the chef's neon motto. A four-seat counter at the back is built for solo diners and for the restaurant's cocktail list, and in warm weather the glass frontage opens fully onto the street, with a terrace for about a dozen more covers.

The design is the work of architect Richard Lafond, who signed the décor, halfway between a chic Parisian bistro and a New York bar, with wood crates on the wall, a "life is food" neon and white tiling, the same visual language he has used across Gousset's three Paris addresses.

02The chef

Hugo and Co is the second Paris restaurant from chef Tomy Gousset, who first made his name at Tomy & Co, and in contrast to that now Michelin-starred and more formal address, Hugo & Co is the playful, more affordable little brother. Gousset came to cooking relatively late, training at Ferrandi before working his way through some of the most demanding kitchens in Paris and New York, and the menu at Hugo & Co draws directly on that itinerary, and on his own Cambodian origins, a detail the restaurant states plainly on its own pages.

Insider tip

Open Monday–Friday only, lunch and dinner; booking recommended.

That dual identity, trained French technique applied to a Cambodian-American sensibility, has not gone unnoticed by French critics: Gault & Millau rates Hugo & Co 13/20 as a "Chef's Restaurant", describing it as a bistro full of character, style, and charm where people come to relax and enjoy a modern atmosphere.

03The cooking

The kitchen describes its own project as a cuisine open to the world, cosmopolitan influences folded into one another so that diners can graze, share several plates and move from one culinary register to the next within a single meal. The house signature is steamed bao-style brioche buns filled with marinated oxtail, pickled vegetables, peanuts and coriander, a dish the restaurant itself holds up as the clearest expression of its style, a round trip between Cambodia, the chef's birth country, and New York street food. The à la carte menu changes with the seasons and the market, built for sharing rather than individual courses.

04What to order

The set Menu Hugo runs at three courses for 46€, or two courses for 37€, prices read on the restaurant's own site in 2026. Among the starters, a marinated beef tartare with pear and crisp salsify sits alongside a perfect egg with pumpkin cream, feta, croutons and pomegranate, and a scallop ceviche with pomelo, turnip and sauce vierge. Mains include a chicken supreme with sweet potato, spinach and soy-glazed shiitake, a hot duck-and-pork pâté en croûte with masala mashed potato and roasted sucrine, roasted sea bream with sautéed chard and nori cream, and mackerel in panko with celeriac risotto and pomegranate. For two, the kitchen also proposes a 1kg roasted rib of beef at 95€. Desserts stay light and citrus-led: apples with persimmon ice cream, Greek yoghurt and meringue; citrus fruit with sweet-potato ice cream and sponge cake; and a chocolate ganache finished with fleur de sel and olive oil.

05Wine and drinks

The wine list leans short and approachable, with a dozen wines served by the 15cl glass alongside the bottle list. Sparkling options run from an AOP Crémant de Loire from Domaine des Huards to a Champagne Extra Brut from Domaine Gosset, while the whites and reds favour small, lesser-known domaines over grand names, from a Reuilly to a Crozes-Hermitage. The counter at the back of the room, with its four stools, is built as much for a cocktail as for a solo dinner.

06When to go and booking

Hugo & Co keeps bistro hours and a short working week: open Monday to Friday for lunch from midday to 2pm and dinner from 7pm to 10pm, closed on Saturdays and Sundays, details confirmed on the restaurant's own site in 2026. The address sits a few steps from Place Monge and the Jardin des Plantes, in a stretch of the 5th arrondissement that also holds the century-old sweet shop Le Bonbon au Palais at number 19 rue Monge, making the street an easy one to fold into a longer Left Bank walk before or after the meal.

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