Omar Dhiab – a Paris star built in six months

At 23 rue Hérold, a short walk from the arcaded calm of Place des Victoires in Paris's 1st arrondissement, Omar Dhiab cooks under his own name. He opened the room in 2022, after a career spent almost entirely inside other people's starred kitchens, and by March 2023 – six months after opening – it had won its own star. It holds one MICHELIN Star. Born in Paris to Egyptian and Tunisian parents, Omar Dhiab is one of the most promising young chefs on the Parisian gastronomic scene, and that dual inheritance surfaces quietly on the plate rather than loudly: a welcome glass of hibiscus karkadé, a semolina cake scented with orange blossom at the end of the meal, all set within a kitchen built on the grammar of classical French gastronomy. The room itself seats a handful of tables around an open kitchen and a marble-and-wood counter, the kind of understated staging that lets the cooking, rather than the décor, carry the evening.

01The room and the setting

With the architectural firm Hauvette and Madani, Omar Dhiab imagined the outlines of a restaurant with art deco accents. Once past the door, guests face a majestic counter mixed with wood and marble, revealing the effervescence of the kitchen, where the magic happens.

In the extension, a corridor with red lacquered walls invites diners to discover the warm enfilade room with alcoves suitable for a more confidential moment. It is a small room built for close attention rather than spectacle: tables sit near enough to the stoves that the brigade's work is part of the show.

02The chef

Omar Dhiab trained in several of Paris's grand kitchens, including Pavillon Ledoyen under Christian Le Squer, then Lasserre and L'Abeille at the Shangri-La alongside Christophe Moret, before taking over the kitchens of Loiseau Rive Gauche in 2019, where he earned and kept the restaurant's Michelin star.

Insider tip

Open Monday to Friday only, lunch and dinner; booking recommended well ahead.

He opened his own dining room near Place des Victoires in September 2022, and it was awarded its own star the following March – six months after the doors first opened. Omar advocates a modern gastronomy that enhances each product and enjoys slipping in influences from the cuisine of his childhood; he builds many of his dishes starting from a vegetable rather than the catch of the day, for the sake of consistency across the seasons.

In May 2025 he opened a second, more personal address: Elbi, an Egyptian bistro and wine bar on rue de Paradis in the 10th arrondissement. Elbi ("heart" in Arabic) is a brilliant balancing act between Egyptian gastronomy, a down-to-earth wine bar and a cheeky Parisian bistro — an ode to his roots and a tribute to his father, a chef.

03The cooking

The kitchen on rue Hérold runs on classical French technique, with sauces and condiments doing most of the emotional work, and only occasional, deliberate gestures toward Dhiab's family history: the karkadé poured on arrival, the orange-blossom semolina cake that closes the meal. Nothing here is styled as fusion — the references to Egypt sit as footnotes within a fundamentally French grammar of cooking, built dish by dish around vegetables, sauces and seasonal produce.

04What to order

The à la carte dinner menu moves with the market, but its backbone holds steady. Among starters, the croque ris de veau — a crisp, sandwiched sweetbread lifted by a grenobloise condiment — appears on nearly every version of the menu, alongside mackerel from the Baie de Quiberon dressed with fresh almonds, and Touraine mushrooms cooked with chasselas grapes and cumin.

Mains run from a flame-grilled red mullet set over chickpeas slow-cooked in couscous broth, to squab from Racan with an apricot-and-chilli condiment and basil, and, for those after the full signature, a lobster served "à la Dhiab". To finish, there is a chocolate tart made with pure-origin Peru chocolate from Nicolas Berger, a Sicilian pistachio dessert lifted with a coriander-seed praline, or a cheese plate aged by the affineur Bernard Antony.

05Wine and drinks

Pairings are offered at every level of the meal: from €48 or €58 for eight centilitres alongside the lunchtime Tumulte Parisien, up to €68 with L'Essentiel and €88 with the seven-course Plaisir de Table menu at dinner. Guests who prefer not to drink can take a non-alcoholic pairing instead, built around infusions and juices, at €65.

06When to go and booking

In October 2026, the restaurant runs two different rhythms for lunch and dinner. At midday, diners choose between a three-course Tumulte Parisien (€72, unavailable on public holidays) or its four-course version (€88), a five-course L'Essentiel (€128), or the seven-course Plaisir de Table (€168). In the evening, the choice narrows to à la carte or the same seven-course Plaisir de Table tasting menu.

The room opens Monday to Friday only, lunch between 12.15pm and 1.30pm and dinner between 7.30pm and 9pm; weekends and public holidays are, in effect, reserved for other addresses.

07The neighbourhood

Omar Dhiab sits at 23 Rue Hérold, a ten-minute walk from the Louvre Museum, and only a few steps from Place des Victoires and the arcades of the Palais-Royal, in a stretch of the 1st arrondissement where grand retail gives way, block by block, to quieter residential streets and the old produce stalls of Les Halles.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.