Life in Paris as a Culinary Student | Small Joys in Everyday Life

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Life in Paris as a Culinary Student is as much about school as it is about savoring small joys.

Week 7 of school. Life at Le Cordon Bleu has finally settled into a rhythm. I’m familiar with the flow of the kitchen now, and the teamwork with my classmates feels smooth. Most importantly, I’ve made a few good friends, and that has brought me a real sense of comfort.

The weather is still hot, but it feels like the peak of summer has passed, and only three weeks left in this basic cuisine course. The confusion and nervousness I felt in the beginning have faded, and I think I’ve finally adjusted to life in Paris.

I wanted to keep photos of every dish I made during practicals, but unfortunately, I keep forgetting to take pictures of my own plates. Can you believe it?! Luckily, I remembered with last week’s final dish: Joues de bœuf braisées aux carottes fondantes, pomme mousseline — “Braised beef cheek with fondant carrots, puréed potatoes.”

One of the quiet joys of culinary school life in Paris is purprise pastry drops! On lucky days when pastry students finish class at the same time as us, I get to enjoy their delicious desserts and sweet cakes. Now that I’ve grown close with some pastry students, they even share the schedule with me—what cakes they’ll be making next week, and exactly what day and time they’ll come out. I find myself looking forward to them days in advance!! 🤤

I’m very much an introvert (a true homebody at heart), so cooking at home feels far less draining than going out to eat. On top of that, cooking with local ingredients from the markets is one of my greatest joys. That’s why, during the adjustment period after starting school, I mostly stayed in and cooked for myself and Jacob.

It took me a long five weeks to really settle into school life, and only now do I finally have the energy to explore different restaurants in Paris on the weekends. But August in Paris is vacation season, and the city feels quieter, almost emptied out. Many shops and restaurants in my neighborhood are closed for a whole month while the owners and workers take their holidays. I especially miss the fresh baguettes from my local bakery and the jambon from the little deli near our place. Still, they’ll all be back by the end of August. And honestly, if there’s a season of hard work, there also be a season of proper, unapologetic rest.

There are, of course, some downsides to this season, but I’ve also come to appreciate its charms. Plenty of wonderful restaurants are still open, and with so many Parisians away on holiday, reservations are easier to get. Parks feel calmer, and the traffic is lighter. So over the past two long weekends, instead of escaping to another city or country, I decided to take the time to wander deeper into Paris itself.

Last week, my friends and I went out for hot pot and only realized after arriving just how famous the place was. Not only is it popular with Chinese celebrities, but also with big Korean names like Gong Yoo, Park Seo-jin, and even Blackpink. It turned out to be quite the iconic spot! Since we were a group of five, we had reserved ahead of time, but we noticed quite a few people lining up right at opening. The atmosphere was lively, the food was delicious, and the prices were fair. If you ever find yourself craving hot pot in Paris, this is the place I’d recommend.

The restaruant name is XiaoLongKan, it’s located on the 2nd.

These days, one of the trendiest areas in Paris is Canal Saint-Martin. The narrow canal feels more intimate than the Seine, and on weekends it’s full of young Parisians sitting along the water, sipping wine or beer, and enjoying an apéro together. Tucked into this lively neighborhood is a very special wine bar called Early June. What makes it unique is that the chef is always changing. Last month, a Korean chef was in the kitchen, and this month a chef from Australia. Each chef stays only two to four weeks, offering a menu you can only taste for that short window—making it all the more enticing.

It’s a bit of a trek from where we live, so we had to plan ahead to go. When we visited, the Australian chef was cooking, and almost every dish seemed inspired by Thai cuisine: fresh oysters topped with a fragrant cilantro sauce, ceviche laced with coconut, and a beef tartare riff on Nam Tok from Thailand’s Isan region. Everything was flavorful and creative, but the portions were so small compared to the price that we were caught off guard. We ended up ordering five different dishes, enjoyed every bite, and then filled up on kebabs on the way home. A very Parisian ending, I think!

Honestly, most of my days aren’t particularly special. I wake up, go to school, come home, eat dinner, prep for the next day, fall asleep after a little YouTube or Netflix time, and then do it all over again. Luckily, the schedule shifts daily—some mornings start at 7:30, others at 11—so there’s at least a little variety to keep things fresh. Sometimes I wonder if studying at a Paris culinary school is changing not just my cooking, but also how I see daily joy.

Lately, my favorite small joy has been grilling meat out on the balcony once the sun sets and the air cools down. One evening, a classmate came over and discovered a tucked-away table on our balcony, even setting it up for us—something Jacob and I had never thought to do ourselves! Since then, late summer evenings spent grilling outside have become my happiest ritual. 

As the pink glow of sunset fades into night, we light candles, sip wine under the rising moon, cool breeze on the cheeks, and inevitably lose track of how many glasses we’ve had. One glass, two glasses, three… it’s all too easy to get lost. 

Drinking wine with the Eiffel Tower and the moonlight as my companions—with the atmosphere so perfect, how could I not?

With Paris glowing in golden orange lights against the navy sky, the silver moon light, and the fragrance of wine in hand, the fact that I am here, in this very moment, becomes all the more vivid—and all the more clear. I can feel with certainty that I am right here, right now, and that is all that matters. 

Another small joy I’ve fallen for lately is the cheese plate after dinner. Neither Jacob nor I would call ourselves die-hard cheese lovers, but we do enjoy it in moderation. So simply arranging a few cheeses we’ve picked up from the shop onto a plate feels just right. I always add my homemade apricot jam and a drizzle of honey (which is why I ended up making another kilo of jam—half joking, but really, I also use it as a substitute for maesilaek – green plum syrup when I cook Korean food). Crackers or a baguette make the perfect companion, but if we don’t have them on hand, we just skip it. And of course, that means opening another bottle of wine.

I’ve always been a slow learner, the kind who does adapt but takes time to settle in. It took a while to find my rhythm in Paris, at school, in this new life. But maybe that’s my gift—because now, I find myself savoring these little daily pleasures all the more.

In my slower rhythm, the small joys of each day don’t just slip past me. Instead, I can linger more deeply and enjoy them within this stability.

Maybe that’s the quiet magic of Paris- even when life feels ordinary, it’s still extraordinary.

Thank you so much for reading “Life in Paris as a Culinary Student”. If you missed the previous From My Table post, you can find it here. I’d love to have you back for the next story. ✨