사진 확대 Paradise City Plaza Plaza Parisian Summer Festival. /Photo = Reporter Kang Ye-shin
What if I could fully face the romantic alleyways of Paris, France, and the dessert of a world-class master in an hour in Seoul without buying a plane ticket. Paradise City in Yeongjong-do, Incheon, arouses the curiosity of tourists by embracing the romance and art of Paris this summer.
Paradise City will hold the ‘Parisian Summer Festival’ with the French Tourism Agency until August 31. I went to the scene in the summer of Paris that appeared in Yeongjongdo Island.
사진 확대 Paradise City Plaza Plaza Parisian Summer Festival. /Photo = Reporter Kang Ye-shin
Paradise City Plaza, which is 3,300 square meters (about 1,000 pyeong), was transformed into a Parisian street to welcome visitors. The area around Plaza Square seems to have transferred Paris’s summer sensibility intact.
First of all, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe caught my eye. In the background of the Parisian atmosphere, various photo zones are arranged where you can leave your life photos.
사진 확대 The Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower photo zone. /Photo = Reporter Kang Ye-shin
The ‘French Garden Market’ recreates the authentic flea market sensibility of Europe filled with fragrant flowers and exotic props. From emotional interior props with a local atmosphere to a variety of goods worth keeping, it offers the pleasure of taking a walk around Paris’ Mare district.
사진 확대 Flea Market in Plaza Square. /Photo = Reporter Kang Ye-shin
In particular, the center of attention at this square event is the pop-up zone and gallery exhibition of Gaspard and Lisa, a French national fairy tale character. The characters, which were introduced in 1999 by the artist Anne Gutmang and the artist Georg Halensleven, have been loved by countries around the world for their warm oil painting colors and emotional illustrations.
사진 확대 Exhibit Gaspard and Lisa Gallery. /Photo = Reporter Kang Ye-shin
In the gallery space, which is equipped with a huge spread of fairy tale books on one side of the square, you can enjoy the beautiful four seasons of France in the work, allowing you to be satisfied by proxy for your trip to France. It also sells limited edition goods of various characters such as art postcards, T-shirts, and dolls full of emotions.
사진 확대 Chef Tom Cole. /Photo = Paradise City
The festival’s specialty is the authentic French afternoon tea dessert of Le Cafe. Chef Tom Coll, who was named the Pastry Master of the Year by the global gastronomy guide La List 2025, will participate in the event to provide a special summer.
Chef Cole, who is currently in charge of pastry at Dubai’s seven-star hotel after going through top-notch hotels in France, visited Korea from the 2nd to the 5th for this collaboration. Travel Plus asked him about the aesthetics of dessert and the philosophy of life.
Chef Cole introduced two directions that he ultimately wanted to convey to Korean customers through this event. It’s his dessert philosophy.
The first direction he picked was memories of his childhood. “If the mango cake that someone ate at the age of 8 remains a lifelong memory, we can make a better cake with our current technology, but we can never keep up with the depth of the memory that person has,” he explained.
The second goal is to bring new memories to those who have not experienced French desserts. “Even after 10 years, I want to present a precious memory that I can think of as ‘the dessert I tasted at Paradise City Le Cafe in the summer of 2026 was really ecstatic,'” he said.
Recently, a couple introduced an anecdote that visited him.
“The cherry tart I tasted when I worked at the Shangri-La Hotel in Paris in the past was my best memory in my life, and I said I came only to meet the dessert again,” he said, adding, “I felt really rewarded and moved.” The cherry tart that will be presented this time is technically a little different from the old Parisian one, but I’m sure you’ll like it more than then,” he said with a smile.
사진 확대 Chef Tom Cole’s signature dessert. /Photo = Paradise City
I was curious about the reason for choosing Paradise City in Korea among the world’s leading hotels.
Chef Cole said, “When I first heard the explanation of the project, I didn’t know much about the Korean hotel industry or dessert culture, so I went directly to the restaurant”We have investigated Iscity in detail,” he said. “We have confirmed that pastry occupies a very important status in this resort.”
He also said that the fact that Paradise City management values the artistic value of pastry was a decisive reason. He explained that such a place can flexibly solve various challenges faced in the kitchen and receive full support so that the team can produce the best results.
“In French hotels, pastry is recognized as a field of art, and Dubai also has such a culture of respect,” he said.
사진 확대 Chef Tom Cole. /Photo = Paradise City
Last year, he won the “Pastry Master of the Year” and clearly expressed the future of French desserts and his beliefs.
“The driving force behind the French pastry’s solid international presence is fierce competition and a culture that favors craftsmanship,” he said, citing competitions such as the pastry World Cup and France’s best master (MOF) qualification.
Analysts say that such competition is a stimulus that leads chefs to develop new recipes and high-level techniques.
However, he said, “There are many pastry chefs in Asia and other parts of the world with excellent skills and senses,” adding, “France will remain an important source of inspiration forever, but it should not be an absolute powerhouse.” It emphasized the need for evolution that reflects changes in the times, such as innovatively lowering sugar content.
He defined pastry as a ‘living craft’ that changes anew every day. He also said that recipes should be flexibly and organically adjusted to suit customer diversity and food ingredient characteristics.
“If Korean customers taste my dessert and give feedback that it is too less sweet or too sour, I am willing to adjust the recipe to that opinion,” he said. “The true satisfaction and happiness of customers are more important than sticking to my individual artistic taste.”
사진 확대 Chef collaboration afternoon tea set. /Photo = Paradise City
Le Cafe’s afternoon tea set consists of five signature desserts of the chef, two snacks, and two cups of coffee or tea. Reproduce the afternoon relaxation while enjoying the sunshine at an open-air cafe in Paris. You can also taste croissants, queen amangs, French toast, and Jeju apple mango panna cotta using chanti cream, a French whipped cream.
It will also hold an application event for partnership with the French Tourism Authority for Paradise City Rewards membership customers who purchased non-drink menus. Prizes include a round-trip ticket to Paris for two, a dinner cruise ticket for the Paris Seine River’s flagship cruise ship “Batomouche,” a Paradise City corner suite accommodation ticket, and a 50,000 won voucher for the premium dessert cafe “Garden Cafe.”
사진 확대 The media facade show. /Photo = Kang Ye-shin Travel + Reporter
Paradise City Parisian Summer hosts a spectacular large French-themed media façade show every night at Chroma Square, the premium club’s Chroma outer wall in the resort, as a night event. It is a reinterpretation of the summer scenery of major French attractions in the form of a 3D collage on a large screen.
Starting with a beautiful wave of the Seine River, a landscape of Concorde Square full of vitality and freedom appears. It then expresses the coolness of the Mediterranean Sea and the sunny beach of Nice in southern France with an avant-garde visual beauty.
The highlight of the show is the Eiffel Tower’s fireworks display. The entire outer wall of Chroma Square shines like a galaxy in the night sky, and a colorful fireworks show around the Eiffel Tower reminiscent of the anniversary of the French Revolution is held with three-dimensional sound.
The media facade will be available from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. every day until August 30. There is no performance every Tuesday.
In the hot summer, if you want to taste European sensibilities without a passport, why don’t you visit the Parisian Summer Festival in “Yeongjongdo Paris”.
Dining and Cooking