Bakery on Hilton Head is first in a string of new restaurants coming to Port Royal Plaza

Paris Baguette opened on Hilton Head in July, becoming the latest addition to the mid-island food scene in Port Royal Plaza.

Nick Scaccio, Paris Baguette’s vice president of operations, said the restaurant offers more than 70 bread and pastry items.

“As soon as you walk in, you have a station where you have trays, liners and tongs set up,” he explained. “You have a wide array of pastries that are available, and it’s self service on the bread and pastry side.”

On one side of the restaurant is a counter to order cakes, cake slices and beverages, including Lavassa cold brew and espresso.

The menu also includes an array of salads, wraps and sandwiches on baguettes, brioche buns or croissants.

Customers can choose to sit indoors or outdoors on a patio. Online ordering is available via parisbaguette.com.

This rendering shows the inside of a Paris Baguette bakery.

“While you are in the cafe, you have visibility into the bakery so you can watch the product being produced,” Scaccio said.

The bakery is the Seoul, Korea-based chain’s first location in South Carolina. There are nearly 100 locations in the United States — the next-nearest to Beaufort County are in the Atlanta area and Orlando, Florida — and more than 4,000 locations worldwide.

Port Royal Plaza

The local franchise owner is restaurateur Wei Zhu, the owner of hibachi and sushi restaurant OKKO and several other Asian fusion restaurants in the area. He also plans to open JINYA Ramen Bar, Kung Fu Tea, and Hook and Reel Cajun seafood restaurants in Port Royal Plaza. All three websites say Hilton Head locations are coming soon.

Port Royal Plaza is seeing something of a resurgence in business with Wei’s restaurants and a planned Lowe’s Foods, which has no connection to the hardware store with a similar name, filing paperwork with the Town of Hilton Head to renovate the vacant Sam’s location.

Public Kitchen + Wine Bar opened last March, joining Zhu’s Okko and other longstanding restaurants, including Street Meet, North End Pour House, Fiesta Fresh, Plantation Cafe, Bella Italia, Sunny China, and Rollers Wine and Spirits.

Documents filed Aug. 9 with Beaufort County show that the owner of the majority of Port Royal Plaza, GFB Associates LLC, sold the property to Ronicks LLC of North Palm Beach, Florida, for just under $18.2 million. The former Sam’s location was purchased in September 2020 by a company listed as Hilton Head Owner LLC with a Charlotte, North Carolina, address.

Strawberry Soft Cream Cake from Paris Baguette

The menu

Paris Baguette offers seasonal items in addition to its regular menu. This summer’s customers can find mango and blueberry brioche, for example.

The restaurant’s top-selling item is the Strawberry Soft Cream Cake. “It’s a very light, fluffy, airy vanilla sponge with sliced strawberries,” Scaccio said. “So unbelievably light. It’s delicious.”

He added that croissants are “outstanding” and almond pastry is a personal favorite.

Pastries are around $3-4 each, and full cakes are in the $30-40 range.