Case study

El Cucho · Paris

El Cucho: an emerald and gold website for a corner of Colombia in Paris

In the thirteenth arrondissement of Paris, El Cucho serves arepas, patacones, empanadas and hearty Colombian dishes. Dineora designed a website that takes up the deep green of its dining room, the glint of gold and the generosity of its plates, then leads simply to the menu and takeaway ordering.

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The El Cucho website shown on a laptop and a phone
Restaurant
El Cucho
Location
Paris, thirteenth arrondissement, Gare neighborhood
Cuisine
Colombian and Latin American restaurant
Designed by Dineora
Website, online menu, takeaway ordering

Arepas, patacones and hearty dishes, in the thirteenth

El Cucho is a Colombian restaurant in the thirteenth arrondissement of Paris, in the Gare neighborhood. It introduces itself in a single sentence: “Une table parisienne, le cœur colombien.” (a Parisian table, with a Colombian heart). Its menu is organized in seven sections. The arepas and the patacones share their toppings: the Ariana, for example, brings together shredded chicken, a house sauce of tomato, onions and scallions, cheese, ripe plantain, fried pork belly and avocado, under a cilantro and garlic sauce.

The dishes range from the Cucho Arroz, a stir-fried rice with bean sprouts, chicken, pork and shrimp, to the lomo saltado, the chuleta, the Cucho Burger, the Cucho Perro and the choripapa. You start with empanadas, corn fritters filled with meat, potato, tomato and onions; you finish with cheese buñuelos. Last come the fruit juices, such as mora juice, Colombian drinks — Colombiana, Pony Malta, agua panela — and house sauces, including a picadillo of tomato, onions and cilantro.

Chapter “Installez-vous”: “Chez nous, on commence par une empanada”, three empanadas on a table in the green dining room

The challenge: a corner of Colombia in the heart of Paris

El Cucho's promise sits in its homepage title: “Un coin de Colombie, chez nous.” (a corner of Colombia, at our place). The aim was to make it felt on screen, through colors, plates and a warm dining room, and to present names that are sometimes unfamiliar — arepa, patacón, chuleta, buñuelos — clearly enough that everyone dares to order them.

The website also had to stay simple: you discover the cooking, then you order takeaway. A single button, Commander, stays at the top of the screen throughout the visit, on a computer as on a phone.

El Cucho homepage on a phone: Commander button, logo medallion and title “Un coin de Colombie, chez nous.”
Chapter “L’arepa Ariana” on a phone: arepa topped with avocado and pork belly on a plate with blue flowers
Art direction board for the El Cucho website

Emerald green, gold leaf and striped plates

The palette comes from the dining room: a deep emerald green, textured like a patinated wall, crossed by brushstrokes and flecks of gold leaf. The visuals move from the street to the plate: the black storefront with the El Cucho sign, a Colombian flag near the entrance; a large black and white striped plate piled with fried pork belly, grilled sausage, plantain, shredded meat, rice and a fried egg; three golden empanadas with their small sauce, set on a table in the dining room with openwork black chairs, a woven hat and a black and white portrait on the wall.

The titles are set in a highly contrasted serif typeface in cream, with a golden italic for the accompanying phrases. The logo is a black and gold medallion topped with a woven hat. The Commander button is painted: a dark brown cartouche ringed with copper, in cream capitals.

A film that moves as you scroll

The homepage is a film that moves as you scroll. It opens in front of the restaurant, on the large plate and on an invitation: “Découvrez notre lomo saltado, puis sirotez un jus de lulo bien frais.” (try our lomo saltado, then sip a nicely chilled lulo juice). Scrolling then brings you into the dining room, at the chapter “Installez-vous”: “Chez nous, on commence par une empanada”, golden and crispy, “à partager… ou à garder pour soi” (to share… or to keep for yourself).

The camera then runs along a green wall carved with lit niches, where plates follow one another, before the chapter “Nos envies généreuses” and its title “Venez avec une belle faim”. The story continues in green cards set over a dining room with hanging plants, woven baskets and colorful textiles: “L’arepa Ariana” for the arepas, then “Nos empanadas”, to nibble on.

Green wall carved with lit niches displaying plates, in the El Cucho homepage film
The El Cucho ordering page on a laptop and a phone

An ordering page painted like an altarpiece

The ordering page changes register and dresses in a brightly colored painted decor: a wall of bricks and blue tiles, a large heart of blue and gold scrolls dotted with red flowers and ears of corn, under a medallion of woven wicker. Along the edges crowd ears of corn, avocados, filled arepas, hibiscus flowers, bowls of black beans and fresh cheese, slices of plantain.

The menu is read on cream cards framed in painted wood, decorated with corn, flowers and tile motifs, with a wicker tab as a handle. The section titles are written in deep blue capitals. A section bar leads straight to the arepas, the patacones, the dishes, the starters and desserts, the fruit juices, the house sauces and the drinks. Each dish has its visual, its name and its price; a brown medallion marked with a cross adds it to the cart. Customers build their order this way, then send it to pick it up at the restaurant.

El Cucho ordering page on a computer: painted decor of scrolls, corn, avocados and flowers, cards of the arepas and patacones
El Cucho ordering page on a phone: painted decor, card of the arepas and dark wood cart bar

El Cucho's menu: a few dishes

Dishes as they appear on El Cucho's online menu, with the restaurant's own names, descriptions and prices.

See the full menu

On the phone, the same journey in height

On the phone, the Commander button takes up the top of the screen; the logo medallion, the line “Cuisine colombienne · Paris” and the title “Un coin de Colombie, chez nous.” sit over the close-up plate. The chapters of the film then take up the full width, each with its dish — the Ariana arepa on a plate with blue flowers, the empanadas and their sauce — and its green card.

On the ordering page, the painted cards stack one after another, the section bar scrolls horizontally at the top, and a dark wood “Panier” bar, with flowered ends, stays at the bottom of the screen with the order total.

The El Cucho website on a phone resting on a set table

A website prepared for local searches

The website is built around what people look for in the thirteenth arrondissement and in Paris: a restaurant in the neighborhood, a Colombian or Latin American restaurant, a family table, an arepa, or simply El Cucho and its menu. The page title, its description and its texts present the restaurant, its arrondissement, its cooking and its dishes in the same words, for visitors and search engines alike.

A detailed presentation page complements the homepage, and the full menu can be read as text on the ordering page. No one can guarantee a place on Google: the work consists of giving search engines accurate, structured and consistent information.

Chapter “Venez avec une belle faim”, then the card “L’arepa Ariana” over a dining room with hanging plants

A website for a Colombian restaurant in Paris: arepas, patacones and takeaway ordering

A Colombian restaurant has to explain its menu before selling it: an Arepa Ariana, a Patacón Brava, a choripapa, a mora or lulo juice mean nothing to many diners. A Colombian restaurant website in Paris therefore shows each dish in an image, spells out the fillings (shredded beef, ripe plantain, coriander and garlic sauce) and offers takeaway arepa ordering. That is the El Cucho site, on the Olympiades esplanade in the thirteenth arrondissement.

  • No agency to pay off: the site cost no design quote, and each takeaway arepa leaves no commission behind.
  • The time of an empanada: give the name El Cucho and the menu, visuals and ordering page are built in minutes.
  • Emerald green and gold leaf: a patinated wall crossed by brushstrokes, a black shopfront, a black and gold medallion crowned with a woven hat; the house is recognisable without reading its name.
  • A sauce that changes, a seasonal juice: the owner edits dishes, house sauces and drinks from his own admin space, and the site follows instantly.
  • The order goes straight to the pass: pickups reach El Cucho, with no agency or platform between the kitchen and the neighbourhood’s residents and workers.
  • From Paris to Sydney: the same software speaks several languages, which matters for a cuisine that travels, and serves restaurants in London, Rabat or Sydney.

For a Colombian restaurant in Paris’s thirteenth arrondissement, it is a site that carries the accent of the dining room and an arepa menu ordered in a few taps.

Dineora in numbers: 0% commission on your orders · a website live in 5 minutes.

Learn more: Restaurant website builder · Online ordering system for restaurants · QR code menu for restaurants

The outcome: Colombia, a click away

The El Cucho website takes you traveling without losing the visitor: the green and gold of the homepage, the generous plates, then a brightly colored ordering page where every arepa and every dish finds its place. Everything converges on one simple gesture, ordering takeaway. That is what Dineora looks for in every website: that it looks like the restaurant and works day to day.

The website in pictures

Screenshots of the live website, on a computer and on a phone.

El Cucho homepage on a computer: logo medallion, title “Un coin de Colombie, chez nous.” in front of the storefront, and a large loaded plate
Cards of the dishes and of the starters and desserts of El Cucho, from the Cucho Arroz to the buñuelos, under the section bar
Start of the El Cucho homepage film: the storefront and the plate of fried pork belly, sausage, plantain and fried egg
El Cucho dishes on a phone: lomo saltado, chuleta, Cucho Burger and Cucho Perro, with the cart bar
Chapter “Nos empanadas” on a phone: two golden empanadas and their sauce, on a green card

El Cucho: practical information

Address
105 Rue de Tolbiac // Dalle des olympiades / sur l'esplanade / Acces par Escalliers et Escalator, 105 Rue de Tolbiac, 75013 Paris
See the address on Google Maps
Cuisine
Colombian and Latin American restaurant
Services
Online ordering for pickup
Menu sections
Arepas · Patacones · Plats · Entrées et desserts · Jus de fruits · Boissons · Sauces maison
The restaurant's website
dineora.io/el-cucho

Questions about this project

Who designed the El Cucho website?

The El Cucho website was designed by Dineora: art direction, homepage film, online menu and a takeaway ordering page.

Can you order takeaway from El Cucho online?

Yes. The ordering page presents the whole menu: you add your dishes to the cart, then send the order to pick it up at the restaurant.

What is on the El Cucho menu?

Arepas, patacones, dishes such as the Cucho Arroz or the lomo saltado, empanadas and buñuelos, fruit juices, Colombian drinks and house sauces.

How do you explain a Colombian menu, arepas, patacones, empanadas, to customers who do not know it?

With an image and a short description for each dish, sorted by section: customers understand what they are ordering before adding the arepa to the basket, and the site comes in several languages.

Does a restaurant that only does takeaway need its own ordering site?

Yes, it is the most direct use: the customer chooses, orders and comes to collect, with no platform in between and no commission taken by Dineora.

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