France’s iconic éclair never seems to loose its shine, and the new crop of flavours in Paris just adds to its appeal. Christophe Adam at L’Eclair du Génie has an astounding all-black creation (dark chocolate and white truffle), as well one that sings of winter – chestnut & clementine. Loic Bret at L’Atelier de l’Eclair churns out sweet (lemon meringue or mango & passionfruit), salty (goat’s cheese & pesto, foie gras & confit fig) and even non-gluten little ones, or a 30cm family size submarine! Pascal Caffet has a stable of “little duchesses” under his care – nutty praline complete with gold leaf, gourmet strawberry and really, no really, intense coffee. Philippe Conticini from La Pâtisserie des Rêves might prefer traditional flavours but his éclairs are nothing like you’ve seen before …the choux pastry engorged with rich coffee cream comes wrapped in a tube of (hard) chocolate. True to the name, which translates as ‘lightening’, they are gone in a flash.
