An éclair is an oblong pastry filled with a creamy custard and topped with icing. It originated in France in the early 1800’s, first made for French royalty. Nowadays, the éclair is the most popular patisserie treat in France because it’s comforting, easy to eat, and has endless combinations of flavours.
L’Éclair de Génie, a Parisian pastry shop that only sells éclairs, has opened its first North American store on Robson Street. Founded by Chef Christophe Adam, this is the pastry shop’s 25th location, joining other cities like Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Milan and Moscow.
Chef Adam has created 257 variations of éclairs, requiring each creation to have “oomph, with a dazzling, modern look“. At the Robson location, he began with 10 kind of éclairs and plans to introduce two new ones each month. Each gourmet creation combines unconventional and imaginative fruits, flavors, colors and textures, so that each éclairs is like a colourful and glossy work of art. Current flavours in rotation at the Robson location include: the Pistachio Framboises (pistachio chantilly, raspberry confit, fresh raspberries, roasted pistachios), the Citron Yuzu (lemon yuzu cream and crispy meringue), the Matcha Bambou (matcha cream and white chocolate), and Vanilla Framboise (vanilla cream, raspberry confit, fresh raspberries and white chocolate).
For more information, visit L’Éclair de Genie at 1020 Robson Street, or online at leclairdegenie.ca. Chef Adam also recently published his ÉCLAIRS cookbook which contains 35 recipes and step-by-step photographs, so you can learn to make this traditional French pastry at home.
