When in Paris is impossible to resist bakeries and pastry shops, from the best artisanal breads to the most beautiful and complex sweet creations. There are dozens of stores and two handfuls of master confiseurs that make the city vibrate and everyone has their favorite or, in my case, a series of favorite desserts in every shop around the city. One of those masters is Christophe Adam, a genius that joined pastry when he was 16, having passed by the kitchens of several 3 Michelin Stars, until entering Fauchon when Pierre Hermé left.
With the internationalization of Fauchon being a success, Adam published books and made his way around the best confiseurs of Paris, opening his own pastry shop a few years later, Adam’s. More recently, and following the recipe of one of the biggest successes of Fauchon, Christophe Adam decided to transform the universe of one of the most classic French sweets, the éclair.
And success did not take long to come, having already 5 shops in Paris and 2 in Japan. The concept, apparently simple, is the creation of an éclair collection that changes according to the seasonality of the ingredients and can go from the “simple” chocolate (64%) éclair to the most complex nougat or mascarpone with cassis. A new one is launched every week and the list changes in order for us to notice every alteration and stay craving, or see our favorite one being produced again.
The price range goes from 4,5€ to 7€ like in the most pastry shops of the city and each éclair is visually a synonym of a piece of art you don’t even want to touch (ok, that’s a lie, but is nice to say)!
But the imposing question is if these éclairs really live besides the hype and the buzz created around them? In reality and always having in mind that my demand in terms of éclairs is pretty high (I’m from the time when Jacques Genin daily produced the best éclair in town), Christophe Adam’s éclairs are almost pornographic, from their looks, to the perfect choux pastry, to the fillings that can satisfy the most weird or picky one with all of the various offer.
In this last visit we opted for the classic Yuzu and Choco-coco, in a combination of chocolate and coconut.
Yuzu and Choco-coco éclair
The yuzu éclair takes us back to the classic lemon tart, so famous in Paris, with small pieces of meringue and of the pastry that usually serves as its base, also a fantastic filling of an excellent curd, with the sweetness and acidity in a perfect balance.
The combination of chocolate and coconut brings memories of the small Bounty chocolates, in a very improved combo, sweet, without being sickening, as it happens so many times in this combination. Very good.
But don’t be fooled, L’éclair de Génie is more than just a refined image and tasty éclairs, because there are also chocolates, creams that will make you forget about Nutella and of course, the fantastic books of Adam that make the dream of becoming true home confectioners “easier”.
L’Éclair de Génie – Paris