Eclair Au Chocolat appears as a signature dish in 1 France cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Éclair au chocolat · Paris
An éclair au chocolat is an oblong choux pastry filled with cool dark-chocolate crème pâtissière and capped with a thin chocolate fondant. The proportions are pâtisserie 101 in Paris.
The éclair entered Parisian pâtisseries in the 1860s; the name (lightning) refers to the speed with which it is eaten. The choux-and-fondant form is often traced to Antonin Carême's early-19th-century pastry workshop. Stohrer (founded 1730, the city's oldest pâtisserie) and the postwar Parisian houses canonised the format. The contemporary éclair revival came via Christophe Adam's L'Éclair de Génie opening in 2012, which sparked a city-wide flavour-of-the-month treatment; Cédric Grolet at Opéra plates a chocolate éclair stripped back to two ingredients. Des Gâteaux et du Pain (Claire Damon) runs a refined classic.
Where to eat in Paris:
- Stohrer
- Cédric Grolet Opéra
- Des Gâteaux et du Pain
- Boulangerie Pâtisserie l'Équilibre
- Liberté Pâtisserie Boulangerie