New twist on a French classic

La Maison de l’Eclair, Bondi

By Thang Ngo

According to Sydney’s newest French patisserie, Macarons and cupcakes have had their day – the eclair is the sexy new black in the pastry world. La Maison de l’Eclair looks more like a high end boutique jewellery with an all-glass front and concrete floor where precious eclairs are displayed in brilliantly-lit cabinets.

The colourful eclairs, like precious stones, glisten and glow alluringly.

There’s the sweet classic range like vanilla eclair; delicate vanilla bean custard topped  with pure white fondant finished with silver leaves or chocolat; an intense mix of chocolate ganache and chocolate custard filling, topped with dark chocolate fondant and dark chocolate strip.

La Maison de l'Eclair bondi

Or chose from the premium “wow” collection that includes their signature eclair; praline and Ecuador cream filling in a golden shell of choux pastry topped with a chocolate strip, mojito eclair is a creation of La Maison de l’Eclair, it’s a flavour burst of mojito ganache cream filling in pastry topped with pale green flavoured fondant and fresh mint – already a crowd favourite.

La Maison de l'Eclair, bondi

It’s the gluten free, savoury temptation collection made with buckwheat choux pastry which will turn heads. La Maison de l’Eclair boldly proclaims “who said eclair was just a sweet treat?”. As if to push home the authenticity of this innovation, the eclairs are named after various French cities: Monaco eclair has thin slices of tuna, fresh tomatoes, tasty chives, mayonnaise, mesclun salad, olives in buckwheat choux pastry, Saint Malo is all Brittany in once eclair, fresh prawns, avocado, mayonnaise on a bed of mesclun salad, sweet chilli, fresh parsley in buckwheat choux pastry, Chambord with ingredients from the Loire Valley: French goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes, pesto topped with fresh basil.

La Maison de l'Eclair savoury eclair

La Maison de l’Eclair, Bondi is the brain child of husband and wife team, Frederic and Laurence Caillon, pastry chef owners of Sydney’s award-winning Croquembouche Patisserie.

As a guest of La Maison de l’Eclair for the grand opening gala, noodlies, Sydney food blog sampled a dozen (or more) eclairs across the range. My favs are the distinctive rich green pistachio eclair and uber rich vanilla eclair. The savoury eclairs make an elegant, flavourful mouthful, loved the way they challenge tradition, though I’d probably need to eat five before I’m satisfied. Though right now, I’m determined to work my way through the sweet range first.

Are the macaron days numbered? Well, noodlies has never been a big fan, so I’m hugely biased. But no matter where your loyalty lies, it’s nice to have a choice, and boy, what a precious, stunning and gloriously beautiful choice eclairs make!

What’s an eclair?

Eclair, a classic French dessert, is a finger-shaped pastry made with choux pastry, similar to profiteroles and croquembouche, and baked until it’s crisp and hollow inside. Then it’s filled with cream and topped with fondant icing.

La Maison de l’Eclair
91 Bondi Rd, Bondi
(02) 9386 1265

Noodlies, Sydney food blog attended this sweet launch as a guest of La Maison de l’Eclair.