From Joël Robuchon’s croissants, to Éric Kayser’s baguettes and Pierre Hermé’s macarons, Hong Kong has had numerous infatuations with French patissiers over the years. The latest pastry craze to hit the city appears to be éclairs.
Formerly with French cake company Fauchon, confectioner Christophe Adam has revamped and updated the snack beyond its traditional role as a choux pastry tube with a whipped cream filling and a chocolate glaze. After opening in Paris and Japan, he’s now brought his L’Éclair de Genie shop to Hong Kong.
Christophe Adam at his new Hong Kong shop
For L’Éclair de Genie, Adams pipes his little pastries with unique flavours such as Citron Yuzu, Pistachio Orange, and Blueberry Chestnut. “Maybe we will do a clementine flavour for Chinese New Year,” Adams hinted.
And unlike some pastry shops which ship their products in, Adams also opened a kitchen in Hong Kong to churn out the pastries fresh daily – a necessity for a crispy contrast to the rich, soft cream inside.
Citron Yuzu
He can also customise a sweet icing to dazzling effect by printing any image or picture on the top. I’m sure plenty of big brand names will soon be serving their logo’d éclairs at cocktail mixers and fashion shows around town.
Praline Chocolate au Lait
The goodies range in price from HKD38 to HKD55, with the top dollar paid for the Praline Chocolate au Lait. One of the Asian inspired flavours is the Matcha Bamboo which has a light green tea taste, not too bitter or sweet, with a few shavings of chocolate “bamboo” on top. Another popular choice is the Salted Butter Caramel, which explodes in the mouth in smokey, creamy luxury.
“I love this pastry, and little by little, I created a lot of different éclairs. I’ve created 165 different kinds in over three years. I have a lot of ideas,” Adam said. “I work with the team in Hong Kong to understand the market. People here, like in Japan, like about 10-15 percent less sugar. I changed some recipes to reflect that,” he added.
“In France, people eat it after 2pm. But here, we start selling at 10:30am and everything was sold out by 1:30pm. That was a problem, but it was a good problem.”
Just a few to get your mouth watering…
In addition to éclairs, L’Éclair de Genie also offer a selection of quirky club sandwiches, chocolates in tubes, ganaches and gift packs from its two initial shops at Pacific Place and Prince’s Building.
Adams isn’t the only éclair entrepreneur in town, however. Fellow Frenchman and Hong Kong resident Marc Toutain is also starting up his own venture, simply called Éclair! (with the exclamation mark for emphasis) as a pop-up boutique at events like the Tong Chong Street Market in Quarry Bay. In December, he’ll also be at markets in Stanley Plaza and Olympian City in Kowloon.
Marc Toutain’s savoury éclairs
Chef Toutain, who has worked primarily in hotels, is breaking the rules even further by serving savoury éclairs with fillings like foie gras, mozzarella cheese, duck breast and ham. There is no immediate plan to open a physical shop, but Éclair! takes orders online.
Christophe Adam’s L’Éclair de Genie’s stalls are at Prince’s Building, 1/F, 10 Chater Road, Central) and Pacific Place (Level 2, 88 Queensway, Admiralty).
