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La Maison de l'Eclair - Review
Eclairs are on the daggy end of the pasty repertoire, as yet un tampered with by the hipsters and gangster patissiers who revived the doughnuts and cronuts that have now gone mainstream à la macaron and now making their way to a suburban mega mall near you. As I have previously argued link, being positioned in the memory lane section of the pastry cabinet makes the humble eclair perfectly poised for a comeback, as does the blank-slate offered by the infinite possibilities of tinkering with the flavours of its cream filling. 
Not that Bondi’s La Maison de l’Eclair has managed to completely eliminate the daggy element. Despite the finessed, Parisian-esque display, the rest of the interior is too ‘fish and chips’ and not enough ‘Laduree’. The multitude of flavours on offer begin range from classics (vanilla, chocolate, coconut) to deluxe frou frou flavours (duchesse framboise, lemon meringue) so elaborately decorated they could have been bolsters on Marie Antoinette’s chaise lounge. And if you thought eclairs for lunch is a no go zone, there are also savoury (Foiegras, with figs, fig jam and seasalt!) specimens.
My heart leaps with joy to find my favourite, the espresso eclair. Its firm, nicely chewy choux is filled with a glossy, smooth creme whose only fault was being a little too ‘weak latte’ for this ‘large long black’ girl. At $8.50 for the larger (which is actually just normal) size, the prices are getting into trendy territory. If macaron was to ‘Zumbaron’, then I don’t want to know what Sydney’s patron saint of pastry would christen his take on the eclair. Zumbo, we await your response.
La Maison de l'Eclair 91 Bondi Rd, Bondi NSW 2026 (02) 9386 1265 lamaisondeleclair.com.au By Christina Gee Christina also blogs at www.fussyguide.com |
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