Just Desserts

In recent years Vancouver’s been undergoing a French revolution of culinary sorts. Along with our claim to creating the country’s best croissants (merci, Batard and Beaucoup bakeries), macarons (Maison Ladurée, mais oui) and crêpes (we’re looking at you, Le Marché St. George), we’ve been awarded with yet another gem: L’Éclair de Genie.

Founded in 2012 by award-winning pastry chef Christophe Adam (additional shops have since popped up around the globe, in Italy, Russia and Japan), the Lower Mainland marks the pâtisserie’s first foray into North America, bringing with it an assortment of bonbons, chocolate tablets, various chocolate and nut-based spreads—and, of course, out-of-this-world éclairs. Among the 250-plus flavours imagined by chef Adam to raise the pastry’s profile beyond its current (in Canada, at least) dollar-doughnut-shop-slash-convenience-store standing: caramel salted butter, lemon yuzu and raspberry vanilla. But don’t worry: for the purists among us there’s also a rich chocolate with traditional crème offering, plus several éclairs that place local ingredients squarely (or, rather, oblong-ly) in the spotlight.

Says Adam, "We will start with 10 kinds of éclairs and introduce two new ones each month, like every other store. And we serve coffee.”

Coffee and doughnuts? Now you’re speaking our language! —Aurea Dempsey

L’Éclair de Génie, 1210 Robson St., Vancouver, 778-788-6623, leclairdegenie.com