Duclef Patisserie in the Old City may be the best all around patisserie in Lyon.
But if we are talking eclairs,
There is one and only one establishment you want to go to.
Les Eclaireurs.
Nothing else comes close.
Technically, Eclaireurs is a chain.
There are four of them in Lyon.
But then technically beaches are a chain too.
Leave the beach you are on and walk along the shore, and you will find another beach.
That doesn't means beaches aren't amazing.
Les Eclaireurs is just as amazing - never mind how many outlets they have.
All Les Eclaireurs does is eclairs.
There are only about twelve kinds of eclairs in the showcase.
There is no place to sit down.
You have to take your eclair and eat it somewhere else.
But these are eclairs that will shape your world.
Eclairs that make life worth living.
Payday, first romance, and the big promotion all at once.
Some of the eclairs are savory rather than sweet.
You can get a Nordic style salmon and dill eclair.
You can get a Pear and Roquefort Eclair.
You can get a Mortadella and Truffle Eclair.
But they have plenty of sweet eclairs as well.
Some are highly elaborate with many ingredients constructed on top of the eclair like a Lego competition.
Some are simple and classic.
Vanilla eclair, coffee eclair, chocolate eclair.
Raspberry eclair which you have probably never had before - but the idea is simple enough.
I went with a salted caramel with butter eclair.
* * *
The world stopped.
* * *
All the thoughts in my head stopped
* * *
Nothing existed in the universe any more except caramel, except salt, except butter.
* * *
Nothing remotely mattered except caramel, salt and butter.
* * *
It was a pure moment.
* * *
It was an intense moment.
* * *
It was a moment unlike any eclair moment I have had in nearly seventy years of eating eclairs.
* * *
It was an irreplaceable life experience.
* * *
Now when I left that store ... they had at least eleven kinds of eclairs I had not tried yet ...
* * *
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