It’s long. It’s hard. It’s shaped like a sausage. It comes in different sizes, usually 2 to 6 inches. It has different colors, from brown to white. Masterbakers squeeze it. Most ladies and some men love it. And when you put it into your mouth, it creams. And suddenly, it’s mushrooming and popping its head everywhere. Yes, that’s right, it’s eclair.

Eclair is a French pastry from profiterole dough, baked until it is crispy and fluffy. Besides a good pastry, the filling should be light and balanced.

From our least favorite to our favorite…

Maison Kayser
6 Scotts Road, #B1-09 Scotts Square, Singapore 228209
Tel: +65 6636 3672
Daily 8am – 8pm

Although I’ve visited Maison Kayser several times since its opening in 2012, I usually go for their delicious savory bread and avoid their famous eclairs (because I’ve tried all the eclair flavors and don’t like them). But how can an eclair list not have Maison Kayser, the first famous eclair to enter Singapore?

They no longer have their famous pistachio eclair; and they change the recipe and almost double the price of the eclair. It’s $5.60 now, not $3.40 in 2012, but it is also the biggest eclair of the four shops. The chocolate eclair is OK. The pastry is a little too soft but the chocolate has a nice tingle, almost alcohol-like, though it is too dense.

Value: 6/10
Food: 5.75/10
Decor/Ambience: 6/10
Service: 7/10
Rating: 3.094/5

Karafuru Desserts
8 Jalan Klapa, Singapore 199320
1pm-10pm, closed M
+65 6291 4430
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ONLINE DELIVERY

Pronounce the name of the shop. Ka-ra-fu-ru. Yes, it’s Japanese for “colorful”!! SO CUTE, right? It’s even cuter that the shop is entirely WHITE. What’s karafuru is the Japanese-inspired eclairs.

The baker is the same one from Windowsill Pies and Fix cafe. He researched for 8 months, since December 2014, aspiring for the Japanese type. But the eclairs are not as fluffy and crispy as I’d like, and they are quite expensive at $6-$7 a small piece, smaller than the usual size. Our favorite flavors include the jasmine matcha ($6) for the sweet eclair; and passionfruit ($6) and strawberry yogurt ($6) for the sour. All three of us didn’t like the coffee eclair ($6).

However they make everything freshly from fresh ingredients. They even make their own Greek yogurt for their parfait so the fresh yogurt is sweet, not sour. There are 6 flavors of parfait at $16 each. Given a choice, I’d rather go for the parfait than eclair because it’s more value for money.

Value: 5/10
Decor/ambience: 7/10
Food: 6/10
Service: NA (tasting)
Rating: 3/5

Karafuru is an invited tasting.

L’eclair is pure class. Marble tables, big gorgeous epergne, plush seats.

I’m little concerned about the price of the eclairs, almost $9. But the ispahan ($8.50), which is an atas name for bandung (rose-flavored), is wonderfully balanced, not too sweet, very fragrant, and with tart raspberries to brighten up the eclair. Mr Fitness didn’t like the salted caramel ($7.50) but I think it has the same lightness of touch as the ispahan.

One good thing is that they also serve savory bakes.

For two eclairs and a pot of tea, we paid $26. Pretty expensive huh?

Value: 4.75/10
Food: 7/10
Decor/Ambience: 8/10
Service: 7.5/10
Rating: 3.406/5

Tarte by Cheryl Koh
1 Scotts Road, #01-12 Shaw Centre, Singapore 228208
T: +65 6235 3225
10.30am-7.30pm daily

Tarte by Cheryl is obviously focussed on tarts. But their eclairs got so popular that instead of just weekends, the eclairs are available throughout the week.

Cheryl Koh has very smartly put a piece of craquelin dough on top of the pastry–like Beard Papa–so that the pastry is both fluffy and crispy. A pity there is only 1 flavor–vanilla. But it is epic–so smooth and fragrant, full of little dots of vanilla. It is elegant and simple. But I wonder why I paid $7.02 for 3 pieces. A piece costs $2.34?

Value: 7/10
Food: 7.5/10
Decor/Ambience: 7.5/10
Service: 8/10
Rating: 3.75/5

Written by A. Nathanael Ho.