La Maison du Chocolat, Tokyo

During my recent trip to Tokyo, one of my co-workers purchased treats for everyone from a pâtisserie/chocolate shop in the mall attached to our office building.  These were not traditional Japanese treats however, instead, he went to a French chocolate shop, La Maison du Chocolat.  The shop began in Paris in 1977, but now has a worldwide presence, including London, Hong Kong, Dubai, Tokyo, and New York.

Anyway, instead of chocolates, our coworker got his favorites: eclairs, available in chocolate, caramel, or coffee varieties.  Besides chocolates and eclairs, they also carry macarons and a few types of tarts and cakes.

The eclairs are apparently one of their most famous and popular items, but I wasn't particularly impressed.

 L'éclair au chocolat.

"Chocolate and pastry cream nestled in a delicate choux pastry dressed with chocolate fondant."

The choux pastry was pretty standard, a big soggy, not remarkable.  I also thought it was too thin, hard to tell in this photo, but it just barely held in the cream.  This treat was much more about the filling than the pastry itself.

The filling was a creamy, mild chocolate filling.  Not as intensely chocolatey as you'd expect from a chocolate shop.

The chocolate ganache on top was good.

Overall, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't particularly remarkable.