7-Eleven, Pierre Hermé strawberry eclair - As delicious as it is expensive

Pierre Hermé signature strawberry eclair

Brand: Seven & i / Pierre Hermé

Price: 321 yen

Place of purchase: 7-Eleven

Rating:

It’s delicious! That’s pretty much the brunt of this review. As eclairs go, this one is befitting of the name emblazoned on the packaging. Actually, I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten anything baked by Pierre Hermé but either way, the custard-based vanilla cream fills much of this eclair is suitably dense and creamy and pairs well with the tang of the strawberry confiture (“confiture” - just a posh term for fruit jam? I’m not sure.). The puff pastry is moist and sugar coated and does a stirling job at holding the whole contraption together. The packaging is from Botanical Film (plant-derived packaging) and, well, does the job as well as being free from that annoying “extra” plastic sheeting that so often plagues Japan’s packaged sweets.

As much as this 7-Eleven / Pierre Hermé eclair is delicious, it’s also expensive (especially when you think that a regular convenience store eclair in Japan is going to be little more than 100 yen). Three times the price then makes this, for me at least, “special treat only” (a.k.a a lazy Friday lunch while working from home). Of course, the danger of putting these things in a convenience store is that they could become all too convenient. While the packaging isn’t anywhere near as stupid and annoying as it could be given Japan’s standards in such things, it is quite “spacious” such that the eclair itself may appear smaller than expected.