Do not miss out on these éclairs when you are in Porto. Leitaria da Quinta do Paço fills every one of them with whipped cream instead of custard, and once you have tried it, the classic version feels heavy.
The place
Leitaria means dairy shop, and that is how this started: a dairy in Porto that dates back to 1920. The éclairs came later, with a recipe from the 1950s that they still use today. Cream was the business before pastry was, and you can taste it.
Today there are shops all over Porto, from the original corner downtown on Praça Guilherme Gomes Fernandes to Bolhão, the Bom Sucesso market, NorteShopping and El Corte Inglés in Gaia. We went to the one at Broadway in Matosinhos, the seaside town right next to Porto. Bright counters, a glass case lined with éclairs, and a box packed to go. You order, you point, and the hardest part is stopping.
What we ate
We took a full box, five flavours, and went outside to open it in the sun.
First up is Biscoff, with a caramel biscuit glaze and crumbs on top. Break it open and you see the whole point of this place: the inside is packed with whipped cream, light and cold, right out to the ends. Sweet glaze, crunchy crumbs, soft cream. It disappears fast.
Next is the pistachio éclair, wrapped up in a pistachio glaze with stripes across the top and pistachio flavoured cream inside. The prettiest one in the box, and it tastes like it looks.
Now for something different. The caramelized apple trades the chocolate and nuts for fruit and caramel, and it is the one we did not expect to like this much.
The autumn éclair is topped with chopped chocolate and hazelnut and filled with Nutella cream. Rich, nutty, and the one to pick if you only get one chocolate éclair.
Last but not least, Raffaello, with coconut and almond on top and all that cream inside. Like the chocolate, but super size.
That is what makes these different. A custard éclair is dense and you are done after one. Whipped cream keeps it light, so you finish one, look at the box and reach for the next.
How to get it
Walk in to any of the shops and order at the counter, by the piece or by the box. The map on this page shows every location, including Braga in the north, the shops around Lisbon and their factory shop in Gaia. Matosinhos Broadway is the easy stop if you are out by the beach for seafood anyway, and the downtown shop is the one with the history. They also take orders for pick-up the next day and deliver around Porto, Gaia, Maia and Matosinhos.
When we checked their site, a small classic éclair was 1.60 euro, so a mixed box is an easy decision.
Who it is for
Anyone visiting Porto with a sweet tooth. Anyone who thinks they do not like éclairs because they are too heavy. And anyone who needs something to bring back to the hotel or to friends at home, because the box travels well and nobody turns it down. Get the Biscoff, get the pistachio, and let everyone fight over the Raffaello.
This visit was sponsored.
A Porto classic since the 1950s, and one of the easiest food stops in the city.
But now… the real question is… where do we go next?
