Gentle Friends... after running around Saturday morning, Rico and I were off to have a cuppa at our local tea Shop,
Lovejoy's Tea Room.
A couple of years ago I got a Gift Certificate from some friends of ours and had never used it. The main reason for taking so long to use it is that this is a "reservations only" type place - and not because they are snooty in any way, it's just that they are very popular and the place is on the small side so there are only so many seating's a day they can handle.
With the new year I was determined that now was the time to go...... so a couple of months ago I set up our reservation, you have to call it in and have a couple of options for when you want to come. I got my first choice - woo hoo!!!
Now, this place is in our neighborhood, only a few blocks away, but down two pretty big hills so we decided to drive and gave ourselves plenty of time to find parking. Mid afternoon Saturday Parking in Noe Valley is almost non-existent - however luck was with us and instantly we found parking, which never happens - and that gave us an extra 30 or so minutes to kill before our 1:15 reservation with a pot of tea!!!
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Across the street from the tea Room is their little Lovejoy's Attic so we went in there and here are some snaps............
.... the front of the store sort of sets the mood for the inside
.... there is a ton of tea related paraphernalia and stuff just everywhere.....
....... more cute stuff...
... even some mini tea sets.....
... and tons and tons of cups and saucers covering just about every flat surface.....
... in a back room are these tea cake/sandwich stands and.....
....bags of their loose tea .......
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At about 1:10 we walked across the street and let them know we were there and were instantly whisked away to our table for two......
.... I think one of the more charming aspects of this pace is their lack of pretense, especially in using all mismatched stuff - in fact from the furniture and decorations to the cutlery on the tables nothing matches ........
.... our table set for two - there is a little table between us and a table for four that is there to set the tea pots on.....
..... to our right was this table ready for six tea enthusiasts..... eventually a group of six young ladies came in celebrating a birthday, in fact the table to our left was also a birthday celebration - it is that kind of place a sort of special outing place for a special occasion.....
..... here's the menu, we both had a "Queens Tea" -
my two sandwiches were the ham and English mustard, and pear and Stilton,
Rico had the chicken salad and the ham and cheddar cheese special of the day......
... the tea we chose was the Black Vanilla with lavender, I really enjoy and prefer black flavoured teas and Rico was game - and it turned out to be quite a tasty pot o'tea!!!
.... from my seat this was my view of more things to see and peruse...
.... our pot of tea came quickly and then this tower of goodies came just minutes behind the tea.... they are known for the scones they make and let me tell you, they were certainly delicious!!!!.
.... I added two sausage rolls and they came with a brown BBQ sauce that was quite nice.....
...... toward the end of finishing off the sandwiches, salad , and cole slaw out came these delicious warm from the griddle crumpets..... I almost couldn't eat mine, I said almost..... but I did and it was delicious!! There were a couple of sandwiches and some of the slaw left over and when it was time for use to choose our petit fours I asked if we could just wrap up what was left and take it and the cakes home - the waitress wrapped everything up and it was a great treat a couple of hours later!! (forgot to take a snap of the cakes - but I got a lemon one and Rico got a Key Lime one)
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All in all it was a super special afternoon, everything was top notch and just perfect - no rushing - no hassle - and simply delicious. I think if I had any kind of a criticism it would have to be my own thing, that if you are going to serve a tea cup then the finger hole should be big enough to put your finger through. My cup although a great size had the decorative finger hole that was more for show than for go (go look at the picture, that hole was the size of a very small dime if it was that big) - but now I'm quibbling - it is a great place and we'll certainly be back.
I would highly recommend this place, but be forewarned that you should absolutely make reservations to be assured of getting a table. Especially on the weekend as they are always packed, we did see a couple try to get a table when we were being sat, they eventually came back and were sat as we were leaving so they had a good two hour wait to get in.
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That's about it for today sports fans, thanks again for stopping by, do stop again!!
Take care,
edgar
