Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Tea at Crown and Crumpet

It's February and Munch and I are on Mid-Winter Break, or as I grew up calling it, "Ski Week". So she and I grabbed the opportunity to get to one of our "must-visit" destinations: Crown and Crumpet Tea Room in Ghirardelli Square. Snow White joined us for the day. We saved ourselves a drive by taking the ferry into San Francisco.It was a tiny ferry- very new (not even 2 weeks in service) and as plush as a ferry could get. It even had heat lamps hanging over the outer decks! Munch loved chatting up the ferry workers on board and spent most of time battling the bay breezes-
We had a little time to spare, so we wandered around the SF Ferry Building Marketplace. First stop was Miette, where Snow White and I picked out a couple of macarons- chocolate, rose, and grapefruit.
I was glad to see several merchants that were new (to me, at least- it's been a while since I've visited the Ferry Building). This one, Boccalone Salumeria, caught my eye-
as did the mushroom place, Far West Funghi, where I was able to show Munch what real truffles look like (and which reminded me to hunt down a new jar of truffled honey)

Knowing we had a few treats ahead, we passed on the doughnuts, although the flavors looked interesting-
We met up with my cousin and headed to Ghirardelli Square for our lunch reservation-
where Munch was so excited to find Crown and Crumpet that she didn't quite hear me say (several times), "Yes, this IS where we're eating!"
We spent several minutes oohing and aahing over how darling everything was- especially the table of sweets at the entrance

We were seated in the middle of the tea salon, next to the service area
I ordered the nursery tea for Munch
and tea service for myself (this serves one), but I think my cousin had the right idea ordering an extra plate of tea sandwiches as Munch worked through her three tiers very quickly!
All our orders came with a generous pot of tea- Paris for me, a decaf Muscat for my cousin (which smells AMAZING!), and Peppermint Chamomile for Munch. Munch's little teapot was just the right size for her and she was delighted to find a couple of heart shaped sugar cubes in the sugar bowl to nibble and add to her teacup-
While we finished our tea, Munch and Snow White explored the sitting area
and made friends with some other girls who were playing in the shop.

3 comments:

Amy Dean said...

WOW !! What a great blog you did on Crown & Crumpet! Thank you, we are so greatful. It is a great post and super cute photos of your cutie!
It was so nice to meet you and we love your cousin Liz! Shes one of our favourite regulars! Thank you so much for writing about us!
All the best!
Amy Dean

janice said...

Thanks for reading & leaving a comment Amy! Hopefully you'll get some business from my friends with daughters who live north of the bridge and hadn't heard of Crown & Crumpet yet- the shop photographs so well! We had a wonderful time and can't wait to come back.
:) janice

Deb said...

Wow! Looks like a fantastic day that you had together. Got to love when you can play "tourist" in the Bay Area--so many wonderful spots to visit. The tea pics are adorable.