Saturday, May 29, 2010

Secret Garden Tea House

No secrets, no garden, lots of tea though
(05/23/10)



Last Saturday, I had to take both my car and computer into their respective shops (Midas® and the Geek Squad®, I will leave it to you to determine which was which) for tune-ups and didn't really get a chance to have a "propa" breakfast or the chance to post anything new here (no computer anyway and not much time). I waited until Sunday morning to saunter over to the Secret Garden Tea House. I had attempted to go there a few weeks back but they were booked for a "Baby Shower" thingy; I was happy to see that they were open for business to the general public again (well, there were a few other tables that had made reservations for "Tea"; a couple celebrating her birthday and a table with two moms and their four little girls ~ all in matching dresses ~ doing the whole "High Tea megillah"). So, I am just catching up with a new post today…


http://www.secretgardenteahouse.com/

The Secret Garden Tea House is over on Lincoln Way in the Sunset, near the 9th Avenue entrance to Golden Gate Park. Breakfast is only served from 10:00-11:45am; however, "Tea" is served from 11:00am-on. There really isn't a "Secret Garden" associated with the restaurant (I asked), but they do have another room around the back that can be reserved for special functions. They offer a large variety of teas and do most of their own blending. It is Japanese family-owned and -operated… but what the heck do Japanese know about a truly decent cuppa?!



I had gone there once before about a year ago and really liked their tea and breakfast. They used to offer a vegetarian version of the traditional Englishlander breakfast "Bubble-and-Squeak"* that was great. This was my main reason for going back there (and making two attempts to do so). For some reason, that is no longer offered on the menu, and they had only a few thing from which to choose in the "Breakfast" category.

Instead I had their "Secret Garden Full Breakfast": eggs, grilled "organic" (their term, not mine; though, I added the quotation marx, Karl) tomatoes, sautéed (they didn't say if they were "organic" or not) mushrooms, hash browns, fresh fruit ("organic", too?), and toast… but strangely, no baked beans ("organic" or not). They normally include two types of meat to the entire mess: bacon and sausage (luckily, "Blood Pudding" was not on the menu); in place of the dead decaying horseflesh, they added some sliced, grilled yellow peppers and grilled corn kernels for me, without even my having to ask, which was nice.

As for the "Tea" portion of the breakfast, I had their London Fog Tea, which is (according to their menu) a "British Breakfast Tea". It was a good, full-bodied tea. I probably should not have added the two sugars and milk before tasting it, as it really didn't need either. On subsequent cups I skipped both. I seem to remember I had their Earl Grey Tea last time I was there and it was excellent, too.

I forgot to take a picture of the whole breakfast, but remembered to take a picture of the tea setting (afterwards).



Again, if I had any sorta kompyuter-skilz, here is where I would insert a direct EweTube link to Breakfast in America by Supertramp. Sorry, but you will just have to settle for the ol' "cut-n-paste it yerdamnself" option:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9k-aGfhaJo&feature=related

I kinda felt like the proverbial "Bull in the Tea Shop" with my dirty ol' Baseball cap and worn (read: ripped/torn) jeans. And I did find it very hard to eat my breakfast with those tiny tea spoons.

I probably won't be going back to the Secret Garden Tea House any time soon with the exclusion of "Bubble-and-Squeak" and the minimal Breakfast fare, but I would recommend it to anyone that wanted to experience a nice "High Tea". This place is not exactly Bettys (not many are), but it wasn't that bad for an 'merican alternative.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Breakfast ~ 6.4; London Fog ~ 7.0


*(Boring cunning-linguist anecdote of the week:

From Wikipedia:
"Bubble and squeak (sometimes just called bubble) is a traditional English dish made with the shallow-fried leftover vegetables from a roast dinner. The chief ingredients are potato and cabbage, but carrots, peas, brussels sprouts, and other vegetables can be added. It is traditionally served with cold meat from the Sunday roast, and pickles. Traditionally, the meat was added to the bubble and squeak itself, although nowadays it is more commonly made without meat. The cold chopped vegetables (and cold chopped meat if used) are fried in a pan together with mashed potatoes or crushed roast potatoes until the mixture is well-cooked and brown on the sides.

The name comes from the bubble and squeak sounds made as it cooks. The name bubble and squeak is used throughout the United Kingdom. In parts of the country the dish may be referred to as bubble and scrape.

Bubble and squeak was a popular dish during World War II, as it was an easy way of using leftovers during a period when most foods were subject to rationing. In more recent times, pre-prepared frozen and tinned versions became available."

I also will point out that "Bubble-and-Squeak" is the Cockney rhyming slang for "Greek". I learned this the hard way back when I was living in Greece and one of the cute barmaids in downtown
Γλυφάδα ~ whom I was hot on and who was a London East Ender herself ~ was talking about her "Bubble-and-Squeak" boyfriend. She had to explain the whole Cockney thing to me.)

No comments:

Post a Comment