It all started when some friends and myself needed food after a round of mini golf and found ourselves driving past a tearoom that wasn’t on my To Review list. So when my best friend and fellow tea aficionado came back from a trip to England, what better way to catch up than over afternoon tea at this little find?
First Impressions and Service
We all know my obsession with authentic, legitimate clotted cream. It’s well documented on the blog! But usually it shows up in the form of me lamenting during a review about some tea house or another’s makeshift clotted cream just not cutting it compared to the British stuff. Sorry if you get sick of those little cry tests.
But it’s a sad, sad, sad fact that the US is lacking true clotted cream.
Am I saying that clotted cream literally does not exist in the United States? No, obviously. I have found some grocery stores that sell Devonshire or Clotted Cream in their dairy sections and know of a few tea houses that import their clotted cream from England in order to be authentic. There are also millions of recipes that claim to make clotted cream, findable with a simple Google search. Yes, many of these recipes mimic the glory of clotted cream–some even come close to matching it–but there is one simple difference that is extremely difficult to overcome here and without overcoming it you cannot make authentic clotted cream. (If you are looking to make Devonshire cream, there are two.)
You have to use unpasteurized milk. Most technically it’s unpasteurized, unhomogenized milk, but for sake of easy argument let’s call it unpasteurized.
Pasteurizing milk heats it to kill off bacteria and other disease causing microbes. Pasteurizing milk became a federal requirement in 1924, aka The Year Clotted Cream Died. I’m not going to go into the long explanation and history of the Raw Milk Debate, so if you’re curious, there are lots of great articles on the Interwebs. Pasteurizing and homogenizing milk changes the structure of the fat globules, which sound disgusting but are the most amazing thing ever because they form clotted cream.
Now over the last five years, many states are legalizing the sale of raw milk again (thank you advances in medical science) so true clotted cream can make a comeback! Unfortunately most tearooms still use a version of glorified whipped cream and call it clotted. Restaurants are not allowed to use unpasteurized milk for “health and safety reasons” so I guess it isn’t really their fault. But still…
So there you have it: the reason clotted cream at tearooms is not real clotted cream has all to do with Federal regulations prohibiting the use of raw milk, false advertising, and if you are looking for Devonshire cream the lack of cows from Devon living in the United States.
Makes you wish we hadn’t declared independence, hmm?
A tearoom review and more scone recipes are coming soon! Plus some fun new featured recipes and topics, so stay tuned and sign up for email notifications so you don’t miss anything!
I’m OBSESSED with peanut butter in any form, but I get especially happy when that peanut butter is paired with chocolate. I can’t think of a single time from my childhood when someone asked me what my favorite candy was that was not some form of chocolate-peanut butter perfection. Reese’s peanut butter cups, Reese’s peanut butter cup miniatures (I swear the smaller ones are more deadly), Reese’s Bites (those were the best movie theater candy, why did they disappear?!), Peanut Butter M&Ms, Fastbreak bars, Take 5 Bars…the list was consistently chocolate and peanut butter.
Reese’s Scones
So putting little tiny Reese’s cups in a batch of scones is the perfect, most natural progression, right? Thought so!
Remember how I said that the best part about my funfetti scones is that you can make them for any and all holidays? Get ready!
4th of July Funfetti Scones
Need something quick to make to for that 4th of July get-together you forgot was today? Swing by the grocery store for red, white, and blue sprinkles and make a batch of 4th of July Funfetti Scones! Just use my funfetti scone recipe and use the patriotic sprinkles.
Don’t they look AMAZING!
4th of July Funfetti Scones
I feel super accomplished because I am getting you a holiday scone recipe before the holiday so you can actually make them for your holiday get together!!! Yeah, I feel proud. Like, American pride!
Red, White, and Blue Scones
There was just a really loud bang in my apartment. No idea what it was, but it scared me half to death! All I know is that our power went out and then came The Big Bang and the power turned back on. What the bleep?! Now the alarm system keeps chirping and I have no clue how to stop it. Why does living away from your parents have to be so scary and confusing?
Blueberry Scones
So since I’ve had my share of scary and confusing for the day, let’s go with simple and easy for our tea time scones. No crazy mix-ins, no experimentation, no wild steps like smothering dough in Nutella...just a classic scone that everyone loves: The Blueberry Scone.
Dark Chocolate Chip Blueberry Scones
Father’s Day is tomorrow!!
Okay, technically Father’s Day was last Sunday the 15th, but tomorrow my mom, my brother, and myself are taking my dad to a Dodgers-Padres baseball game down in San Diego. So we are celebrating Father’s Day tomorrow. Yeah we did the full family barbecue (that wasn’t as good as my dad’s famous barbecue) on the actual day, but tomorrow is really when the four of us are going to spend time together as a family and cherish every moment of the day with our beloved patriarch. Unless the Dodgers lose. Which they won’t!
Live. Breathe. Blue.
Good luck having any dough left to make these scones. I will practically put money on the bet that you will eat all the dough before the scones ever make it on to the baking sheet much less into the oven.
Funfetti Cake Batter Scones
Oops, don’t I usually start with some fun anecdote or little tie in to introduce a recipe? Sorry, these scones are just too amazing to hold off on telling you. They are like that piece of great news that you intend to keep quiet, subtly dropping little hints to everyone to build fun suspense, but then as soon as you see someone you compulsively blurt it out. Whoopsies! It was just too great and exciting to keep secret! Usually that news is a baby or an engagement or a dream job or successfully doing a backflip on a trampoline. In my case, though, it’s creating and perfecting a scone that tastes SO MUCH like funfetti cake batter that I forgot I wasn’t eating cake/had to make multiple batches because I couldn’t stop eating the dough/have my friends begging for deliveries/almost make me want to give up scone recipe developing because I don’t think I can top these ever.
First let me send out a huge thank you to all my new readers! The past two days, this blog has gotten over 50 hits each day! Yay! And I’ve gotten some really nice messages and comments about my last review of Steampunk’s Afternoon Tea event. Hearing from you always makes me smile, so keep the communication going!
To celebrate, let’s make more scones. How else would we celebrate?
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Scones
My mind has been on vacations a lot lately. No, not like I’m taking a mental vacation and becoming a space cadet, but like thinking about traveling and getting away from California for a little while. Maybe it’s because all the schools are getting out right about now and people are heading out of town. Alas, I’m a poor, starving actress who has to subsist on the millions of scones in her freezer and can’t afford to go on vacation just yet. So I guess I have to make a scone into a vacation! How about Hawaii?
Welcome to an alternative Victorian age, where the Industrial Revolution has permeated society’s machinery and the supernatural may or may not exist. Welcome to the Steampunk Movement. Originating as a sub-genre of science fiction, steampunk has become an entire culture that combines Victorian styles with accents inspired by machinery and steam-powered anything. Think Sherlock Holmes (not the BBC version with the beautifully voiced Benedict Cumberbatch), The Time Machine, the 1999 Will Smith movie Wild Wild West, and the new stage show at Disneyland “Mickey and the Magical Map”. Oh, and it’s the name of one of my favorite local coffee shops that hosted its first afternoon tea.
Owners of Steampunk Coffeebar and Kitchen
First Impressions and Service
I’ve been to Steampunk in its usual coffeeshop/delicious brunch incarnation multiple times, so I already knew to expect very talkative, enthusiastic, and friendly people. Even though the tea was put on by an outside company, my expectations were met! All the servers and chefs were dressed in true steampunk fashion. Their costumes were incredible, and almost felt like a Hidden Mickey hunt because so many of them had Disney Steampunk pins as accessories. Steampunk and Disney is a much more common combination than you’d think!
Steampunked Servers
The tea was scheduled to start at 4:30 and I arrived exactly on time. This may have been an event that it was better to arrive fashionably late as they weren’t quite ready for tables to sit yet. A few of the tables in the back of the restaurant were still being used for sandwich assembly. It made it pretty confusing as to where to sit or what to do. There wasn’t a hostess and no assigned seats despite the tea being a ticketed event. Things felt a little chaotic. Easy solution for next time is to preassign tables or have one employee play hostess once people arrive to direct/explain things. Other than that, throughout the two hour event (and after it was officially over but we all stuck around talking) the servers were amazing and engaging and seemed genuinely happy to be there.
Décor
Steampunk (if it’s capitalized assume I mean the coffee shop not the style) already has a very distinctive décor every day. The walls are a bright blue that somehow manages not to blind you or be too obstrusive and serve as an eye-catching backdrop for works by featured artists. On a non-tea day the artwork alone serves up hours worth of talking points for you and your friends over Mexican Mochas. The tables are mixy-matchy complete with pipes for legs. Lots of that bright blue, lots of bronze, lots of brass, and lots of fun. There was no added décor for the tea event, but the patrons dressed up in their finest steampunk attire alongside the employees almost felt like extra decoration! It also can get pretty loud in there (all that metal doesn’t really absorb sound) but that actually made it feel more exciting and fun and you can still hold an easy conversation.
Steampunk Coffeebar and Kitchen
Steampunk is very much a coffee shop and café, not a tearoom. But as long as you aren’t expecting a ton of lace doilies and floral arrangements, you will find it a fun location. Remember, this is a themed tea! I’d have been really disappointed if they had broken away from their roots in the steampunk movement.
Tea Selection
Chef Justin Bastian (owner and head chef of Midsummer Night’s Confections) creates his own tea blends and served five of them throughout the event. Tea is brewed loose leaf (1 point!) and the servers walked around with fresh pots of all different teas, ready to immediately refill your cup. If the server at your table didn’t have the tea you wanted, they went and got a fresh pot of the one you did! A few times the teas were overbrewed and the servers would tell you it was one tea when it was really a different one (quite a shocker to drink a lemongrass tisane when you were anticipating a raspberry black tea). Those are just kinks that will be worked out at the next event. As for flavor, the teas were all amazing! I tried all five and had a hard time making up my mind as to my favorite. I might have had 12 cups of tea over the meal. Each tea was a unique twist on a traditional tea flavor and were made up of tea leaves, dried fruits, herbs, and other flavorings. Nothing was artificial. Everything was delicious.
A quick rundown of the teas:
Food
When I say everything on this menu was homemade, I mean everything, down to the mayonnaise in the chicken salad. The theme of the food seemed to be “Slight Twist on Tradition” mixed with “What Flower Can I Put In This (insert food item)”. Everything was well balanced in flavor, fresh, and well-portioned. This tea was a set menu of savories, scones, and desserts. All the food was brought out at once and it was up to your discretion as to which order to eat everything.
Sandwiches
Ham and Apple
The ham and apple jam on squaw bread was a nice change from the more common pairings of ham-and-cranberry-sauce and ham-and-cheese. The apple jam stood up to the heartier ham slices and the squaw bread was soft with the right amount of flavor. Personally, this sandwich felt too large, but really that is only because it was a pure half of a sandwich instead of two fourths. Mathematically the same, presentation not so much. While tasty, this was the most forgettable item on the menu. It was more of a standard fare that just filled up a slot on the menu.
Cucumber Cream Cheese
Every tea has to have a cucumber sandwich, right? This cucumber sandwich was perfection. There was the perfect ratio of cream cheese to cucumber; the cucumbers were cut into thick slices so you actually felt the freshness and taste of cucumber instead of those watery shreds so many tea sandwiches use. The bread was a beautiful, thick French bread that had an actual crust to it! Yes tea is supposed to be a light food affair, but sometimes the airy white bread that is normally used with cucumber sandwiches makes you feel like you are eating…well…air. This sandwich had substance and therefore has my approval. Oh and the cream cheese, I could eat it all day. In the flower theme, the cream cheese was a rose-mint cream cheese that wasn’t too floral or too herbaceous or to tangy, just well balanced and not overpowering to the cucumber.
Strawberry Chicken Salad
Alert the presses because I had chicken salad, with mayonnaise, and LIKED IT. With so many examples of my anti-mayo rants in these reviews, I am as shocked as you that I had no problem with this chicken salad. The mayonnaise is a housemade olive oil-based mayo which probably explains why I liked it. Strawberries added to the chunky chicken salad was an inspired touch, and the fresh basil leaves add that floral plant note more sandwiches should have. The bread was a white bread, but it had more weight to it than a Wonder Bread. It was still light enough to let the chunky chicken and fresh chopped strawberries shine. I would have liked more strawberries though!
Brie and Apricot Croissant
The coup de grace was the warmed croissant with thick slices of fresh brie and homemade apricot jam. I can’t describe the cheesy, tart, sweet, buttery fantasticness (a new word I am coining only for this sandwich) with enough justice. They broiled or baked the croissants before they delivered them so the cheese was all melty and the jam was beginning to caramelize and now I’m craving it all over again. This was the standout savory options by far!
Scones
Currant Scone
Out of the three courses, the scone course was the weakest, though still better than some of the other places’ I’ve been to that shouldn’t even call what they serve a scone. The first was a small currant scone that was a little overbaked. The bottom was too brown and the rest was a little too dry, but the flavor was spot-on British. There were nice layers to the scone as well. Bake a little bit less and it would be perfect. The second scone was a pretty big lemon-lavender scone that I know my dad would have loved. The lavender was almost too subtle (I really like floral flavors though) and the lemon was robust both in the scone itself and the lemon glaze poured on top.
Lemon Lavender Scone
This texture was better, lighter, and not overbaked—a good combination of dense and light. The clotted cream is the closest thing you are going to find to authentic, British clotted cream in an American kitchen. It was thick, creamy, not sweet, and a perfect accompaniment to the scones though the scones didn’t need it. The chef’s partner is Welsh and wouldn’t let him use the sweetened whipped cream so many teahouses claim is clotted cream. I approve of her, and of his clotted cream. Gold Star!
Desserts
Neapolitan Cupcake
Cutest thing ever was the Neapolitan cupcake baked directly in a teacup. One of the moistest chocolate-vanilla swirl cupcakes I have ever tasted, swirled through with fresh strawberries and topped with the perfect amount of chocolate-vanilla-strawberry frosting. I have nothing to say about this other than pure perfection that I could eat everyday.
Butterscotch Cookies with Salted Caramel Frosting
The second dessert was a butterscotch shortbread sandwich cookie with salted caramel frosting. The cookie softened over the course of the meal so by the time you bit into it it was soft and firm at the same time. And the frosting wasn’t too sweet at all! In fact, considering the main flavors were butterscotch and caramel, this cookie wasn’t a cavity-inducing sugar high in the slightest!
Steampunk and Chef Justin did a phenomenal job with their inaugural afternoon tea event. The food was fantastic, the setting eclectic and fun, and the people were so personable and friendly that I walked out of the tea feeling more like I was family than a customer. I can’t wait to see this event continue to improve and become one of the must-do events of Los Angeles.
Steampunk Coffee and Kitchen
12526 Burbank Blvd., Valley Village, CA 91607
818-508-1276
$25 per person, but prices subject to change with the event’s popularity