It’s teatime. It’s a time for party dresses and bow ties, a time to be ladylike and gentlemanly, to sip and not slurp, nibble and not chomp. But at the Silver Spoon Tea House, it’s not necessarily hoity-toity when it comes to afternoon tea.
Sylvia Erickson says her teahouse is not snobbish. By all means, come in your frilly garb with your hair all done up — but you can wear jeans, too. “We want people to experience the formal aspect of everything,” she says.
Erickson and daughter Lara McHenry opened the Silver Spoon Tea House the first day of June. They wanted something they could do together that had a laid-back feel, says Erickson, who previously owned and leased restaurants in Colorado and Montana.
McHenry, who worked in real estate, says they wanted to create a place in Spokane for tea enthusiasts.
Silver Spoon operates out of a house built in 1903 on the lower South Hill that’s in the Spokane Register of Historic places as the Levi Monroe House. Erickson furnished multiple rooms in the Queen Anne-style house with antiques, set up outdoor seating on the wraparound veranda and serves everything on authentic china.
There are two ways to go about teatime at Silver Spoon. You can come in during the morning and early afternoon and sit in the French-style patisserie room, or you can make a reservation for a formal afternoon tea service.
In the patisserie room you can order pastries made at Petit Chat or savory croissants with meat and cheese ($6.50). Choose from the 28 tea options ($3, tea for one). There’s a variety of black, green and herbal tea, including Russian Caravan tea, and a Moroccan Mint tea Erickson brought back from the Middle East during her travels.
The reserved afternoon tea service comes with a three-tiered platter of “little delectable bites,” as Erickson calls them — finger sandwiches, small cheesecakes, scones and more. You can select one of three levels of service: the Lady Marguerite tea ($22), Madame Dubois tea ($25) and Marie Antoinette tea ($28).
The Georgetta Marie parlor room also can be reserved for a gathering. Sink into the French settee, sip, chat and take in the essence of a true Victorian tea.
“We’re a drive-thru society — to actually sit down and breathe and socialize, it’s very European,” McHenry says.
Silver Spoon Tea House • 1427 W. 6th Ave. • Open for walk-ins Tue-Sat, 9 am-2 pm; open for reserved parties Tue-Sat, 2-6 pm • 995-0074 • silverspoonteahouse.com
