In the immortal words of Tom Haverford and Donna Meagle, sometimes you just need to Treat. Yo. Self. I decided to do this by trying out the afternoon tea at Maison Danel. I had a few afternoon teas while living in London, and it’s definitely an indulgent experience that can be a lot of fun as well as allowing you to have an amazing meal. During covid, Maison Danel switched to a delivery mode where they deliver the entire afternoon tea to your house, complete with your choice of tea to brew at home. They even allow you to choose three sandwiches from a selection of sandwiches depending on your tastes and dietary preferences. The options for sandwiches are smoked salmon with caviar, ham and cheese, turkey and cheese, cucumber and egg, grilled zucchini and tomato, or eggplant.
I ordered the smoked salmon with caviar, the ham and cheese and the eggplant with peppermint tea. Everything else is set by the chefs at Maison Danel. Then it’s either picking up the food at the bakery or paying a bit extra and having it delivered. The afternoon tea itself is $55, or if you want to be extra indulgent, you can add a half-bottle of French sparkling wine for an additional $20. (We have plenty of sparkling at home, so we opted to open our own bottle instead of getting one.)
The box is very neatly packaged when it arrives. There is, however, quite a bit of packaging. It looks great from the outside, just a box tied with a ribbon, but on the inside, there are more boxes for the different goodies. One box is for the sandwiches, another for the baked goods, and a third for the smaller treats and the tea. (There is also a secret fourth box inside the third one for all you box fetishists out there.)
But of course, how was everything? The sandwiches were pretty tasty. My favorite was probably the ham and cheese as it was decadently rich on a croissant. The smoked salmon was also quite tasty, and the eggplant was nice, but could have had a bit more seasoning. All the baked goods were tasty! There was something resembling a scone (but not quite a scone) served with whipped cream and jam, a pain au chocolat, and a really decadent cake served with a salted caramel sauce. All the little sweet bites at the end were also a nice treat.
I really enjoyed the whole experience, even if it was at home. Which may have been better as we could have some very nice Champagne instead of something else. It’s definitely not an everyday sort of thing, but when you really do need to treat yourself, it’s a pretty awesome way to do it.
Score: 4/5
Recommendation: Well, most is pre-set, but if you like meat, the ham and cheese croissant is a must!
Maison Danel
1030 Polk St
San Francisco, CA 94109
