Once upon a time, there was a lovely little tea room in Beacon, New York called "The Cup & Saucer Restaurant & Tea Room" (it's still listed on Adagio Tea's TeaMap as such). It offered lunch and afternoon tea and was very popular until the neighborhood changed. Owner Shirley Hot said that with the influx of hipsters to the area, her tea room wasn't doing as well. She realized she had to re-invent her restaurant before "progress" took its toll. One day, after binge watching Doctor Who, she noticed that the bathroom door looked remarkably like the front of the TARDIS. Shirley said she knew nothing about hipsters but she, being British, knew about the Doctor and so two years ago, the Cup & Saucer morphed into the Pandorica.
Shirley's gamble paid off, because Old School and New School Whovians have found their way to the Pandorica. The Traveling Teapot and I took advantage of a lovely sunny day and drove down to Beacon to visit the Pandorica. The restaurant offers lots of traditional British food--I had delicious Bangers & Mash for lunch--and much of it has a Whovian theme as you can see from the menu. Of course, if you're going to have a Doctor Who lunch, you need to have a Doctor Who dessert and I just had to have Fish Fingers and Custard!
The Pandorica has two different kinds of Fish Fingers and Custard: the appetizer is really fish sticks and she really serves it with custard because patrons complained that the lemon aioli she originally serve them with wasn't custard! The second type, seen here, is actually french toast fingers with custard and was very yummy.
While the Traveling Teapot just got to sightsee this time, I'm sure it felt at home with all the Whovian touches and Shirley says she has one, too. Naturally, I had to enjoy some tea with my "fish fingers." and tried the house Darjeeling which was very nice indeed.
The Pandorica tea list includes something for every taste including Rose Chocolate (black tea), Who Sencha (green tea) and Rooibos Colada. Shirley is starting to blend her own line of Whovian teas which will eventually be available online. When I told her about our group, she immediately went to Facebook and asked to join!
The Traveling Teapot will finally get to be the star of the show next week when I host my friends. She'll be glad it's just been vacationing so far!
Cheers!
Cheryl@teatimetutorial.com
Team Darjeeling
Very clever owner! And how wonderful that it is working for her. I had found this website during my hostess month and read about so it is great to read your post about your visit. The faux fish sticks sound better with custard that real ones :*)
ReplyDeleteGood for the owner being aware and willing to make the changes to stay in business. How fun to take the teapot there. I can imagine the little blue Tardis felt right at home.
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing such a kind article. It was lovely to meet you hopefully you'll come back some time in the future.... Or is that the past? Oh I don't know, wibbly wobbly timey wimey...stuff.
ReplyDeleteI had a lovely time and it was so kind of you to spend so much time chatting. Yes. I'll be back!
DeleteI had a lovely time and it was so kind of you to spend so much time chatting. Yes. I'll be back!
DeleteAww, very inspirational as we all have to adapt to changing times.
ReplyDeleteRochelle, ATAA
Shirley you are so smart to have done this! Good for you! It's a place my family would love to visit!
ReplyDeleteGreat experience you've related here :) I think I'll take the dessert "fish fingers", if you don't mind ......
ReplyDeleteCheryl, this was a fun choice and so glas Shirley has joined ATAA.
ReplyDeleteHaving traveled through Beacon numerous times on the way to visit CT relatives. I never stopped. Now it may be a destination. Conde Nast Traveler has a nice bit about it in Ten things to do in Beacon NY. The Tardis has been having such adventures lately!
Interesting! My daughter is a big Dr. Who fan - I will have to tell her about this place. If it's within driving distance, we'll have to make the trip.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how she reinvented the tea room to keep up with the times and continue doing business.
ReplyDeleteSips and Smiles,
Teresa