Wenham Tea House

4 Monument St., Wenham, MA - (978) 468-1398

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Posted By Michael Stern on October 4, 2000 9:18 AM

A real ladies’ lunch room going back nearly a century, Wenham Tea House is part of a philanthropic enterprise that sells books, antiques, china, and handwork to benefit the community. Also on sale in the front room are bakery cases full of dainty cakes, pies, muffins, casseroles, and hors d’oeuvres one can buy to take home. Beyond the prepared foods is the tea room, open only midday (and for afternoon tea) where lovely lunch is served six days a week.

Much as we like two-fisted diner grub, these gentle meals are irresistible. Of course, there are several main-course salads, including a terrific Caesar salad and a chicken Waldorf cut into tiny bite-size pieces. Crab cakes, available as an appetizer or main course, are demure little discs with a nice sweet flavor and the soft texture of good white bread. There are club sandwiches, a cheddar crab melt on 8-grain bread, and even a modern vegetable wrap. Count on a quiche of the day as well as a soup; we love the creamy smooth lobster bisque. Meals are accompanied by warm, fresh-baked muffins.

Delicate foods are what you expect in such a setting (lace-curtained windows; decorative plates on the wall), but do not underestimate the satisfaction of such full meals as Yankee pot roast or turkey with trimmings that include moist sage dressing, mashed potatoes, whipped butternut squash, and cranberry-orange sauce, followed by hot milk sponge cake for dessert.

Custom decrees that all able ladies (and the occasional gentleman visitor) help themselves to coffee and tea at the sideboard, where a sign advises, “No cell phones, please.” Service is swift and efficient, provided by a staff of waitresses in crisp uniforms with white aprons that remind us of the golden days of Shraft’s.

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