Samovar Tea Lounge
Yerba Buena Gardens
730 Howard St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 227-9400
www.samovarlife.com
December 07, 2009 at 3:29 PM
At its three locations around the city, Samovar Tea Lounge has mastered what many restaurants aspire to but which few achieve. More than just a business, it’s a lifestyle. Denizens here aren’t just cooks, waiters, baristas, and regulars — they’re “Ambassadors” on a “mission to create peace through tea.”
Samovar’s approach involves sourcing small batch, organic teas at fair trade prices from artisan family farmers, educating the public on the benefits of tea, and promoting traditional tea culture through the restaurants, events, and extensive Web site, Samovarlife.com. While the globally-inspired menu offers choices from dinner to brunch, small plates to dessert, the star is the tea, which Samovar implores you “sip slowly, filling you with calm and vitality.”
This overriding philosophy can sometimes render Samovar an ill-advised choice for the impatient or time-challenged diner. But for those with occasion to linger, there’s perhaps no better spot in the city.
Harried dot-commer turned blissed-out tea evangelist, Samovar founder Jesse Jacobs is a living, Ommm-ing example of the brew’s calming, centering benefits. He shares his enthusiasm via regular tea salons and tastings, and on the highly informative Samovar Web site.




Visiting Samovar for the first time, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d wandered into a spa or perhaps a temple, complete with devoted aspirants in black scurrying back and forth among the Zen statuettes, bamboo, and burbling fountains.




Samovar’s eco-centric, Asian-influenced design is perhaps most dramatically showcased against the hectic hustle bustle surrounding its Yerba Buena location. Smack dab in the heart of the city’s financial and hotel districts, Samovar Yerba Buena would make for an elegant business lunch or romantic break from sight seeing.




Contrary to Starbucks, true Chai tea is not a cloying mix that comes straight from a box or powder. Samovar reinstates this ancient tradition by slow brewing Masala Chai, a creamy, spicy infusion with just the right hint of sugar.




According to Samovar’s menu, Tolstoy fueled his creativity by drinking Russian tea from the samovar, the traditional tea dispenser from which the lounge takes its name. Samovar stews its smoky, rich Russian-blend in a shiny samovar in the center of the dining room, where guests are welcome to help themselves to bottomless refills.




The sweet squash plumping these handmade dumplings is perfectly offset by a salty sesame soy sauce that packs a zingy hit of heat. The dish accompanies the Chinese Duck or Veggie Stir-Fry or can be ordered alone as a small plate.




As the menu beckons, “dismount your camel, unroll your rug, start the fire, and chill out beneath the starry desert night.” Samovar bases its Moorish tea service on the traditions of North Africa’s nomadic Berber tribes, complete with a pot of mint tea blended with cardamom, peppermint, ginger, green tea leaves, and black pepper, and sweetened to your taste.




A hearty sampling of clean Japanese flavors, the Maki Bowl pairs wakame seaweed salad with sesame-miso dressing, seasoned brown rice, steamed kale with ume marinade, toasted nori, and a soup blended from seasonal vegetables, accompanied by your choice of tofu or salmon. Paired with the cleansing Ryokucha Brown Rice Tea, the meal nourishes without weighing you down.




IHOP-enthusiasts might waffle over whether or not this healthy interpretation meets their definition of the butter-bombed Belgian classic. But for those seeking a lighter spin on an old favorite, Samovar’s Ginger Quinoa Waffle, available before 3 pm, is a satisfyingly spongy, robustly nutty, nutritious indulgence.




For those seeking a mid morning or late afternoon hit of something sweet, Samovar obliges with a selection of inventive tea-inspired treats, like the Fudge Matcha Brownie with Green Tea Mousse. While the dainty brownies are more fudge-y than Matcha, there’s no mistaking that vegetal tang in the tea-whipped mousse, which sports a shade as authentically green as the leaves from whence it came.




Many restaurant reviews devote very little space to the most important element of a meal — the food. In Full Plate, we discuss the chef, setting, and other non-food elements, but we devote most of our restaurant reviews to the food, offering our thoughts about and accompanying photos of recommended items on the menu. (Hover over the photos with your mouse pointer to enlarge them.)