Miette: the cutest bakery in San Francisco

When we visit a city we like to see and do some of the things that locals would do. This is not always possible, but when I found the 'Ten things you should do in San Francisco' by Mighty girl and a certain bakery with a French name was on the list I was curious. So I wrote down the address and put it on our list.

 The Miette's shop in Hayes Valley (Octavia St. 449) is right in front of a park that could very well be somewhere in South France. I loved the aesthetics: tall glass jars filled with candy, wooden light green furniture, and flowery wallpapers.

 They are famous for their small but carefully crafted cakes. The first time we went there we tried the ice-cream sandwiches, perfect for the warm day (we got there after a long walk and we were melting). Their crème fraîche ice-cream on a graham cracker was our favorite, the ice-cream had this tangy, acid flavour that blended perfectly with the sweet cookie. We also tried their coconut ice-cream on a dark chocolate cookie, but the crème fraîche won by far.

 The next day we discovered that they also have a little shop at the Ferry building so the boy had a brownie and I chose a chocolate and strawberry cupcake. I loved their buttercream. You see, as pretty as it looks, I normally don't like buttercream. I hate biting into a cake and tasting, well, butter. This buttercream was very smooth and silky and you actually tasted natural strawberries (the taste was like a mix between ice-cream and strawberry petit-suisse). Pure yumminess. Then we came back with Lauren and Kamel, I wanted to taste everything they had, and I wasn't disappointed. This time I went for a chocolate cupcake covered in Italian meringue. Kamel had ginger with cream cheese, and I think it was good too.

At one of the shops at the airport I saw the Miette's cookbook and I begged for it :). I am glad I got it, because not only it includes the recipe for the strawberry buttercream*, it also tells the story of Miette. It turns out they started out as a stall at Berkeley's market, where they sold from a pink tent. From there, they expanded to sell at the Farmer's Market in Embarcadero, until they opened their first shop (at the Ferry building). Later they started making caramels, toffee and candy and opened the confiserie at Hayes Valley. Very, very inspiring.

Proudly pointing at all the varieties of imported Dutch liquorice.

Also... as soon as I entered the shop at Hayes Valley I recognized the place from this couple's after-wedding photoshoot. I fell in love with such a cute backdrop when I saw those photos a while ago, and I fell in love even more when I was actually there.

 *It is a buttercream based on Italian-meringue, to which natural fruit syrup is added.