One of the highlights of our Weekend in Bath, Day 1 and Day 2 is dining at Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House & Museum. The history began with a young Huguenot refugee who came to Bath and worked in the kitchen of the bakery in the street known in those days as Lilliput Alley. Her name was Solange Luyon and due to unfamiliarity with French pronunciation, she became known as Sally Lunn. It was on the premise that she began baking a rich, generous brioche bun, similar to the French festival breads.
In modern days, Sally Lunn is known to be serving the world’s best buns. Sometimes, the buns are referred to as Bath Bunns.
Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House & Museum
On my visit to Bath, we went to Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House & Museum twice. Twice in TWO DAYS. It would go to show just how much I love eating at Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House. On the first day, I went there for late lunch. They almost closed order for the day and started the pre-dinner menu when I arrived. I waited for few minutes to get table for two. Queuing is common at Sally Lunn’s because of the obvious, good comfort food.
Sally Lunn’s 2 Course Afternoon Tea
I ordered Sally Lunn’s 2 Course Afternoon Tea all to myself. For the first course, I had a Sally Lunn Bun topped with finest Scottish Smoked Salmon. The second course was half a toasted and buttered Sally Lunn Bun served with strawberry Jam and clotted cream.
Sally Lunn 2 course High Tea £12.38
The bun was soft and perfectly toasted to match with the accompaniments. At Sally Lunn’s, they serve half a bun. Normally the tops are used for sweet buns and bottoms for the savoury. Either way, the buns were all praise.
Mira had the famous Sally Lunn bun accompanied with the famous home made cinnamon butter. The cinnamon butter mix was perfect in taste in that it was not too sweet nor the taste of cinnamon too strong. No wonder, it’s the best seller at Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House & Museum.
We wanted to check out the museum which was located at the basement of the restaurant. However, since it was already too late, the museum had already close by 5pm. Of course, we were so contented with the food that we decided to come over the next day for breakfast and museum visit.
Breakfast at Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House and Museum
We had a table on the ground floor with a interior design of the late 1600s. Still could not get over the previous day Sally Lunn’s 2 course afternoon tea, I opted for smoked salmon served with lemon, dill and cream cheese for breakfast. Mira chose the half a toasted and buttered Sally Lunn bun topped with 3 scrambled eggs and a pot of house tea. She ordered Jane Austen blend for drinks while I had her pot of house tea. Now that we were on the second round at Sally Lunn, I could attest to consistency of toasting the bun to its perfect taste. There is an interesting tie between Jane Austen and Sally Lunn as the former was believed to have referred to Bath bunn, with the extra ‘n’ in one of her letters. You may want to live the life of Jane Austen having Sally Lunn buns! Do check the Jane Austen room in Sally Lunn.
Smoked Salmon £8.48 Gold Medal winning premium Scottish smoked salmon direct from the smoker, lemon, dill and cream cheese
Scrambled Breakfast £7.38 Half a toasted & buttered Sally Lunn Bun topped with 3 scrambled eggs from happy chickens & a pot of house tea for one* (add Smoked Salmon for £4.38, Dry cure back bacon £2.28 and mushrooms £1.48)
The Sally Lunn Museum
The old bakery museum is perhaps the smallest museum in Bath, Somerset. The present Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House & Museum was erected around 1622. All guests can entry the museum for free. Apart from seeing the oven believed to have been used by Sally Lunn in 1680, the guests can buy the buns and the homemade toppings.
My first day visit to Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House & Museum is courtesy of Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House & Museum and Visit Bath while my second day visit was on my own. All opinions are mine and true based on my experiences.