I had breakfast at Tiffany’s and all my Hepburn fantasies came true

“A girl can’t read this sort of thing without her lipstick.”  –Breakfast at Tiffany’s 

Ladies and gentlemen, this post is proof that godmothers are actually magical fairies. This past Christmas, when my godmother surprised me with a little blue Tiffany’s box, and I opened that box to find a pancake-shaped squish toy inside, I thought she was playing a cruel joke on me.

Let me give you a little bit of background here. In November of 2017, Tiffany and Co. decided to capitalize on everyone’s obsession with Audrey Hepburn and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (if you haven’t seen the movie, I don’t even know what to say to you–go watch it. Right now. It’s on Amazon Prime.)–and open The Blue Box Cafe.

Now, Hepburn’s character (a chic but poor young woman who probably qualifies as the original manic-pixie-dream-girl) eats a modest breakfast outside the Tiffany flagship store. Visiting this six-floor behemoth and eating a fancy, overpriced breakfast in a café designed to look like the inside of the iconic blue box is not exactly accurate to the film, but damn did I still get excited when the press release hit the internet.

Then, of course, I hit a little snag–it was impossible to get a table. Like seriously. For a week straight I logged on to their reservation website right when the next “day” opened to the public. I was willing to take any time, any day–hell, I would have taken a personal day from work for this. And nothing. Eventually I just gave up and figured I’d have to wait a few years for the excitement to die down.

So when my godmother told me she’d managed to get reservations, I think I nearly jumped out a window, I was so excited (it’s the simple things, people). We went last week and it was a seriously good day. Here are my thoughts:

First off, The Blue Box cafe is nestled in a corner of Tiffany’s fourth floor. It’s probably the size of a large master suite/bedroom (no wonder it’s hard to get a table) and is most definitely designed to make you feel like you’re sitting inside a blue box. Everything is Tiffany Blue and white–they even have an accent wall apparently made out of blue-veined marble. The hosts and servers were all so impeccably polite and made me feel much more refined than I probably am in my day to day life. In general, the atmosphere was excellent–something like a combination of a fancy tea party and Harry Potter World (with all the excited tourists taking pictures).

The food was impressive not so much for its flavor (it was good, but not absolutely mind-blowing) but rather for its presentation. The menu is prix fixe, with a selection of Breakfast, Lunch, and Tiffany Tea. Ever the tea-party enthusiast, I immediately selected the Tiffany Tea Service, which included a variety of finger sandwiches, sweet and savory scones, and petite desserts, accompanied by a pot of tea (I chose the Tiffany Blend, of course).

The flavors of the finger sandwiches were all nicely balanced (and I tried smoked salmon for the first time–man, have I been missing out) but nothing to write home about, necessarily. The scones were scones and the little desserts were pretty good (they did an especially good job with the lemon jellies and key lime tarts). Just look at that presentation, though.

What you see on that top plate, nestled among all the yummy sweets, is an edible bird’s nest, with chocolate robin’s eggs. Here’s a close up:

The bird’s nest is apparently an iconic design from Tiffany engagement ads in the 60’s, and Tiffany fans will know that the jewelry company also handcrafts a beautiful version of the bird’s nest out of sterling silver and porcelain. It’s this kind of whimsical, delicate design–and all the attention to detail that goes into it–that really made me so enamored with Tiffany and Co. in the first place. I don’t own much of their jewelry besides what’s been gifted to me–I can’t really justify spending so much to buy it for myself, and S. and I certainly can’t spend so much on my engagement ring, but there’s just something so iconic about the brand and the little blue box–I’m a complete sucker for the feeling of luxury associated with Tiffany’s. I mean hell, this is a company that makes and sells a sterling silver tin can for $1000! The company is weird and ridiculous and playful and also put sterling silver back on the jewelry map, which I really appreciate for a variety of reasons.

I don’t know, guys–I guess I’m just a girly girl at heart–but I loved the café, I loved wandering around Tiffany’s for close to two hours, I loved how fancy everything felt and how fancy I felt. I’ll easily concede that this is not the type of thing you do when you’re just looking for a good meal in a nice restaurant–there are plenty of other places in NY with amazing food and better prices–but the experience was so, so cool and silly and playful. If you’re a fan of Tiffany’s or Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I’d definitely recommend saving your pennies and enjoying this fun little outing.

Fair warning though – have fun getting that reservation!

Have you guys been to the Blue Box Cafe? Any thoughts on the experience? Or are you dying to go like I was? Let me know in the comments below–I’m always down to chat!