Cream tea?

It's not standard fare in dining facilities in the United States. But it's on the menu at Parker's UK Connection, an English tea room and grocery store that just opened in North Huntingdon.

It's inside a leased old gray mansion overlooking the Jacktown intersection of Route 30 and Robbins Station Road.

American and British flags flank the front steps. A long, wooden ramp, which passes flags of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, gets you to the entrance of a grocery store stocked with an impressive variety of traditional British foodstuffs -- think clotted cream, lemon curd, bangers.

The owner/proprietor is Monica Parker, 42, of Elizabeth Township. She and her husband, Martin, a native of Great Britain, and three children from a previous marriage bake scones, crumpets and assorted other pastries in an oven there, and serve them in the tea room.

"My tea room menu is all based on the British tea and the British meal, the favorites being beans on toast, imported cheeses, Brantson pickles, Hayward pickled onions, to name a few," she said. "We try to bring in food that is authentic with traditional flavor."

Steps lead from the store to an archway to three connecting rooms -- one with a large working fireplace -- that create a quiet, cozy and comfortable image of a traditional English tea room.

Several small, round tables and two larger, squares ones, all with four chairs, are neatly arranged about the rooms.

Every table is adorned with tea service of traditional mismatched china, flanked by polished silverware and complemented by crisp linen napkins, lacy tablecloths and a large vase in the center with a colorful bouquet of fresh flowers.

Bangers -- the English version of American hot dogs -- are not on the menu yet. But they are available in the store, she noted.

The menu includes:

• Afternoon tea: A pot of freshly brewed tea of the customer's choice, with finger sandwiches with crusts trimmed off, an assortment of tea pastries, two freshly baked scones served with clotted cream, lemon curd and assorted preserves.

• Ploughman's lunch: An assortment of imported British cheeses, a salad of mixed greens, a hunk of crusty bread with butter, complemented by Hayward pickled onions and Brantson pickle (a relish with chutney).

Earl of Sandwich: An assortment of four finger sandwiches served with imported Walker potato crisps.

• Classic English cream tea: A freshly brewed pot of tea of the customer's choice, two freshly baked English scones, clotted cream and lemon curd or preserves.

What inspired Ms. Parker to open the tea room?

"Martin is a Brit, born and raised," said Ms. Parker, a 1985 graduate of North Catholic High School. "His family owns a pub in Southwark, a fashionable London suburb along the Thames River.

"After we married in 2008, I began to find British food to my liking because he loves UK meals. So I started cooking some meals Brit style.

"He's an electrician for Hickman Electric in McKeesport. He's lived in the United States since he was 8 years old, about 40 years. I guess I just wanted to bring a bit of his home into our house.

"Two years ago, I didn't have any inkling that I'd open a British tea room/grocery store. But I learned there are about 5,000 Brits working and living in the Pittsburgh area, many in the Norwin community.

"Until my store opened, the only way these folks could buy British food and goods was online or when relatives would come over to visit and bring things.

"There's nothing like this, that I'm aware of, in this area. So I feel my tea room and store are filling a need for those people."

Store hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.. Wednesday through Sunday. The tea room is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. those days.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.