Remember that scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the ’70s one, not the wretched remake) where a candy-store operator sang The Candy Man and started showering chocolates and candy on the hungry young customers in his store? And you were watching with your mom and dad, and you had maybe a container of lousy Junior Mints if anything, and you drooled so much your popcorn got wet?
If you remember it, that’ll approximate the feeling you get when you enter Miette, the exquisite Hayes Valley candy store. A sister store to the Miette cake store at the Ferry Building, this airy, Parisian little niche is papered in vintage wallpaper and lined with sparkling candy jars filled with candies fine enough to make even adults get weak at the knees, and will strike children positively dumb with delight. Glossy caramels? Top-notch licorice? Handmade cotton candy? Point to what you want and the counterpeople will weigh it out into little crackling bags; to hurry home with one clutched in your hot little hand is sheer bliss.
Miette is located at 449 Octavia Blvd. (at Linden Alley in Hayes Valley), San Francisco. 415-626-6221, miettcakes.com.