The Fried Chicken at Peels | A Little Tea at Harney & Sons

I've frequented Peels many a time for brunch and adored their fried chicken biscuit - the batter delectably sweet and crisp, but have long since wondered whether the magic of their chicken patty would successfully translate to regular fried chicken.  (These are the kinds of things that keep me up at night.)

And so we found ourselves sitting at Peels on a Sunday night with the most expensive plate of fried chicken to date (two pieces for $21) in front of us.  

The batter is the same as what beautifully coats the fried chicken patty, but the chicken itself is completely and woefully...bland.  Sigh.  (crosses her arms like a small child) If they can't do it, who can?!  (Oh, right. Bobwhite.  The Dutch. The Cardinal. Go there instead.)  The mashed potatoes were butterlicious though.

The next day, my bratty self looked at some holiday markets in Soho and was suddenly awash with hunger.  With dinner in two hours, what was a girl to do ?! In Soho ?!  When it was so frightfully cold ?!  (Why do I feel so lamely dramatic as a character in Pretty Little Liars right now?  Why am I admitting to everyone that I watch Pretty Little Liars?)

And so I beelined to Harney & Sons, and ordered one Paris tea soda float, served with their housemade earl grey ice cream, because the quickest way to ingest 700 calories was to drink it, and I was just so famished.

Harney & Sons tea soda floats are simply a tea lover's dream, refreshing, effervescent and light.  

However, they are not an ice cream lover's dream.  The ice cream was marred with bits of ice shards, but the earl grey flavor was still nice, and I overlooked all the iciness since I am such a good person like that.  Haha.  I am in such a weird mood right now writing this.

Of course, the shake was not going to be enough.  A lady who does afternoon tea shakes must also have something to nosh, and H&S has a few housemade scones to offer: vanilla scones with devonshire cream and jam, chive and cheddar, and ham and gruyere.  You can try to guess which ones I ordered.

(Hurry!  Get your guess in now!  The answer is coming!)

If you guessed cheddar and chive, you are so wrong.  C'mon.  My name is Han.  It's one keystroke away from ham.  And that's the kind of rationale I employ in selecting out items from a menu.  

Just kidding, dudes.  I just felt like eating ham.

Two scones are warmed and served with spicy mustard and a cute spreader that looks like a golden tree branch.  

The scones were awesome.  Brilliantly crispy shell, cubes of slightly burnt-in-the-great-way ham, and chewy gruyere cheese strewn throughout.

Because I was eating by my sad sconesome (does this count as a pun?!), I began a philosophical discussion with myself on what differentiates a scone from a biscuit, or have we all been bamboozled by the French, because they are essentially the same thing ?!

And I concluded that I am sad for discussing that with myself, for not looking it up on my iPhone and solving it in a hot LTE-second, and quickly finished up my snack so I could head home and catch up on Homeland (by the way, I am caught up, so let me know if you want to chat!) before dinner.

Han's Nonsensical Rating:  Stick with brunch @ Peels with the fried chicken biscuit (and a side of jam because you will love yourself for it).  If shopping for stuff that you do not need makes you as hungry as I was (you poor thing!), Harney & Sons is a stellar source for tasty scones in Soho (and check in with Yelp to get a free sample of tea!).

Peels
325 Bowery, New York, NY


Harney & Sons
433 Broome St Ground Floor, New York, NY 10013