A Nice Spot for Tea

The first time I went to Bosie Tea Parlor, located on 10 Morton Street, it was a Tuesday evening, just me and my Kindle. I loved it right away because here I found a real pocket of solace in this manic city overrun by herds and herds of people. The tea list is extensive, the ambience is genteel and the service is laid-back and friendly. Tea arrives at the table perfectly steeped in a small white ceramic pot without any tea bags or leaves to worry about. I had an Orange-Pekoe tea and a madeleine and read my Kindle for a little over an hour. It was heavenly.

The second time I went to Bosie, I learned that all the pastries, cakes and macaroons are made in-house by French pastry chef Damien Herrgot, who not only boasts a fancy name, that to my ear smacks of powdered sugar, but was a former head pastry magician at some very fine French food establishments in Manhattan. So I had to ask, "Does he make the croissants, too?" Yes, said the waitress, adding that the dough is imported from Paris. Not sure how that works or who actually makes the dough but it still sounded wonderful (although not wonderful at all in terms of what an extremely large carbon footprint that leaves for every batch of croissants). But I wasn't thinking of environmental consequences at the time, all I heard was dough from Paris and so I ordered a pain chocolat and Americano. The pain chocolat was OK, although the dough was a bit dry. Maybe it was jet-lagged from the flight?

On yet another subsequent visit to Bosie, I devoured a deliciously bright lemon tart (pictured below):

This is a real winner. Let's be honest: Lemon meringue is exciting. Lemon meringue, lemon meringue, who made thee? Another great thing about lemon tarts is that they go equally well with coffee or tea.

But wait, there's more! True to its tea-time persona, Bosie Tea Parlor offers cucumber sandwiches and other tidy savory-food options as well, such as panini, quiches and salads. The quinoa salad is pretty good.

If you really want to go crazy, there's a Champagne Tea Service for two that includes one pastry, sandwiches, macaroons, scones, tea, and a glass of champagne. For the less wild and crazy, there's The Standard Tea Service which is the same minus pastry and champagne.

Bosie Tea Parlor is a better cafe than most in NYC because it is refined yet welcoming. It has also managed to achieve a bohemian, parlor atmosphere without becoming a filthy gas stop for mangy city nomads. Also, the lighting doesn't dim at night, it stays on bright enough for you to read. That's a rare find, even in the Village. The great and wonderful DOMA cafe used to be that way, but oh well, that's all history now. Nothing gold can stay.

Bottom line, there are three things I really like about Bosie Tea Parlor: the attention and know-how that's put into preparing a very good cup of tea, the character-rich menu and the contemporary parlor decor. It also makes for a very good hang zone: laptops are allowed until 6pm on weekdays and there's WiFi.

But don't go for the Wifi. Go for tea, the pastries, the tea, the croissants, the tea, the quinoa, and oh yes, the macaroons.

Baked Goods @ Aroma Cafe

Messieur Almond Croissant, Herr Apple Struedl and Señor Alfajores. These three international pastries of intrigue can be found behind a glass case at Aroma cafe on Houston Street, New York City.


I completely overlooked the baked goods at Aroma. It's probably because I find the cafeteria-like environment to be a little too demanding of customers: long lines, red-plastic trays and uniformed employees barking names and receipt numbers into microphones. I understand that breaking down the order process in this way allows more people to be served more quickly, but I don't enjoy the procedural stress and anonymity that goes with it. To my surprise, however, in spite of the impersonal, fast-food environment, the pastries at Aroma have a fresh, rustic goodness to them.

Let's start with the apple strudel. Unlike traditional strudels, Aroma's strudel is wrapped in filo dough, giving it the flakiness of a 700-year-old book. But my are those crumbly pages tasty! Baked within this highly frangible pastry is a hearty apple and cinnamon flavor that doesn't rely on butter for flavor—not that there’s anything wrong with that. After looking up the word strudel in the dictionary, l learned that it is the German word for “whirlpool” or "vortex”—a reference to the way the pastry dough is rolled up. Well, this little strudel is more than a vortex of apple, dough and cinnamon, it's the perfect storm.

Next on the plate, Aroma's almond croissant. This was my first almond croissant ever. Are they all this good? Crusty on the outside, fluffy on the inside, with a moist, custardy center. Delicious! If only I were a mouse, then I could gorge on a torn-off croissant corner while doing the backstroke in a giant cup of tea.

On to the alfajores. This ever so delicate and sticky little sandwich cookie is—and this must be said with total Oprahesque enthusiasm—senSAAAAAYtionalll!!!! Behold, a closer look:




An alfajores is composed of two corn starch cookies with dulce de leite sandwiched in the middle, lightly rolled in shredded coconut. Cookies made from corn starch have an ultra-fine consistency that literally melts in your mouth. This cookie is so soft and fragile, you have to treat it with great care; think of it as the cookie equivalent of kissing a baby. What an incredible discovery, sheer joy!


Photos by Katherine Lee