Cova Ristorante & Caffe  

Tried the blueberry cheesecake at a gathering and it was surprisingly quite nice.

Often Chinese people do not like cheesy foods or cheesecakes, but this particular person finished the cake, so it is a likable cheesecake which is suitable for Hong Kong people!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Blueberry cheesecake:

We went and buy a cake and decided to get a coffee with 6 tartlets. What a mistake... Big disappointment for a place who define itself as "Fine Italian Pastries". It was nothing fine noe Italian in what was served to us. Or maybe they should define it for me. The tartlet shelve use are not home made, which is fine if you buy a good quality ones from your suppliers. The cream use is most likely to be vegetable whipped cream which to me should be stipulated on the menu knowing the high risk associated with. In brief, not only the quality of the food was poor but the presentation was horrid. I did not know that in Hong Kong the educated costumers could still accept such a poor quality for such a high price. The service was not better. While we were seating they set up their evening buffet making do much noise it was hard to have a conversation. Very highly disappointing for Hong Kong but also for a brand that do not care enough for it's image apparently. I do not recommend anyone to spend money in such a place.

I came over to Cova today since my sister gave me a $200 Cova coupon to spend. I wanted to get the blueberry cheesecake but it was sold out again, so I opt for other cakes.

Chestnut Cake $36 (2/10)
Chestnut puree was smooth, thick and sweet with strong chestnut taste. The sponge cake was fine itself but the combining taste of the sponge cake and the chestnut puree was very weird. The puree didn't really match with the sponge cake for some reason. I also think the paste was a bit too sweet overall. I only like the marrons glacés on top.

Long ago, I have been hearing from my friends about THE very special ice cream that Cova serves. Apparently it was the BEST and most unforgettable ice-cream that they have tried so far in Hong Kong. I couldn't quite recall what was THE flavour but everything became quite clear as soon as I arrived in Cova.

That evening, M had to pick up a cake from Cova in which I enthusiastically asked to join him, mainly because I was interested in witnessing the variety of ice creams and cakes served in Cova. While M was busy handling the cake issue, I was drawn into the wide selections of ice cream. Though I could not recall THE legendary flavour that my friends mentioned, the waiter, saw my puzzled look, immediately very warmly reminded me of their BEST SELLING ice creams in store. And- ah! Pistachio, here we go. The name that rang the bell rightaway. Also highly recommended by M, I chose it on the spot.

On the first sight, the greeness of the Pistachio ice cream shocked me a bit - I never knew it would be green. Alright, perhaps every Chinese New Year I avoid eating Pistachio so I did not give much attention the colour of Pistachio other than knowing its outer shelf is a trim of white. Anyway, I must say that the flavour of Pistachio ice cream served in Cova was quite unique, in a sense that I felt like I was having a 'Wasabi-bean's flavour' of ice cream instead! The attempt was indeed very refreshing, bizzare and interesting.

No wonder my friends described it as special.
Yet, I am not sure if I would choose this flavour again when I return next time; the Pistachio ice cream was a bit too..extraordinary.
But I do recommend you to try it out! It's definitely worth a try.

(Photo credits to Michael)
- Y

having several experiences of sweet sweet tea buffet,
i was surprisingly fight down by dessert...(just acting to be, haha!)
1. hazelnut cookie stick
crunchy,
crispy,
fresh,
excellent to pay for a large pack after the buffet for mom.2. ham and lettuce sandwich
dry bread?
didn't they throw yesterday's tea buffet food?3. mayo salmon lettuce hot dog
i just though that the white lines on top of salmon was my favourite mozzarella cheese,
it was mayo,
believe me.
bun was something tasted like those from "garden".4. salami open face whole wheat bread
mayo again!!!!
i was tricked!!!!
i hate mayo please give me some cheese!!!!
mayo was not helping at all ok?
cheese would be much better to give after taste and also immediate happiness!!!!
thinner bread undoubtedly make this tasted better than previous food.5. hot lemon water
i ate all the lemon,
more sour than those i've ate(i mostly ate all the lemon in my drinks)i love the experience in the lounge of four seasons much more than this one,
sorry cova you need improvement.

after having a huge row with someone you're very close with, you just simply lose your appetite and everything just doesn't seem right anymore. i was having a pretty frustrated day and i was strolling aimlessly along the streets. it was a very hot day, i couldn't stand the heat and went into world trade centre. i just simply walked at the ground floor and passed the shop. several people were looking at the cakes. after walking back and forth, i stopped at the shop to look at the delicate cakes too. then i looked at their gelato. i have heard people recommending the pistachio flavor gelato and it's available that day. in chinese, pistachio is called 開心果, and i definitely need something 'happy' at that time, so yeah, i had one then.
i only had a small size one, but the scoop's pretty big. it's way bigger than the cone and here's the trouble when the gelato started to melt. it melted and since it was way larger than the cone, it was dripping and that made me a bit messy when eating it. however, it tasted very good and made me completely forgot about all the mess.
the texture was extremely smooth and rich. the pistachio flavor was rich enough too, and the cone was authentic. after finishing the gelato, it really did lifted my mood a bit, at least the gelato made me feel satisfied.
dining at cova may not be affordable to me, but having a gelato from it occasionally is definitely okay, and i would love to return!

Me and my dad had some tea today, just to talk and stuff. We didn't have much time, but I still ordered an afternoon cake set and he ordered a double expresso.
The staff were very busy and you could tell it was a bit understaffed. It took quite some time to get them to clean our table, get new cutlery, and our orders. I got a blueberry cheese cake and a latte.
When the stuff came, I could smell the coffee instantly. It is not the type of coffee you see in Starbucks, much more strong in flavor and scent. The cake was ok, with a nice bottom crust. The cream wasn't bad, it had a good taste and it actually had a very smooth texture. The only problem was the jam on top wasn't good, as it had a very artificial sweet taste, and also the blueberries on top were sour as heck.
The coffee was almost perfect. Me and my dad could tell the bean was of Arabica type, as the aftertaste was very strong and there was no sour taste. Bad coffee has a sour and somewhat less strong taste, because it is made in lower regions, whereas because Arabica is grown in higher regions, it has a slower grow time, less moisture, and therefore the bean has more taste.
We had to rush, because we had somewhere else to go, and paid and left quickly. It was $190 for that.
Not bad.

as i have switched to the kowloon tong branch for several times,
their service as becoming worse and worse...(dunno why?!)so yesterday I went back to where i started my cova gelato addiction---causeway bay.
I was so very much surprised that the lady recognized me,
and ask whether i am wanting a cup of pistachio flavor.I was really happy that there was still people caring about my existance ad remembred me~!although the cup of gelato is not as large as that before,the experience was surely a smile!!!

come again after meeting doctor.......
haha she tell me to eat more wor........
this time the staff let me to take photos of 雪糕櫃freely.........
nd she even gave me three flavor to try~!!
mm.........vanilla no taste.......rasberry too watery..........rum and raisin very good.........
hehe........however i love the 開心果 experience before and so lastly叫左1杯開心果味gelato........
it's still full of nuts taste............
the milky flavor is so rich that it can make you full and don't need to eat anything after that.........
so smooth..........
but not easy to melt..........
i really can't stop pushing my spoon towards the cup of 開心果味gelato.......
this time份量少好多, feeling not enough one scoop.......
and both freshness and smoothness are worse than last two times.........
such little cup cost me $34，下次等我finish one week detox diet and come to試埋nuts味先~!

it s very sudden to have a meal +++ in cova

dessert dinner~ i just have dessert buffet again wif my fd
cookies are too sweet....not crispy..i wont buy if i see it in shop

smoked salmon is ok ~ i cant see salmon in fest. walk.
grapefruit juice is fresh~sour ~ suits for me~
i dislike those creamy cup with fruit toppings....good persentation but not tasty indeed

the one i luv is chestnut / hazelnut mousse..i just forget what s its ingredient....smooth and full of nuts flavor

After an early lunch, my friend and I wanted to grab a drink and so we went to Cova. The Cova in Wtc was significantly smaller than the Cova in Lee garden, there was only 7 tables in the store if I could remember clearly. We didn't go to Lee Garden's because it was raining heavily yesterday night.

We ordered a two people cake set at $198. The set included one gelato, two pieces of cake and two drinks. The gelato flavours was preset to flavour of the day, and we had Hazelnuts for the night. For cakes, you could select any two flavours you like from the cake fridge. For drinks, we have regular coffee and Irish coffee.

Gelato - The hazelnut gelato had a strong touch of hazelnut flavour. The texture was really smooth. The gelato came cold but melted rather quickly.

Cakes - The cake was in pathetic size, it was the original size sliced in half. We ordered Oats Cake and Mango Cake. The Mango Cake was delicious. It had layers of cream and pastries with fresh mango bits in between them. Each mouch bite had a strong mango flavour. The cream was smooth and light. The cake was slightly on the sweet side, but was perfect to pair with the coffee.

The Oats Cake had two full layers of Oats covering the surface and the base. It thus had a strong taste of Oats, like eating your cereal breakfast in the morning. It was only slightly sweet, but gave an impression of an healthy and tasty cake. The texture was very interesting and might not be something likable depends on personal taste. The texture was extremely thick and rich, something like the texture of oatmeal which was cooked with a light amount of milk to create a thick texture. One of my friends commented the texture was like vomit. Well, personally, I like it.

Coffee & ChocolateI am no expert in coffee, but I think the Coffee in Cova tasted very nice. I usually add cream to coffee only, but the regular coffee tasted great even without cream. It was not bitter at all. Another thing I want to mention is the chocolate plate on top of the ice-cream and the strawberries. I usually hate eating the chocolate plate as they usually tasted horrible. Since I was in Cova, I figured may be I should try it. It turned out to be quite nice! It was not at all bitter, around 70% I guess.

Generally my experience in Cova was nice, but don't you think the cake slices in the cake set was a bit too small even for two people?

www.cinnamon4coffee.blogspot.com

Very urgently bought a cake...for Anne's bday that night
Luckily, there were still some showing at the counter!

I chose a small one but enough for 4
The cake is full of rasberries, base with some chocolate
It is really nice, not too sour for the rasberries, not too sweet for the cake

My colleague got VIP, therefore, I have 10% discount then!

I tired Cova in the morning (around 9-10am) last few days. No one greeted me or gave me menu while I sat down more than 5-min. I needed to "search" for the waiter, finally, found him in the corner. He saw me but didn't have any intention to walk to my table. what he did is yelling.. "what do you want?" .... sigh! .... then I needed to yell back "i want a cup of cafe latte"..... Same situation when I checked the bill. I don't think I will try this shop again. it's not worth to pay $$$$$$ to buy self service.

i got an 'exclusive' invitation to get a complimentary gelato scoop here - the shop keeper was quite apathetic in serving me upon my showing of the coupon - not quite impressive

upon peeping inside the res, it's terribly crowded, and i wonder how one can literally gain a footstep there.

back to the gelato - it's not as good as those inexpensive gelato i got everywhere in Italy... hm...

so, i'll need to gratify myself with movenpick (tiramisu) to compensate a little ;p

$42 tiramisu cup~ finally i tried it today at 4pm~
taste should be good........but.........IT MELTED AH!!!!!!! a lot of water at the bottom of the cup~ >_< Sigh!!!!!!!!!!!!!