Cova - Dessert Buffet, Guilty Indulgence

Price: $$$

Cravingness: ★★★☆☆

I am always a Cova Girl. It is difficult not to love Cova, their gelato, tarts, cakes and dining dishes are all delicious and addiciting. Yet I have never tried their evening dessert buffet before, as I am those who will die if I don't eat savoury food. I was invited by my friend F for a tasting for the evening dessert buffet, and so I went.



There are two Cova at Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui, the Cova Restorante at Gateway Arcade for fine dining and the Cova Caffè at Ocean Center for causal dining. The evening dessert buffet is only available at Cova Caffè and is the one that I am going tonight.

The dining area of Cova Caffè is situated in the middle of the mall. Diners might feel inevitably a bit awkward as shoppers would stare when they passed by. Fortunately the eclectic arrays of buffet stations can draw back your attention and the relaxing live music played by the musicians could make your dinner a joyful one.

The evening dessert buffet is available everyday, priced at HKD268. You can also opt for a wine pairing at a supplement of HKD150 or a bubbly option at HKD220. 

The bubbly at Cova Caffè would be champange from Joesph Perrier Cuvee Royale Brut. A champagne made with 35% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, 30% Pinot Meunier. This bright, pale yellow was quite floral on the nose and mellow with soft effervescence on the palate. The bottle is priced around HKD395/750ml retail in Hong Kong.

As promised, there are tremendous selections of sweet treats on the buffet table. As long as there is my favourite mango cake, I am sold.

I am actually surprised by how many cakes available at the buffet table. For those who didn't know, Cova's cakes are priced quite premium. Signature cakes such as Mascarpone Cheese with Mango, Blueberry Cheesecake, Mixed Fruits on Bakes Cheesecake are all available tonight.!

Continue moving around the buffet table, here comes the savoury pastries, puffs, burgers and cheese station.

I started with a plate of canapés with salad. The Salumi toast has an oily coat and tasted extremely savoury, not my kind of salumi. The shrimp toast was not as refreshing as I thought, but carried a strong shrimp flavour. The Olive aioli toast was sour, served on a brown bread.

Not too impressed with the canapes, I moved onto a sandwich tray which was given in the middle of the meal for sharing. The shrimp was sweet and bouncy but seems not enough to fill the sandwich. I prefer the chicken spinach sandwich more which was creamy and flavourful.

The Mango Cream Dome is the best thing on Earth, it is my favourite cake at Cova! It got the softness and buttery flavour from the sponge cake, smoothness from the Chantilly cream and the sweetness from the mango!

The Chestnut Cream was beautifully looking but a bit too sweet for my liking. The chestnut flavour was bold, the creme was smooth, the sponge cake was delightful but the chestnut paste was overly sweet and I did not like the sweetened chestnuts.

The Peanut Feuillentine was something that I have not tried before. the chocolate sponge cake was dense and weighted a bit heavy on the palate. The feuillentine peanut butter cream with Brandy was silky and delightful. In my opinion, the cake would be better if the cream portion increases.



The eclair was quite nice. Soft, airy and buttery puff. The cream was sweet but a bit mushy.

The strawberry mousse was not impressive, the mousse was roughly made with thick, airy texture. The cupcake is a new introduction but we did not like it and think there should be improvements on the recipe. The cupcake was overly hard and dry in texture. The buttercream was whipped too thick and tasted a bit rubbery in texture.

The tiramisu was a bit dry in texture and bland in taste. There wasn't any coffee taste in it. The creme on top was smooth though.

Strawberry fruit tart was good. The tart was buttery and covered with a thin coat of chocolate. The custard was mild sweet. Yum!

The apple scruple was already cold when I had my bite. It was not too flavourful.

The passion fruit tart is my favourite tart on the stand. The custard was very tarty and creamy. I felt like my palate was cleared from the sweetness from all the cakes and tarts I have taken.

It was wonderful indulging in all these delicious cakes that Cova Caffè offers! I felt very guilty afterwards as I felt like putting on a few pounds, but the cakes are definitely worth it!

Rating
Food - ★★★★☆
Service - ★★★☆☆
Ambience - ★★★☆☆
Overall - ★★★☆☆


Cova Pasticceria & Confetteria

Address (E) Shop 116A & B, 1/F, Ocean Centre, Harbour City, 17 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Address (C) 香港尖沙咀廣東道17號海港城海洋中心1樓116A & B號舖
☏ 2992 0720
Opening Hours: Mon - Sat: 8am - 10.30pm | Sun: 10am - 10.30pm
Reservation Available? Yes
Walk In Possible? Yes
Website: http://cova.com.hk/


Date of Dining: 7 June 2014

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