Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Cova, The Gardens Midvalley

Got a call from Nigel asking me whether I was free for dinner. It's been awhile since we met up and I looked forward to some catching up time with him. Jason joined us too and we decided to do dinner in Midvalley. I was 45 minutes late, no thanks to the horrendous jam (due to the heavy rain earlier) which had built up just before the toll which exits to the Federal Highway. Fancy paying to use a highway where it was a bumper to bumper crawl! I called Nigel to apologise and asked him and Jason to decide where to eat and let me know so that I can head straight to the venue. As I finally stepped into Midvalley, I got a call..."We're heading to Cova, see you there!". Great! I looked forward to trying the food there since I read this review.
Cova's Interior
Most people chose to sit out in the alfresco area, leaving the indoor area almost solely to us three (there was a couple at another table).
Cova
Right behind where we sat was this, the artsy "partition" separating the restaurant from the public area in the mall. The overall place has a minimal yet modern interior, a nice ambiance to me.



Nigel and I brought our big cameras and soon enough a photography class was in session. He was patient and kind enough to give me some pointers as I am still rather clueless with the new camera. (I've been so busy that I haven't really had time to figure it out yet). Jason had to listen to all that camera talk, poor guy. Anyway, I'll still be using my old Panasonic Lumix to take food pics as sometimes it's just more convenient (and a whole lot less conspicuous! Hahaha...). I will definitely use the biggie for my travel pics for sure.

Of course, we had ordered first before we had all that talk else we'll starve to death! We had the Cova Platter (RM23.50/USD7.40) for starters which is made up of grilled items whereas there is another Cova Combo Platter which is made up of fried items. We opted for the grilled option. Coincidentally, the combo platter of four different grills mix came served in 3s, just right for us.










The beef rolls were lovely though it needed a bit more salt. However, you can dip them into the accompanying sauce and it can be forgiven :o). Lovely enoki mushrooms wrapped with a tender slice of beef. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

























I gave my share of mussel away to Jason as I'm not a fan. So I can't comment on how this tasted but I didn't hear them two complaining :o).
























Hey! This isn't grilled! The most ordinary item (and tasted ordinary too) of the four, It was like some samosa filled with shredded turnips.























Skewered Grilled Chicken was tasty, even without any sauce. The meat was well marinated, tender and moist.


















Duck Confit Vermicelli
Jason already told Nigel that he knew what I would order (while they were waiting for me) and he was right. It definitely had to be the Duck Confit Vermicelli with garlic and mushrooms (RM28.50/USD9) for me. There were asparagus too with the pasta and it was simply delicious with a generous amount of duck confit which were tender. If you order this, tell them to cut down on the oil (as in all duck confit pasta, there can be a bit too much). However, I would still rate this better than the duck confit in Delicious.
River Prawn Noodle
Nigel wanted something of a local flavour and ordered the River Prawn Noodle (RM28.50/USD9) and he enjoyed it; thumbs up! The prawns were huge!
Grilled Honey Chicken
Jason's Grilled Honey Chicken sandwich (RM16.50/USD5.20) was a lovely sight. It came with thick fries which impressed Nigel. Jason enjoyed the sandwich and finished it without a single bread crumb in sight (except for some fries as he was really full!).

The three of us had a great time catching up and enjoyed ourselves that night. The staff here were friendly and service was prompt. I would definitely come back again for the food or even to chill as I like this place. Plus the corporate set lunch here is quite a deal at RM28+. You'll get the soup of the day, main course, dessert of the day and a glass of fresh lime juice! In addition, Cova gets cookie points for opening till midnight from Wednesday to Saturday (few restaurants do in Midvalley/The Garden)!

Cova - cafe.lounge.bistro
Lot F-226-B, 1st Floor
The Gardens, Mid Valley
Lingkaran Syed Putra
59200 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : 03-2287 6260
Opening Hours : 10 am till 12 midnight (Wed to Sat), 10 am till 10pm (Sun to Tues)



"Life is a combination of magic and pasta." - Fellini



30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Apart from Nigel's prawn dish, I think the rest are .... mmmm, not quite value for money.

Give me hawker food anytime! Take me for laksa, char kueh teow, satay, simple crabs in chillie tomato sauce with toasted bread.....slurrppp!

Rasa Malaysia said...

River prawns are awesome...Malaysians should use more of them in cookings. The head is sooooo good with a lot of gou.

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

hahah so i guess soon we will be seeing fab sight seeing pics??

the beef roll looks abit "chao dar" wor, doesnt?

u knw..we can do a mini food crawl at gardens with all these spanking new restaurants..theres so many!

Anonymous said...

Jason might just be coaxed into the dark force of dslr after this. Haha. Wow what a scrumptious dinner :b~

HairyBerry said...

i love the way you arranged the combo platter pics lar...so classy...plus those nice pics from the D80 somemore...cant wait to touch it! hehehe....

ling239 said...

is this the same as the one in Bangsar ? i remember there is a restaurant/pub with the similar name.....

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

which lumix r u using? i'm using the FZ50, very user-friendly n i'm sorta scared of having to fiddle with an SLR. how friendly is the D80? ur pics r so big its like the real thing in front of me~~slurp!

JOjo said...

Nice Pics! Im using Lumix too! FX30, simple and user friendly.
The food pics are gorgeous.
I agree that you will need to go through some fine tuning when you change to DSLR. Lots to learn. But i bet you can get the hang of it very quickly =)

Anonymous said...

Wah, I must get some of those blood red pussy willow for my pad... Quite the atmosphere one, ya?

(Now, how to place them without making my place look like a CNY open house...?)

P.S. Must take photography lessons from you di, dear. So malu, almost all my blog pics are taken by other people... :(

~Christine~Leng said...

passed by this place several times and have yet to try..
*writing in my list now* hehe..

tigerfish said...

I want that beef roll wraps with enoki!

For a while, I thought it was still Chinese New Year from those artsy plants :P

wmw said...

judy : Can't have hawker food everyday, once in a while go for some different type of food. It's just cause you're not here lo, you definitely miss the hawker food.

RM : From the way Nigel ate it, I would think that he will surely agree with you :o)

Joe : I think the beef rolls were grilled and slightly char...Mmmm...seems darker in the pic! Food crawl in The Gardens? Mmmm...can also.

durianberry : Yah, easily kena poison by all that camera talk. Hehehe..

Nic : Thanks. I thought of just playing around with the layout. Needed some adjustments though.

ling239 : You mean Cava at Jalan Bangkung, Bangsar? That's a different restaurant.

Terri : I shot with the Nikon for this post. I'm also the proud owner of a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ3. I love this USD190 camera, it can produce lovely pics as the settings are usually spot on. I was surprised when I saw the Spain shots from it. For point and shoot cameras, I always recommend the Lumix. But of course, it has its limits, hence now I have two cameras :o)

Anonymous said...

I wanna follow you around.. when i come home. ;)

daphne said...

Fab photos wmw! makes me want to eat something NOW!

LianneK said...

I soooo wanna eat the duck confit pasta again!

sc said...

did you try the desserts? they've got lovely lava/molten choc cake and yummy scones...

Jacelyn Chew said...

sorry to inform again. Yum Yum Cuisine's url is changed again to http://yum-yumcuisineee.blogspot.com/ ....pls update.

Anyway, could u pls visit and link my new food blog?
http://www.dineandhealth.com
TQ

wmw said...

Jojo : Thanks....yup, learning but not enough time to learn :o)

kenny : Set the blood red pussy willows against a dark backgroud with spotlights!

Christine : Go...Go...

tigerfish : Now, that is something you can definitely cook up. Let me know when you do that and post it up on your blog ;o)

mama bok : Sure thing!

daphne : Thanks for the words of encouragement ;o).

imbi&itchy : Let's meet up for lunch! When?

sc: Really? Their desserts are good too? Woo Hoo...We were too stuffed that night, will try them next time. Thanks for the info.

Jacelyn : Done :o)

UnkaLeong said...

So...this is what I missed out on the other night ;) Looks great1 I had Sang Har Mein at the place next to Merais that night as well. We should plan a makan session there;)

backStreetGluttons said...

oh so the nigel guy is back ! badder than ever suppose. all those rich scrumptuos food and we thoz you were on a strict meatless diet

Ling's Passion said...

Your pix looks stunning and real. I must learnt some photograph technic from you. I so 'char' lah when it comes to taking pix.

Jun said...

*gasp* u dun like mussels??!!! :O deal. next time we go have mussels (so i can have all ur share *bwahahaha...*)

Anonymous said...

I quite like those photography talks actually (as Durianberry said, might fall into the dark force of DSLR!) Hahaha...

The mussel was fresh and no fishy taste ;)

We shall drop by again for the dessert then!

FunkeeDeeva said...

awww....thanks for sharing this..
I love to eat!

If you have the time you can check out my blog on food;

rick's cafe

Xiu Long Bao said...

We gave up this for Max! Duno whether we made the right choice but there is still another time.

I'll be bck...

Big Boys Oven said...

must be good?

wmw said...

unkaleong : You and Nigel had the same thoughts during that night...eating the same type of food albeit different place :o)

team bsg : Meatless only when it comes to BKT!

Ling: Thanks...I would like to trade places with you and have your cooking skills instead ;o)

jun : Hahaha... Yah! My friends are used to me passing them the food I don't fancy. LOL!

Jason : Yeah...and the Set Lunch too.

funkee deeva: Thanks for dropping by...will do :o)

XLB : Hahaha....yes, next time.

Jackson : Remember, if you order the tasty duck confit...tell them to be careful with the amount of oil. Well, Nigel and Jason also liked it.

BBO: Good enough to warrant a second visit!

Simon Seow said...

So, you're duck person? Lol. :p

ai wei said...

the food are appealing!!! finally saw some one reviewed bout this. gonna make my turn there. hehe

wmw said...

Simon : Yes I am! :o)

ai wei : Okay, hope you order some good stuff.