The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

It’s definitely not an easy job for a restaurant to stay in tune to a city that boasts an ever-changing dining map; one of the few places that has managed to keep things interesting is Ovio, thanks to a constantly-evolving menu and branching out a bakery and pastries sprout, Little Ovio. Introducing a wide variety of patisseries under the name ‘Ovio Specials’, we had to go and check out the place’s new venture.

Catching our attention with their beautiful and outstanding presentation, we felt like a kid in a candy store, dying to try everything out; from the pear-shaped, raspberry mouse-stuffed Chocolate Framboise and the colourful Sicilian Pistachio, to the wide range of tarts and cakes.

The first item we tried was the Verona (35LE), which is formed of an apple-crumble base, topped with a caramel mousse that’s coated with caramel ganache. Despite being very stiff and dense, both the mousse and the ganache had a spot-on sweetness that complimented the crispy yet light texture of the buttery crust and the perfect texture of the apple filling.

With a similar base, but filled with chocolate that had bits if what resembles wafer, comes the Ovio. Unlike the dense mousse of the Verona, this one’s chocolate mousse was fluffy, with a delightful raspberry filling. As a whole, we loved its chocolaty flavour, but we had higher expectations for this one, since it carries the name of the place.

But the Crete (37LE), which we recognised from Ovio’s social media, turned out to be one of our favourites. Beautifully presented, the cheesecake boasts a cloud-like batter, which, filled with a mix of strawberry and raspberry jam, tops a crumbly almond crust. The perfectly-sweet jam filling, along with the fluffy, light texture of the batter, were in harmony with the crust, all coming together for a diversity of textures. Taking the cheesecake game to a whole new level, we hope Ovio keeps the Crete on the menu forever.

On the other hand, the Black Forest sank to the bottom of our favourites list. While its glossy, cherry-shaped presentation impressed us, the dessert itself just didn’t; the base, as well as the filling, was extremely dry, while the cherry filling was scarce and the mousse was stiff and dense.  

All in all, we had our ups and our downs with the Ovio Specials. We loved everything about the cheesecake, which offered something new and interesting, but other items were too basic and simple   in flavour to be called ‘special’.