By Amelia Lipcsei
Over the duration of last summer, I spent the majority of my time participating in my favorite activity: eating out with friends. Every other day, a new food place would catch my eye, and that almost always resulted in the desire to drag my friends along with me to try it. When I say I wasted way too much money on food, I mean it. Do I have any regrets? No.
With the overwhelming knowledge that I now hold on which food places are a must and which ones are… not so great, I feel responsible for sharing the holy grail of all cafe’s.
Tucked away in the plaza by San Tomas Aquino Road, Jovie’s Cafe and Pho will forever hold a special place in my heart. As my number one go-to place for both food and drinks, Jovie’s has delicious, affordable items. The smile on my face never disappeared as I ate their BBQ Pork Banh-Mi, and their Lemongrass Chicken plate remains a top pick of mine. However, although their food certainly exceeds the quality and taste of 99% of other restaurants, I continuously return back to this small store due to their phenomenal boba. Not to throw shade at Gong Cha, or even Happy Lemon, but the boba at Jovie’s outdoes theirs by a landslide.
Oftentimes, I hesitate to order fruit teas at tea places without lowering the sugar level; the sickly sweetness of the drink usually takes away from its exceptional flavor. At Jovie’s, I never have to doubt if changing the sugar level is the right choice – mainly because I never have to. All of their drinks come with the perfect level of sweetness to balance the tea and toppings. Likewise, their flavors have so much variety and uniqueness to them.
The last time I visited Jovie’s, I ordered their hibiscus tea. Watching them hand-slice all of the toppings, in this case strawberries and lemons, emphasized the freshness of their drinks. To add even more flavor and allure, they placed real hibiscus flowers into the cup, which brought out the distinct floral taste of the drink. Personally, I can’t name even one other boba place that genuinely makes their teas with the same quality and care that this small cafe does. And, even better, their drinks compare in price to the majority of other places; with all of the extra steps that Jovie’s takes to make their drinks phenomenal, the low price makes their business just that much better.
Oftentimes, I find myself wishing that there were more people in the building when I enter; due to COVID-19 their small business has seen a decrease in customers. However, the quality of their food continues to remain unmatched. For those looking to support a truly remarkable, women-owned business, I highly recommend visiting Jovie’s Cafe and Pho – one of the best restaurants in all of Campbell.