Finally had the chance to visit the relatively new food establishment in UPLB, the Coconut House. Armed with my camera, a fraction of my allowance, and with the company of three of my brods from UPEC, we stormed into the Coconut House late Sunday night.
Coconut House's interior is quite easy on the eyes. Simple and no frills, really. There are a few tables situated outside the shop and upon entering, you'll notice that the place is similar to a narrow hallway with a few tables and several huge freezers on both sides and the counter and "kitchen" down the "hall". The walls are plastered with mirrors, giving off the illusion of a bigger space, and the store's menu is placed just above the mirror panels. The place was cool (temperature-wise), but maybe it was just because it's that late in the evening already.
Aight, let's get into the food fare. We got the spaghetti, two family-sized pizzas (Beef Supreme and New York Special), a strawberry sundae and one of their "specialty dessert", the Tiramisu Magic.
Spaghetti (45php)
Coconut House's spaghetti is just like any other spaghetti you'll find around UPLB. Some carinderia's even offer better spaghetti. So-so seasoning and the sauce itself is nothing to rave about. The pasta's cooked wonderfully, though.
Family-sized Beef Supreme (125php)
Family-sized New York Special (145php)
Getting a family-sized pizza for an insanely low price sure has its downs. Both pizzas were disappointments, really. Upon ordering, I saw that one of the staff lunged into this big freezer and "unearthed" two frozen pizzas. Not frozen crust, frozen pizza. Yup, unfortunately, Coconut House serves pre-prepared (word check, please) pizzas. I actually am against this since it assures us that we ain't getting fresh pizzas. Upon arrival of the pizzas, my level of disappointment rose even higher. The pizza was toasted to a near crunchy state, quite as crunchy as the crust of sourdough bread. I do like some crunch in my crust, but I love chewy (on most parts) crusts. We ordered two different pizzas but they both tasted the same. As in. There's really not much more to say about their pizzas.
Strawberry Sundae (35php)
Tiramisu Magic (85php)
By the end of the meal, I was expecting that the desserts would be Coconut House's redemption. But I guess, I got my hopes up too high. The strawberry sundae was near rock-hard. Took a good 5 minutes before the first spoonful of sundae was taken. Typical sundae. Nothing special. The Tiramisu Magic was the biggest disappointment of the night, for me, especially. It had two scoops of mocha ice cream, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, two pieces of lady fingers or broas, some drizzles of chocolate syrup, a dollop of whipped cream, and some weird powder. It tasted nothing like tiramisu. I could easily sue them for misrepresentation because of this item. Kidding, of course. The mocha ice cream tasted really good, though. But no hint whatsoever of tiramisu flavor.
I guess it's safe to say that I'm only gonna come back in Coconut House if it ain't my money that would be spent. All the items we tried were so-so, to say the least.
Upon research, I learned that there is a Coconut House in Quezon City and since they have the same logos, I'm betting it's the same establishment. What's different is that the Coconut House in Quezon City offers more that just coconut milk-based ice cream. The shop in QC offers food fare infused with coconut. They have viands and other specialties which of course, includes coconut. I didn't see any pizza on their menu except for the coco pizza, which for me sounds a bit weird. I bet if the Coconut House here in UPLB would bring more coconut-infused dishes, they'd have more chance of grabbing the attention of UPLB's public.
PROS: Offers a variety of coconut milk-based ice cream. Friendly staff. Student-friendly prices.
CONS: So-so taste of food. Nothing too special on the menu.
FINAL RATING: 2 out of 5
Coconut House is located in the One Silangan Building, near UPLB Main Gate and near the Land Bank of the Philippines, UPLB branch.
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