COCO CLOSE TO MY HEART

When a friend of mine mentioned to me to try out this specialty restaurant called “COCONUT HOUSE” that serves food and drinks literally fused with coconut, I thought my friend has simply gone well, nuts. Pun intended.

My concept of using coconut is totally restricted to creaming vegetable or meat dishes like “Ginataang Gulay”,” Ginataang Manok” and used as dessert topping.

I’ve never imagined getting hooked on coconut. But my buddy insisted that I check it out first before making any harsh judgment.

One rainy Friday afternoon, together with my hubby and baby in tow, off we went to unravel the mystery behind COCONUT HOUSE. I definitely was up for a challenge.

We soon discovered that COCONUT HOUSE is a quaint little restaurant quietly tucked away inside the Quezon City Circle along Elliptical Rd. Quezon City. The restaurant is easy to find.

And judging from the façade and interiors, COCONUT HOUSE is an unpretentious and comfortable haven where you can have a very decent bite to eat and hang around friends. Professionals, businessmen, college students and even tourists frequent the place. The restaurant even has a distinct corner where a lot of coco by products such as Coco sugar, Virgin Coconut Oil, Coconut Flour and decorative items made out of coconut are conspicuously displayed. I’m getting ahead of my story. Let’s talk about the food first.

As soon as we set foot in the restaurant, we were warmly greeted and assisted by a friendly young man. This fellow turns out to be the Restaurant Manager named Jaime. I learned from Jaime and Winnie that the restaurant is a brainchild of restaurant owner Mr. Jun Castillo who is an advocate on coconut use and maximizing its full potential. The restaurant is n its second year and was originally set-up at Esteban Abada in Katipunan, Quezon City. On the food, he readily suggested that I try the “undisputed” crowd favorites like PANCIT BUKO, COCO OKOY, LAINGLY YOURS, LUMPIANG UBOD NG SARAP, CALAMARES and COFFEENUT. I also ordered fresh Buko juice to go with my first coco feast.

For my first entrée, I tried the famous PANCIT BUKO which tops the list of vegetarians and pancit fans. The uniqueness of this dish is the buko strips used instead of traditional “bihon” or “canton” noodles.

My first bite was followed by several more with gusto. PANCIT BUKO is definitely a very tasty dish. And it did taste like the traditional pancit canton only healthier. What an awesome dish!

Next, I nicely stuffed my mouth with a winner - COCO OKOY. It's OKOY with a twist - shrimpless but healthy, made out of shreds of coconut and other veggies, molded into a patty and deep fried. Simply divine!

After COCO OKOY, I sampled LAINGLY YOURS. The dish is COCONUT HOUSE’s version of the popular Bicol specialty “Laing”. It’s ‘Laing” with a twist. This Bicol dish is made out of taro leaves and gently simmered in coconut milk and added with spices. Tasty bits of pork liempo glazed with a coco-based sauce and organic rice are served together with the “Laing”. LAINGLY YOURS is altogether a great balanced meal wrapped in banana leaves. The “Laing” is excellent and the liempo, sweet and cooked well.

Along with devouring LAINGLY YOURS, I grabbed a bite of CALAMARES, fried tender squid rings dipped in a light batter made out of coconut flour. The CALAMARES is exquisitely tender.

And finally, I got my serving of LUMPIANG UBOD NG SARAP. It’s a healthy veggie roll made up of strips of fresh coconut, turnip, carrot, beans and topped with a special coco-garlic sauce. I loved every bit of it.

Now comes a top COCONUT HOUSE favorite: the ultimate HALO-HALO with ice cream which Jaime totally rooted for. It's made out of bananas, macapuno, leche flan, coconut cream and milk and it's simply...superb! Two thumbs up!

The HALO-HALO goes well with COFFEENUT. And true to form, the brewed coffee drink still is fused with coconut. Coconut water is added to the coffee and served with coco biscuits.

What an awesome gastronomical feast I just had with my family. I simply enjoyed every moment of it. And for sure, I will be a familiar face in this sweet casa de coco sipping COFFEENUT, eating a mouthful of COCO OKOY or LAING PIZZA any day.

Indeed, COCONUT HOUSE is not just a restaurant; the restaurant epitomizes hope in Filipino creativity, uniqueness and resourcefulness. It is a living showcase on the ingenious use of the “tree of life” from deliciously prepared meals to world-class coconut by-products.

Oh by the way, you can book the place for a party of 50 and they do home deliveries too. Let your fingers do the talking and call (63-2) 392-4115. Neat.

And with that said, I’ve simply gone loco with the coco.