Coconut Cafe At Heeren Street, Malacca
January 9th, 2007, Jason
It was Tien Soon who discovered Coconut Cafe, located at Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, which is directly opposite the Baba House / Hotel. Judging from Tien Soon’s post, it was, somehow, looked promising. Since he has written quite a detailed review on Coconut House, I shall cut straight into my first visit (Tien Soon’s second’s) visit to Coconut House. Yes, we had lunch together.
I ordered coconut blended with vanilla ice cream. Since I had tasted pure coconut ice blended at Nilai before, this combination of coconut and vanilla seemed to be a little odd to me, but it turned out to be not that bad after all. Tien Soon ordered mocha ice blended while his girl friend had Irish coffee.
Thinking that their aromatic sauteed mushroom would taste somewhat like the one I had in La Casa cafe, Kepong, I ordered as our appetizer. However, when the mushrooms were served, we were all looking at each other and amused by the look of the dish. It was just, I mean, just edible and it didn’t open up any of my appetizer.
I also ordered warm rocket salad. This was even worse than the mushroom. No pictures were taken, not even a single one. It was horrendous. Why would I want to eat vinegar? Not enough jealousy in me, is it? Tien Soon’s girl friend, Lee Chen, didn’t even touch it after the first try.
Thank God the last three dishes turned out to be way much better than the previous two. Their pizza was worth a try, as it was really crispy, fragrant and crunchy. With fresh tomatoes cubes, three types of cheeses and other ingredients, it was something refreshing compared to those normal fast food pizza joints like Pizza Hut or Shakey’s. I was too hungry to take the pictures of the fillings. Maybe Tien Soon can share his picture with me.
We then had slow roasted pork shoulder. This was really good. Except for the outer layer which was slightly hard, it was really tender and juicy. The fats melted and blended with the herbs and spices just nice, to give your tongue that tantalizing taste. The pork shoulder is roasted till half cooked, then marinated with fennel seeds, olive oils, lemon juice, garlic and dry chilies before wrapping it in aluminum foil and left overnight in the oven, with wood fire slowing roasting the pork to fully cooked.
Up next was baked seafood with spaghetti. To me, this isn’t seafood since they only put in a few clams and some sotongs. Yes, that’s all. A little pathetic, don’t you think so? Taste wise, there are much better spaghetti out there. Maybe Earl Ku’s spaghetti might tastes better than them, you never know.
And that was our Sunday’s lunch. It was a little disappointing as it didn’t meet the expectation that I hope to see after reading Tien Soon’s post. However, its understandable. I went back there again, but this time, for work. With the boss around, food tasted much better as he introduced me dishes that tasted much better.
Rosemary chicken, marinated with, well, rosemary and served with porcini(a type of mushroom) sauce. When it was served right after coming from the stove, it was really fragrant and I couldn’t wait and took a bite first. However, I would strongly suggest that they use chicken breast, chicken wings or chicken thighs, better still if they are boneless.
The boss served me tiramisu and scuffle (souffle?) pudding. The pudding was unique, but I think it is an acquired taste since my partner didn’t really like it. As for the tiramisu, the boss proclaimed a few facts about his tiramisu. I dare not say anything on this since I have yet to try the real and authentic tiramisu. It tasted quite good except it was kinda watery instead of solid.
Overall, I don’t highly recommend Coconut Cafe as I think they still have a lot, and I mean, really a lot to do to improve their culinary skills, especially in terms of decoration, flavour and smell. However, since their pizza is quite unique, I would say, you need to visit this cafe at least once. It maybe your one and only visit, but at least, you give them and yourself a chance.
