Arrow Foodie: Review - Coconut House

Thu, 2nd August 2012

Coconut House
449 Elizabeth Street (Shop 1)
441 Elizabeth Street (Shop 2)
Melbourne

Cuisine: Malaysian, Asian

Taste Rating: 7.5/10 Value Rating: 8/10

Coconut House or Houses? There are two Coconut House restaurants in Elizabeth Street and they are 4 doors apart. One is at 449 Elizabeth St and the other is at 441 Elizabeth Street. The shop at 449 has a kitchen, the one at 441 does not. Presumably this second shop was opened to cater for the overflow of customers from the first shop. Food is cooked at 449 and carried by the wait staff in a covered box along the street to 441! Check out one of the photos and see if you can spot this.

Coconut House does take bookings for lunch. This is surprising for a small place which is packed at lunchtime, and has a quick turnover of customers. If you want to be sure of getting a table at lunch time, I suggest you make a booking. We arrived 449 Eliabeth St with a booking for lunch. You peruse the menu at the table but need to go to the counter to order and pay.

I ordered the House Laksa Special. And was very satisfied with the big bowl of creamy, flavoursome laksa soup with just the right amount of thickness in the soup. I don't like laksa soup which is too thick or too thin (Why does this remind me of Goldilocks?!) The laksa had a good mix of ingredients - stuffed bean curd skin, fried tofu, prawns and chicken. It had yellow noodles and vermicelli. Good meal!

The others ordered Nasi Lemak Hot and Spicy Crispy Chicken Ribs, Ban Mee and Chicken Rice with Braised Egg. Everyone was satisfied with their meals.

I had a taste of the Chicken Chop. The crispy tasty batter was what made the Chicken Chop extra nice. I would be happy to order this dish or any dish with this chicken chop. The feedback from the person who ordered it is that this fried chicken was less oily than they were expecting it to be.

I didn't try the Ban Mee so am unable to comment first hand. It had lean pork slices, pork balls, noodles and green vegies. The feedback is that it was not bad and although it was not as nice as the one at Singapore Chom Chom (for those who remember this place), it was still a good Ban Mee. The soup was okay but did not have not enough flavour depth, and was rather too oily from the pork balls.

I tried a piece of chicken from the Chicken Rice dish. The meat was tender and the flavour was about average. The feedback from the person who ordered this dish is that "the rice is too soft and this spoils the meal". Aside from the rice, they were satisfied with the rest of this dish. The chilli sauce had mild spiciness.

Overall, good flavours, good value and a good variety in the menu. I would be happy to return and try the other dishes at Coconut House. There are six other types of laksas on the menu to check out!