Coconut House

449 Elizabeth St, Melbourne 3000
Date visited: 30th September 2012

Coconut House is a Malaysian restaurant along Elizabeth Street, well known for its laksa and chicken rice.  Although they have another joint a few doors down (Little Coconut House), the seats inside the main restaurant are packed like sardines in a can.  Even after waiting about 10 minutes when we got there, there were no seats inside so we sat on the few tables outside by the road.

You get your menus, then go inside and order and pay at the counter.  Service is pretty standard Asian, brisk with no small talk or smiles. 

Mum had one of their signature drinks, their hot homemade soya bean.  Their sign says their soya bean is freshly made daily, from 100% Australian beans growers and no preservatives or colours.  It was pretty amazing.  Silky smooth with the perfect amount of sweetness, just like doufuhua.  Love.

I got the Coconut House Cendol Special, which had cendol (green worm-like jelly), red bean, cincau (grass jelly) in coconut milk floating over a layer of Gula Malacca.  The Cendol Special would have been great on its own, but because of its richness and creaminess it probably wasn't the best thing to order with the laksa we were having >:P

Left: Soya bean ($2.50 with meal specials, $2.80 normal price)
Right: Cendol Special $3.60

Mum had the Claypot Egg Gravy Yee Mee.  It was a big portion and there were generous amounts of squid, prawn, pork and mussels.  The egg gravy was delicious (albeit salty) and reminded me so much of the egg gravy of my favourite noodles in our family's favourite restaurant back home =)  

Claypot Egg Gravy Yee Mee $8.90

Their curry laksa is proclaimed the "Best Curry Laksa in Town" so of course we had to try it.  

Chicken Curry Laksa $9.30

I had the Chicken Curry Laksa which had a chicken thigh, tofu, beans, and half a "son-in-law egg"with their house sambal.  The laksa was an enormous bowl of vermicelli and angel hair noodles sitting in a rich, creamy curry soup with a floating layer of chilli oil - incredibly flavoursome.  It was one seriously good laksa, however having the coconut milky cendol special with it was a big no-no as after a while, I started to feel a bit - as us Malaysians put it - "jelak" (meaning feeling sickened and unable to eat anymore after having food that is really rich or sweet).

Hawker Curry Laksa $10.00

MerlinFan had the Hawker Curry Laksa, which had fresh mint leaf and sambal, with a curry drumstick, fried egg, prawns, fish cake, sprouts and puffs.  MerlinFan loved everything in the bowl, although she said the chicken drumstick, strangely enough, tasted like jam doughnuts.  LOL WTF.

At $10 and under per meal, Coconut House is great value for your money.  It is probably one of the only restaurants where the actual serving of the food is as huge as they make it look on the menu.  Sadly enough none of us could finish our dishes just because of how generous the portions were, but it may suit the super hungry/ big eater. 

I would come back again for the laksa but MerlinFan and I'll keep in mind sharing it and ordering a second dish - something less rich.  And I would definitely come back for the soya bean drink.  They also do takeaways so its a good option if you live/ work/ study nearby and don't want to deal with long waits and crammed seating.



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