Coconut-Themed Café In Yishun Serves Coconut Shakes, Gelato & Waffles Till 2am On Weekends
Coconuto is a new cafe tucked within a HDB estate in Yishun.
Sure, trendy coconut shakes can be found almost anywhere these days – but getting the frosty, creamy beverage past 10pm is another matter. Newly opened coconut shake and gelato cafe Coconuto is perfect for night owls — it stays open till midnight daily, and 2am on Friday and Saturday.
The 16-seat cafe launched on March 13 in a HDB estate in Yishun, joining other dessert joints there like No Horse Run and Holy Cow Creamery.
Coconuto serves its coconut shakes along with coconut milk-based gelato and freshly-made waffles.
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Opened by secondary school pals
The “coconut-themed cafe” is opened by four secondary school pals in their twenties – Kenneth Lim, Adam Tan, Nicholas Tan and Chan Hao Yuan – who are self-professed foodies. “I know it’s a bit ‘girly’ lah, but we were always very into cafe-hopping. We like waffles, gelato, and late-night spots as well,” Kenneth shares with a laugh.
“So when we were looking into opening our own place, we looked into coconut shakes as they are quite hot right now. With other coconut shake brands, they’re usually in shopping malls and you can’t get it after 10pm, so we wanted to be the first coconut cafe to serve coconut shakes after the 10pm mark.” They hope their coconut-themed gelato with “traditional flavours but modernised” like Kaya Coco (kaya-tinged coconut gelato) would be appreciated by both older folk living in the area as well as younger customers.
Kenneth, who works full-time as a digital brand consultant, says that Coconuto is fully funded by the four pals. Daily operations at the cafe are currently managed by Adam, who recently graduated with a degree in Business Studies from the University College Dublin.
The look
Though simply decorated, Coconuto has a couple of IG-worthy touches like a neon blue sign against a backdrop of minimalist grey, and a cutesy mascot of a dude holding a coconut overhead (he’s dubiously named Nuto).
Coconut shakes on offer
There are nine flavours of coconut shake sold at Coconuto. The original Coconut Shake goes for $4.20, fancier combos include Oreo ($4.60), Nutella ($4.80), Black Sesame ($4.80) and Gula Melaka ($4.80). There are fruit-tinged coconut options too, like Mango ($5.60) and Avocado ($5.80). If you’re watching your calories, there’s a coconut water-only option as well for $3.40.
Toppings include Chendol ($0.60), Brown Konjac Pearl ($0.80) and Aiyu Jelly ($0.80); you can also get an additional scoop of Coconut Ice Cream ($1) if you like your shakes richer.
Coconut gelato and Belgian waffles served too
Due to space constraints, the cafe’s coconut gelato is churned off-site and delivered to the cafe – six flavours are available at a time, rotating every week or so. A single scoop costs $3.80 – options include Gula Melaka Coconut, Sea Salt Coconut and In-kueh-dible Banana (containing coconut, gula melaka and the Malaysian banana pisang berangan, which is sometimes used in local banana cakes).
Premium flavours cost $4.60: try Hey Bye, a punny coconut milk gelato speckled with black glutinous rice (‘cos hei bai in Mandarin means black and white) or Nuto’s Favourite, a milk-flavoured gelato gussied up with toasted coconut flakes.
Note that most of the gelato flavours here contain dairy cream on top of coconut milk, juice or flesh and are not vegan-friendly. Only the Taro Coco (coconut gelato with yam chunks; $3.80) is vegan.
Have your gelato in a cup with no extra charge or on a Cone ($0.80; made daily) or plain Waffle ($4.50; made to order). The fancier Charcoal or Red Velvet Waffles will cost you $5.50.
