DiCofi on San Agustin Street, Salcedo Village, Makati


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COCONUTS HOT SPOT — In late March, small Vietnamese hole-in-the-wall DiCofi opened on the ground floor of Valero Plaza. While the address listed is Valero Street, DiCofi is actually at the back of the building, on San Agustin Street in Salcedo Village right across Puerto Rican joint Sofrito and right next to Persian stop Sultan Grill.

Owned and operated by a Vietnamese call center employee called Vicky, the 14-seater DiCofi serves quick but filling Vietnamese dishes. Its coffee, whether hot or iced, is incredible. She tells Coconuts Manila that she opened DiCofi because “I wanted a place where my friends and I can hang out that’s not too expensive.”

The place is still bare, but Vicky plans to make it look a little more like coffee places in Vietnam. It almost doesn’t need to, because the several times we’ve visited DiCofi, it felt like we were in Ho Chi Minh hanging out with the Vietnamese crowd. We are still quite surprised to learn just how big the Vietnamese population has become. The kitchen is run by Vietnamese folks, with only two Pinoys on the staff.   

At DiCofi, Vicky doesn’t just bring in authentic banh mis from Vietnam. She also unintentionally imports her country’s distinct hang out style. Inside the coffee shop are some wooden stools that she and her small team bring out onto the street, where they hang out and drink their coffee during the dead hours.

Which these days are more like dead minutes. DiCofi is almost always full during the lunch hour, while supposed dead hours (between 2-5pm) have Salcedo habitués and residents coming in for a quick coffee break or taking out their delicious banh mis or Vietnamese pizza.

A little over one month after opening, DiCofi has expanded its menu from three to five items. The two new items — Grilled Pork Chop (PHP170) and Chicken Legs with Fish Sauce (PHP170) — seem to have been added to suit the Filipino palate.

The Savory Sticky Rice (PHP110) is a hearty, heavy dish that will do you a solid. The Vietnamese pizza (PHP85) is made with ground pork, chicken, butter, egg, shirmp, and pork floss, embellished with hot sauce on a wafer-thin crust that’s made with rice paper. It’s such a joy to eat, with the sweet and delicate, almost pastry-like crust balancing all the savory and chunky ingredients on top of it.

But really, the star of the entire repertoire is the Banh Mi (PHP85), or to be more specific, the bread of its Banh Mi. How they toasted the bread, we don’t know but it’s perfect. It looks pale, to be honest, without any traces of being baked inside the oven but bite on the sammy and wow the crackle. It’s so crunchy, you’ll soon see crumbs all over the table or your lap.

The inside of the bread, however, is so soft it feels like it immediately converges with the pate and pork floss, with only the fried eggs and ham showing signs of strength. 

There are a lot of fruit shakes on offer at DiCofi, as well as strong coffee. But in the two times we’ve visited the place, we always finish our drinks before we could take a picture. Either we’re incredibly thirsty or the drinks are really good. We’d like to lean towards the latter.  

G/F Valero Plaza, 124 Valero St, Salcedo Village, Makati. Mon-Sat 8am-10pm

The small space is still bare, but the ample light makes DiCofi feel spacious and clean.

The Vietnamese pizza (PHP85) has a super thin, sweet wafer-like crust, which is a contrast to the chunky savory toppings. 


The Banh Mi (PHP85), a harmless looking snack, packs quite the punch . 



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