MeloMelo Coconut Dessert — Restaurant in San Gabriel

Coconut jelly definitely hits the spot on those hot, summer days. Unfortunately, it is a tad bit pricier than the usual conventional desserts, but it's well worth it, considering the fact that it's a healthy alternative. Melo Melo has actually been located in San Gabriel for quite some time, and yet I haven't had a chance to set foot into the storefront. They're located in the same plaza as A Ri Rang Tofu House - quite small and cramped to navigate the parking area, but if you go to the underground parking, it usually isn't a problem to find a spot.

I know they have their usual coconut jelly flavors, but there's also seasonal ones that appear for several months (currently there's a Halloween flavor where the coconut jelly is inside of a small pumpkin!). Pricing is quite expensive, but I do know that coconut jelly isn't a cheap dessert. I also really love the jars that the desserts come in - haha

My favorite that I've tried from Melo Melo has got to be their Meloween coconut jelly. This is priced at $16.99, but the sizing is bigger than the usual jars. I loved the coconut jelly on top and the surprise of the jasmine tea jelly on the bottom! It came with a small container of Biscoff cookie crumble that I could toss on top of the jelly, but I ended up just eating it by itself. There's nothing you can really scrape inside of the pumpkin, but if you're into pumpkin carving, you can take the shell and carve it out!

I also tried the salted egg coconut, which is $12.99. This is seasonal as well, with a hardened salted egg shell on top of coconut jelly (with some salted egg cream mixed into the jelly). That salted egg shell was not too sweet, surprisingly tasty, and went well with the light coconut jelly.

And you can't go wrong with the original coconut jelly - the single coconut runs for $6.99, which is on par with other coconut jelly pricing. Super light, really refreshing - definitely something you can unknowingly finish the entire jar of, and not feel too guilty.

Workers were really nice and friendly. There's several tables inside the store if you want to sit and enjoy the desserts there. If you end up returning ten jars, I believe you can get 1 free dessert. I would say the desserts are best enjoyed within the day and maybe up to two days in the fridge. After that, the taste and quality isn't as great.

tl;dr - coconut jelly is a popular dessert fad that I'm glad is here to stay! Really happy that they're in San Gabriel, making it easy for me to drop by if I ever want to indulge in...

AHHHH I LOVE WHEN PLACES HAVE SEASONAL ITEMS FOR THE HOLIDAYS!!! They just came out with a Christmas special with mochi as one of the layers!!! Was able to snatch one of them and wish I came earlier to snatch them all!!! Love the different textures! Same signature not too sweet jiggly coconut! The stretchy chewy mochi feels divine in your mouth and fun to scoop from the jar! You can get it with fresh cut fruits in strawberry or mango. It is also dusted with oreo powder. Or you can grab the one with all the oreos. YUUUUM! Hurry and grab a jar because those run out fast!!!

What I tried:

Christmas Special: Mango Mochi Coconut (Signature Coconut Jelly, topped with mango chunks, chewy mochi, and dusted with Oreo powder). Giving me almost mango sticky rice vibes but without the rice and replaced with moooocchhiiii!!! I LOVE chewy desserts! Watch it stretch when you do the pull! Texture is best when eating the same day you get it. I totally devoured it in seconds!

**(They also have Oreo Mochi Coconut and Strawberry Mochi Coconut to try!)

From their Limited items: Caramel Latte Coconut (Signature Coconut Jelly, with a layer of latte and chewy mochi, topped with caramel. *Caramel top may come hardened or melted). This is one of my faves! Caffeine addict here. Nice strong flavor of coffee and mine actually came out with a hardened caramel top and it totally reminds me of the topping of a creme brulee! So satisfying to break the top and scoop up pure joy into my mouth.

Another seasonal item: Baked Sweet Potato Coconut (Signature Coconut Jelly mixed with sweet potato). This totally gives me fall/winter vibes. Very homey warm feeling. Not too sweet and the smoothness of the sweet potato.

Non-Seasonal: Triple Coconut (Signature Coconut Jelly made with milk, coconut water, and coconut meat) They weren’t kidding with this being the ultimate coconut combo! My mom enjoyed it so much! Who doesn’t love eating out of an actual coconut?! Super authentic! And scooping out the coconut meat?! I sure do! Tropical vibes for me here!

Can’t wait to go back to try the other flavors! Always a smile on my face when I get there to look through their display case, and of course when I take the first bite… actually…...

This is a tough review to write.

Melo Melo has a great tasting dessert with a very unique flavor. They use coconut milk in everything so if you are allergic or don't care for coconut, stay away. Fortunately, I love the flavors. Combinations they have are great. I highly recommend the mochi mango ... to a point. Here's the problem, the desserts are small. Just as you are really enjoying the dessert and really savoring the textures and flavors, you look down and there's the bottom of the cup.

You really want more and are about to buy another and remember that you just paid $12 + tax for a CUP sized dessert. If I were to eat my fill, I would have spent $36 + tax, or almost $40 for dessert!

That's the problem ... I really want others to try this place but can't recommend it because of the prices. I would probably pay between $6 to $8 for this. Especially when I can go get a honking bowl of shaved milk ice with a quarter pound of toppings for $6 at SoJu.

But, what do I know. They been open for a couple years now so either I'm not running in the same economic circles as their regular clientele or I'm just cheap. But, when the $40 choice is between a decent ribeye dinner and just enough coconut milk with mango to get me past the hangry-point, ribeye wins hands down or enough shaved milk ice with toppings to fill a 2...