It may be one of the smallest cities in the Philippines but San Juan’s Little Baguio area has ridiculously immense food gems you need to include in your eat list. Common denominator will always be among these homegrown restaurants is their homey ambiance. Although we’re from the South, the Fat Girls Day Out loves wandering during weekends around Metro Manila. We stumbled upon this quirky lifestyle store and cafe at Mabini Street, San Juan. CO/OP stands quietly along the streets with a non-descript facade. Big trees covered its huge parking space which is another solid plus point for us.
CO/OP simply means “cooperation” by cousins Polly Caragay, Christine Lee, and Michelle Chan who partnered up together to build this unique homegrown store concept.
When you enter you will be greeted by their friendly staffs and a pay-upon-order is in place before you find yourself a nice little spot inside the store. The industrial chic ambiance, high ceiling, proper ambient lights, and not too rowdy patrons make this place pretty conducive for meetings and to basically share a meal with friends.
Brick walls adorned with trinkets of unique item finds that were carefully curated to evoke an interest to the discerning niche consumers.
Visual Snippets of What We Ate
CO/OP serves comfort food favorites that are familiar.
Onion Stakcs| 225php| Deep Fried Battered Onions/ Aioli Dip
Tuna Melt Sandwich| 360php| Tuna/Egg Salad/Mozarella/ on Rye Bread
Tarufo Pasta|370php| Cream Sauce/Prosciutto Ham/Truffle Oil/Mushroom
Curated Items (Visual)
The lifestyle store section focuses mostly on home and gift items that are very unique- when we say unique, it means you will have a hard time finding most pieces elsewhere.
Overall Take
Their food is good and generous in serving size, but their price points are a bit steep for the area. Expect to spend 1,000php/ 2 pax if you will sit down for a meal.
A pretty good concept store incorporating well-curated items and a cafe under one roof. This is Fat Girls Day Out’s favorite San Juan hang out spot should we find ourselves in the area and would want to escape the horrible pretense traffic.
Our CX Rating
Disclaimer:
- All meals are paid for, calibrated against our CX rating, and curated by the content creators. The Fat Girls Day Out team were discreet during their visit.
CO/OP Manila
- Location: 189 A. Mabini Street, San Juan, 1500 Manila, Philippines
- Operating Hours: 10.00am until 8.30pm
Engage with us; experience@fatgirlsdayout.com or fatgirlsdayoutph@gmail.com
- Official Facebook Page
- Official Instagram Page
- Official YouTube Page
- Official Spotify Page- Curated MixTapes/Playlist
- Zomato Reviewer Profile
