Shirley’s famous fried rice is back

Shirley’s Coffee Shop reopened the Garapan location last April 27, 10 days after the Susupe branch reopened. (Krizel Tuazon)

Diehard fans of Shirley’s Coffee Shop’s fried rice, seafood omelet, palabok, half-chicken, and halo-halo can relax now as the institution in the island’s food industry is back after being closed for nearly a month.

General manager Puy Macario said the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to shutter their doors for several weeks.

“We closed on March 23 and reopened on April 17, but only our Susupe location. We reopened the Garapan location last April 27. …Now that we are in Community Vulnerability Level ‘Blue,’ we are now open from 6am to 10pm in both branches.”

Like other businesses, Shirley’s Coffee Shop wasn’t exempt from ill effects of the pandemic. “No business was spared I guess. For a while we completely stopped our operations. Even though we are back now, there are still a lot of people who prefer do their food preparations at home,” he said. That means the restaurant’s sales went down. “I think this applies to most businesses on island. Down in sales, of course, translates to lesser customers. But since we reopened we are slowly picking up on our sales and customers.”

A customer has her temperature checked at Shirley’s Coffee Shop’s Susupe branch. (Mark Rabago)

Before reopening, though, Macario made sure that Shirley’s Coffee Shop is compliant with all COVID-19 preventive measures prescribed by the Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.

“Of course, those instructions released by the government, like the wearing of masks and social distancing of 6 feet apart, are being strictly observed. We also require our staff to frequently sanitize and wash their hands with water and soap,” he said.

All restaurant staff also undertook the COVID-19 swab test and are required to take a thermal temperature scan prior to beginning their shift assignments. “We’ve also told them not to come to work if they feel sick or have any COVID-19 symptoms.”

Those who missed Shirley’s Coffee Shop would be delighted to know that its full menu is back since the reopening of its dine-in services.

Customers are asked to undergo temperature checks and dab their hands with sanitizer before dining in. (Krizel Tuazon)

“Our regular menu is available both for takeout and dine-in. Our platters that we started during the takeout-only operation days were discontinued after Father’s Day. Perhaps in the future, we may consider it again. [But] for now, we are kind of limited with staff assignment. Platter entails a lot of preparation time,” said Macario.

Shirley’s Coffee Shop, which was founded in Guam in 1983 by the restaurant’s iconic namesake, Shirley Lai, is just happy to remain relevant 27 years after opening its first branch in Chalan Laulau.

“We thank our customers for their continued patronage. We have been blessed with such loyal customers. We’re very optimistic that a vaccine will be available soon. This will bring back to normal all the things we used to do, along with it, the return of our economy to normalcy,” said Macario.

For more information, to pre-order, for to reserve seats, call Shirley’s Coffee Shop at either its Garapan branch at 233-4519/20 or its Susupe branch at 235-5379/80.