Eating Healthy in the City

Chelsea, BGC

2015-12-31T03:01:00.001+08:00

A quick look at the menu shows that there are almost no purely vegetarian options, other than sides. However, you can actually order a vegetarian pasta which isn't on the menu.

Looks gorgeous, and quite filling too.

Well, if you want some carb overload, the fries are definitely vegetarian.

Sambokojin

2015-12-26T23:53:00.002+08:00

Korean and Japanese choices in a buffet restaurant - surely there must be something vegetarian in there somewhere. There was meat everywhere, and the only things that I found to be vegetarian are the cabbage salad, California maki, vegetable tempura, chapchae, and of course, lots of dessert.

SUSI Vegan Restaurant

2015-12-18T13:01:00.001+08:00

As a vegan, when you see that everything on the menu is OKAY for you to eat, it's like hitting the jackpot! That's how I feel whenever I enter SUSI Vegan Restaurant at Burgos Circle BGC. They have everything from raw salads, cooked dishes with nut cheeses and meats, and desserts.

The Urban Farm, BF Homes Paranaque

2015-09-13T23:35:00.004+08:00

From the name of the restaurant alone - The Urban Farm - one gets the impression that they serve healthy meals. A quick look at the menu immediately validates this assumption. It turns out that they have so many vegetarian options to choose from. They have soups, salads, side dishes and pasta that are all vegetarian friendly.

Pumpkin soup with malunggay leaves

Vegetarian pasta

Mashed potatoes

Buddha's feast

Lettuce with seaweeds

Lale' Indian and Thai Restaurant, Puerto Princesa, Palawan

2015-05-11T00:23:00.002+08:00

Most people look forward to eating fresh seafood when they go to Puerto Princesa, but for a vegetarian that doesn't get tempted at all seafood, the first thing they look for is a vegetarian restaurant wherever they go. One of the restos that serve vegetarian food in the area is Lale'. They serve both Indian and Thai food, a perfect combination for people who love spicy food.

Shown in the photos below are pappadum, vegetarian samosas, pad thai, and a chick pea dish.

Juicing Vegetables

2015-04-03T17:40:00.001+08:00

There are hundreds of juicers available in the market, ranging from really inexpensive grinding juicers to really expensive triturating juicers. But somewhere in the middle of the range of juicers, you can probably find a couple of juicers that could do a decent job. I find that I need two juicers - one for chunky vegetables like carrots and beets (Hurom), and another one for stringy vegetables like celery and parsley (Greenstar). They's both low-speed, so they don't heat up the vegetable juice.

My go-to combination of vegetables are cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, beets, jicamas, parsley and celery. Made the video for people who have never juiced vegetables in their whole life, but for people who have been juicing for decades, this would probably look amateurish.

The Buzzz Cafe, Panglao Island, Bohol

2014-08-19T23:17:00.000+08:00

Let's just say that a vegan can happily eat at the Buzzz Cafe every single day, for every single meal, for several days in a row. They have lots of salads (that can be made vegan if you tell them not to put cheese on it), soups, cooked dishes, and fruit shakes (that can be made vegan if you tell them not to put milk on it). And since they use freshly harvested veggies, what you're eating seems to be teeming with life energy. Now let's just let the photos do the talking.

The Wholesome Table

2014-08-18T22:35:00.000+08:00

Organic is the key word they use to describe the food that they serve. While that could mean free from pesticides if you're talking about veggies, that could also mean free from antibiotics if you're talking about meat. I somehow mistakenly made the connection that "organic" would mean lots of options for health-conscious vegans, but as I found out, you'd still need to make special requests to make some dishes vegan-friendly - like their soups which all had cream in them.

Vegan friendly options would include their salad and their protein bowl. Dishes classified as entrees all had animal products in them. But then again, that's a pretty good start. For people who are into cold-pressed juices, they have a wide range of vegetable juices sweetened with a little bit of apple juice.

The dressing was light, and you can pretty much tell that they did not use store-bought dressing

The protein bowl had mushrooms on top of quinoa

Cold-pressed juices

Daily Veggie Cafe

2014-05-10T00:18:00.001+08:00

If you're just beginning to wean yourself away from meat, this would be a great choice as they serve a lot of dishes that mimic the flavors of Filipino dishes that you may be used to - menudo, mechado, lumpia, etc.

Everything on the menu is "edible" as far as a vegetarian is concerned, and if eggs were used, they clearly indicate that on the menu. It still amazes me how they make meat substitutes that almost feel and taste like the real thing. When I feel like eating meat, this is the closest thing that I could get to actually sinking my teeth into something that feels like it came from something that was once alive.

Daily Veggie Cafe is located at 114 Sto. Domingo Avenue in Quezon City.

IHOP, UP Town Center

2014-04-28T02:15:00.002+08:00

While the name of the resto focuses on pancakes, those looking for something heavier will appreciate the omelette options. A lot of them go heavy on the meat though, except for this one omelette that had broccoli and cheese on it.

And of course, if pancake is what you're looking for, needless to say, this is pancake heaven.

Cafe Shibuya, UP Town Center

2014-04-24T03:04:00.004+08:00

Almost everything that may be classified as "savory" on the menu will have either chicken or pork in it, but you can ask the waiter to remove those meat bits to make it vegetarian.

Pasta with mushroom cream sauce: this is served with prosciutto, so I just asked the waiter to remove that.

A lot of people come here though for the dessert - the toasts with chocolate, cheese and ice cream.

Cheddar cheese toast with ice cream

Cafe Shibuya is located at the ground floor of the Ayala UP Town Center in Katipunan.

Juju Eats, Pasong Tamo and Eastwood

2014-04-17T02:30:00.001+08:00

Salads! Yup, the resto is all about salads - not the pre-packed kind but the one you see being tossed right before your very eyes as soon as you pick out the ingredients. For people who don't want to pick out every single ingredient, they can go with what's on the menu, but for those who want to create their own unique salad, they can meticulously mix and match the greens, fruits, herbs, nuts, quinoa, pasta, and dressing as they see fit.

I tried the summer salad and added some cilantro. Those who are looking for something more filling without adding gluten can opt to have quinoa added to the bowl.

And of course, aside from the salads, they also serve vegetable juices and fruit juices. Juju, after all, introduced the Juju Cleanse.

If we only had more of these restos in the country, finding healthy food would not be so difficult. Juju Eats is located at Pasong Tamo Extension.

Pipino Vegetarian Resto, Jupiter St., Makati

2014-02-18T00:11:00.000+08:00

As a vegetarian trying to find something to eat in a restaurant you've never been to before, you know how it is when you have to skip through several pages of the menu to find the salad section, or the appetizer section, as you most likely won't find a vegetarian entree'. But what if you find a menu where everything you see is OKAY, meaning you can close your eyes and point to any page of the entire menu without looking, and know that no matter where your finger ends up pointing to, you can order that, without guilt? That, my friends, is a dream come true for any vegetarian. And when that happens, you're probably in a place called Pipino.

Like I said, any part of the menu is okay - salad, appetizer, dessert, and the main course.

Wicket walnut salad

Camote croquettes

Mushroom salpicao

Squash risotto

Seafood paella

So why did it take me several years before I tried to eat here? Well, this blog has been a survival guide for vegetarians who try to find something to eat in a predominantly carnivore-dominated landscape, so I've pretty much tried to see what's for dinner in popular places, and yes, even steak houses. One hardly needs a guide in a vegetarian restaurant. And plus the name "pipino" didn't really conjure up images of delicious food. I've always associated cucumbers with juices and cold salads. Little did I know that I've been missing a lot.

Right beside Pipino Vegetarian Restaurant is Pino Bar. They're actually one and the same - there's just a wall dividing the two, and you can order meat dishes even if you were in the Pipino side of the room. And that makes it a perfect venue for groups of people with different dietary preferences. No need to toss a coin to see where you're going tonight.

Pipino is located at Jupiter St, far away from the other restos in the Makati Avenue area. It's already very near the Shell gasoline station near the corner of Gil Puyat and EDSA.

Fez, Serendra

2014-02-06T02:21:00.002+08:00

Foursquare liste it as a Mediterranean restaurant, although the first thing on the menu that caught my attention were items that were unmistakably Indian vegetarian. Not bad at all, as the vegetable curry dish was flavorful. The mango lassi though tasted more like mango milk shake.

Fez is located at Serendra, right next to Mesclun and Arama.

Asha's Stall at Legaspi Village Market

2014-01-31T18:58:00.000+08:00

For the curious who would like to see what raw vegan food is all about, and for hard core raw vegans who need their weekly stash of all sorts of raw food items such as crackers, desserts, nut milk, and salads, Asha's culinary creations are now available at the Sunday Legaspi Village Market.

As her stall is probably the only one in the place that serves gourmet raw food, you would either need to pre-order on a Friday and pick up on Sunday, or come in early enough before the curious crowd buys everything in sight.

Vegetarian Dinner Club

2014-01-26T04:40:00.000+08:00

It's not everyday that I can walk into a buffet restaurant and find that everything on the table is okay to eat. And the food isn't just okay, they're really flavorful. With the little that I know about spices, I could tell that they used spices such as coriander, cumin, curry, and cardamom (gosh, all these spices start with the letter C!).

Their Facebook page shows that the menu varies every week. They sometimes serve vegetarian versions of lechon and sarsiado, but when I visited them, I guess it was Indian food night, and I really liked that.

The Vegetarian Dinner Club is located at 37 P. Florentino St (near D. Tuazon) in Quezon City.

They're open on Fridays and Saturdays from 6pm to 8pm. For more information, call 0917-834-5885 or 624-6774. Or check out their Facebook page.

Thaipan, Scout Dr. Lazcano St., Tomas Morato

2013-11-18T20:21:00.000+08:00

Thaipan - a Feast for the Eyes and the Palate

Located at the heart of the commercial restaurant area in Quezon City (Sct. Dr. Lazcano St., Tomas Morato), Thaipan is a fine dining restaurant that pleases not just the palate but also the eyes.

While waiting for dinner, the owners gave us a tour of the place. We found out that Ivy Almario, world-renowned interior decorator, turned an old house into a richly decorated restaurant that integrates Thai craftsmanship such as the ceiling lamps and the hand-painted wall designs into the over-all design.

Right beside the entrance, there is an open dining area for guests who prefer to dine al fresco and a bar that provides a great view of the resto. In the enclosed area, there are a couple of function rooms that can accommodate groups of anywhere between 8 to 40 people.

As the interiors are truly a feast for the eyes, the restaurant has been the venue for private parties, product launches, and other corporate events.

Candle-lit tables in the alfresco dining area

A function room for 8 to 12 people

A function room for 30 to 40 people

When the food arrived, our attention naturally moved from the interiors to the enticing Thai flavors that wafted in the air.

My non-vegetarian friends ordered beef and pork, but since this blog focuses on vegetarian options, I will only show photos of the vegetarian options.

Mango coconut smoothie with bobba pearls

Roti bread with curry sauce dip

Mieng Kham: fresh spices and grated coconut served on betel leaves with palm sugar sauce

These betel leaves were picked just minutes before we ate it. They had their own betel plant in the resto so this is as fresh as it gets. The way the flavors mixed was just phenomenal - sweet, spicy, salty, and pungent.

Essentially a Thai curry dish, so you can pretty much have it done with fish or just veggies

Fish tamarind with crispy basil leaves

Fried rice, lots of it! Thai rice topped with egg and spicy fish sauce. Watch it disappear as you savor the flavours of whatever it is you're eating it with.

And of course, desserts! Sticky rice with mango with coconut cream sauce. One thing I love about Thai desserts is that they tend to be vegan as coconut cream is used instead of dairy options.

Red rubies in sweet iced coconut cream - those rubies are actually made from chestnuts

Eating at Thaipan is an experience. You begin with the visual treat as you admire the interiors and quickly move on to the gustatory treat as you savor the rich and exotic Thai flavors.

I love spicy Thai food, so eating at Thaipan was a real treat for me. The owners, who normally greet their guests, explained that they use authentic Thai recipes and regularly fly in ingredients from Thailand.

Both for the taste and the ambience, this Thai resto is perfect for anything from an intimate date to a big function. Thaipan is located at Scout Dr. Lazcano, Tomas Morato area.

Aria Cucina Italia, Bonifacio High Street

2013-11-18T18:31:00.003+08:00

Not to be mistaken for Arya which is an Iranian resto, Aria is all Italian. As a vegetarian, I have absolutely no doubt that I will find something without meat in the menu. As a general rule, they're bound to have pasta with pesto or tomato-based sauce, and pizza with just cheese on it. True enough, Aria has lots of options for vegetarians.

People might remember Aria from Boracay, but the photos below were taken from their branch at Bonifacio High Street.

Caprese

Penne Arabiatta: this was hot - it had chili seeds on it

Abe, Trinoma

2013-11-05T01:59:00.000+08:00

I have come to the conclusion that Kapampangan cuisine, while absolutely delicious, does not offer a lot of options for vegetarians. You'll end up eating side dishes or salads. Here's what I found at Abe - both made with mustard leaves.

Mustard and tomato salad

Mustard and onions

Pinac, UP Town Center

2013-11-04T01:12:00.001+08:00

Pinac is all about Kapampangan cuisine - rich, flavorful, and predominantly meaty. Nothing for a vegan, but there are some options for lacto-ovo-pesco vegetarians. Pinac is at the 2nd floor of the UP Town Center.

Talong omelette with tomatoes and parsley

Oysters with cheese

Hito balls (eat by wrapping with mustard leaves)

P.F. Chang's

2013-10-01T10:24:00.000+08:00

It's all about American Chinese food, or more accurately said, Chinese food that has been "Americanized". Unlike eating in China which could be, for a foreigner, classified as an unknown adventure since you sometimes can't tell what goes into your food, the name P.F. Chang's brings the certainty of knowing that what you're getting is, well, virtually American food with some Chinese-sounding names like dim sum and other Chinese words that have made their way into American vocabulary.

But would a vegetarian feel at home at P.F. Chang's? Well, you won't starve to death as they serve vegetable spring rolls and vegetable dim sum, but you certainly can't have a feast either as that's about the only thing vegetarian in the menu. I ended up asking them to remove the chicken from the chicken noodle soup, but it would have been ridiculous for me to ask them to remove the chicken from the chicken lettuce rolls.

Vegetable dim sum

spring rolls

Chicken noodle soup without the chicken

Home-made Desserts (Raw, Vegan, Gluten-free)

2013-09-24T11:22:00.000+08:00

I love desserts, but a lot of commercially-baked desserts come with loads of partially hydrogenated fats, refined sugar, and dairy. They taste good, but after eating a lot of them, it starts to show up in my body. So as a happy compromise, I learned how to make my own raw, vegan, gluten-free desserts.

Raw, vegan, gluten-free almond chocolate chip cookies

This wasn't even that difficult to make, even for someone like me who thinks of doing this maybe just once a year. I just placed soaked almonds in a food processor, processed them till they got mashed up, added raw cacao, maple syrup, chia seeds soaked in water for a few minutes, and carob chips. Then I placed them in the dehydrator at 105 degrees till they got sufficiently hard.

If you want banana chocolate chip cookies without cacao, simply omit the cacao and add in bananas. With the bananas, you won't even need chia seeds. How simple is that! Check out this recipe on youtube.

Raw, vegan, gluten-free walnut carrot cake

What went into this? Soaked walnuts, dates. raisins and grated carrots. Placed them in the food processor and pressed them into a baking pan (not to bake it, just to give it shape). Then for the topping, I just placed coconut oil, maple syrup, and some more walnuts into the blender till they turned into a paste. This doesn't need dehydration. Just put it in the freezer and eat when you're ready.

And it doesn't take a genius to make this. Just saw the recipe posted on Facebook in the morning and made it as soon as I got up.

The thing I love about raw desserts is that you don't need a recipe. Just throw in a bunch of ingredients that you like, and adjust the amounts of the maple syrup or dates according to taste.

The Red Crab

2013-09-01T04:11:00.002+08:00

From the name of the resto alone, a pesco-vegetarian immediately knows that there will be non-meat dishes in the menu. And unlike what the name might imply, these non-meat dishes are not limited to crabs, as they have all sorts of seafood and veggie dishes.

Laing with morsels of fish (not pork!)

Roasted vegetable pasta

Took these photos from their branch at Eastwood Mall.

Lombardi's, Robinson's Magnolia

2013-07-23T01:55:00.000+08:00

Undoubtedly, Italian restos would have a thing or two in the menu for vegetarians. But how about asking them to make things that don't appear in the menu? Like this pasta, for example. Sure, you'll find the usual pesto and tomatoes in the menu, but this is their truffle pasta. Smells so "earthy" but tastes really good.

Tried this at their Robinson's Magnolia branch.

Bangkok Street Food

2012-11-19T22:14:00.002+08:00

Our last trip to Bangkok was a special one. It was my first time to join a group tour, and it was a special tour. Organized by a Thai chef currently based in Manila (he owns Thai Dara restaurant), the tour, composed of around 20 people, was about experiencing food in Bangkok (and Ayutthaya) the way the locals enjoy them.

The choices of places that we went to for three days range from popular and high-end restaurants to a small street food stalls that locals flock too and no tourists normally go to, because the menus are in Thai and there aren't even pictures on the menu.

One of two of them are even so obscure that I couldn't find them on Foursquare to be able to check in (by the way, that's how I remember the names of the restaurants we went to, by checking in on Foursquare).

Here are the places we went to, chronologically and according to my Foursquare history. I recommend them to travelers who want to experience authentic Thai food in restaurants that don't serve banana pancakes. To make them easier to find, I linked them to Foursquare.

Bangkok:

ส้มตำนัว (Som Tam Nua): This restaurant, located in an alley in Siam Square, is famous as it made into CNNGo's Best Eats 2010 awards. With that fame, it is easy to understand that this place gets busy, especially around lunch time. It took us nearly an hour of waiting time before we got seated. But it was all worth it, especially the som tum (green papaya salad).

สมบูรณ์โภชนา (Somboon Seafood): this one, found in Bang Rak, has a decidedly upmarket feel to it. The speciality of the Chinese restaurant is curry crab.

Sukishi Buffet (ซูกิชิ บุฟเฟ่ต์): This one is in the Central Plaza mall in Rama 9. The restaurant features a moving conveyor belt laden with fresh ingredients that range from meat, fish, seafood, mushrooms, and vegetables that you cook in a pot on your table. Sky's the limit here, so be sure to come in with empty stomachs.

There are other places that we went to that I can't recall the names or haven't checked in on Foursquare, like that dimsum place pictured above, but I'm sure Jimmy the Chef would be happy to point them out to you if you join the tour. The package costs PhP 17,500, all in (airport transfer, transportation, hotel accommodation for 3 nights, plus the cost of the food. If you're interested you may contact James on his Facebook page or speak to him in Thai Dara restaurant.