Mabuhay Palace at Manila Hotel

A few weeks ago, Allen and I were so happy to have been invited by our Ninong to dinner with several other friends at the Mabuhay Palace in Manila Hotel. I didn't know that such restaurant would have their own vegetarian menu with their original recipes. The normal practice of restaurants, well this is based on my observations, was they would just have a "vegetable" section in their menu. But Mabuhay Palace was so creative in their dishes that I think they really top my list of best vegetarian restaurant of 2012. :)

Our friends arranged the menu ahead of time and oh my, we were treated to a vegetarian feast and I felt like it was my birthday! haha!

Get ready for some mouth-watering photos!

For our appetizer, we had mixed veggies on lettuce cups. We had to ask for hoisin sauce to make the flavors come out more.

Mixed vegetables on lettuce cups

Next dish that was served was the Mushroom and Taro Stew. It had this very thick and taro-tasting soup with about 3 kinds of mushrooms.

Mushroom and Taro Stew

As the night goes on, the dishes get more interesting. Like for instance, this one:

Homemade Bean curd 

I don't know why they called it homemade bean curd, but probably because they made it themselves? Anyway, their bean curd was the best I've ever tasted. It tasted like custard and did not have that weird aftertaste. It was creamy but not runny. And because it was deep fried with some coating, it had this distinct crunch on the outside while staying soft on the inside. This was my favorite and it was just extremely divine!

Here's an up-close photo of my favorite dish:

Homemade Bean Curd

I was actually surprised to see that when I bit into it, it had maybe leeks or spinach in chiffonade cut. Yummy!

A Variety of Mushrooms wrapped in bean curd sheet

When they brought the next dish out, I was super elated! Sweet and Sour Vegetarian Fish. For a second, I was happy that it looked so creative that they had to shape it like a fish but then I realized, I don't want it to look like a fish! :P

Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Fish

I think the stuffing was bean curd. They dish tasted like the ocean because they wrapped the whole thing in nori, then coated it with some light batter and then deep fried it. This was actually my second most loved dish that night. :)

And guess what's for dessert? Ice cream! Not just any old ice cream, it's salted egg ice cream!

Although I'm an ovo-lacto vegetarian, I don't like eggs. It just that the taste does not suit me well. But this original recipe of Mabuhay Palace tops my list of best ice cream flavors ever. The slight saltiness mixes with the cookies and cream flavor of the ice cream. Simply divine. :)

Salted Egg Ice Cream

I'm looking forward to coming back to Mabuhay Palace. They serve oriental dishes but most importantly, they serve vegetarian oriental dishes that are creative and fun.

By the way, Happy National Heroes Day! A big shout out to my own personal hero, Allen. :) It sounds weird but he seems to have this way of always saving the day. :)

Vegetarian Mushroom Batchoy and Puto Pao

During the rainy days a few days back, I had the strongest urge to make Vegetarian Batchoy again. The batchoy was actually my entry in the semi-finals of the Electrolux Wok-A-Holic Kitchen Star. I was the only vegetarian in the cooking contest so I'm super proud that I got in the top 6 finalists. :)

Anyway, this time I wanted to add some puto pao. But the funny thing was, I did not have the complete ingredients and so I had to make do with what I had which was mushrooms. The mushrooms were cooked asado style and then I topped it on my noodles and veggie-based broth. And although mushroom asado was the main ingredient here and I was not able to really stick to my original recipe, it turned out pretty good.

Vegetarian Mushroom Asado Batchoy

I have this very bad habit of getting the wrong ingredients for a dish and my puto pao proves to be another one of my classic examples. LOL. Instead of using rice flour, I used glutinous rice flour. So you can just imagine my horrified reaction when I did not see my putos rising and instead had this kutsinta consistency. took me about 10 seconds to realize this mistake.

Oh well, sometimes you get it right and sometimes you just fail. :)

my failed attempt in making puto pao

By the way, this was my first time to make puto and instead I ended up making my first kutsinta. My Papa says I could have made this a sapin-sapin if only I added color to it. LOL

The brown stuff in the middle of each "puto/kutsinta" is my mushroom asado. Allen liked it and had about 3 servings. He said it was as if he was eating bilo-bilo. hahaha! I'm glad he's not a picky eater or else he would not touch this at all. And as for me, I was not brave enough to even try to taste it. :P

I'll post the original recipe and photos of my real Vegetarian Batchoy in the coming days so don't forget to check back soon!

Crispy Lemon Tofu with Garlic Butter Veggies

Today I was in the mood to cook something for Allen. Woot!

Here's what we had for lunch: Crispy Lemon Tofu with Garlic Butter Veggies

Tofu was covered with bread crumbs and ground Sky Flakes. My brother shared the Sky Flakes trick to me and I was surprised that the tofu tasted creamy. Yummy-yum-yum. :)

Catch ya later! I'm off to make some Mushroom Puto Paos for dinner because I'm making Vegetarian Batchoy tonight! :)

I Am A Vegetarian

I am Issa and I am a vegetarian.

There's no better way to introduce myself in this blog other than this. But I guess the blog title says it best. LOL. Oh and yes, I live in the Philippines.

Me in a Filipiniana costume

Late January of 2011, my husband Allen and I made a decision to finally stop eating meat and instead live on a plant-based diet. Having pets of our own, we both felt sorry for all the animals that suffered because they were turned into food. We went cold-turkey on meat and luckily, we did not go through the meat-craving stage, which was very unusual as some of our veg friends had to go through that part.

If you're wondering what I'm doing here blogging, then here are three reasons why:

1. I love blogging. I currently have a craft blog where I post all my craft projects and other creative stuff. I also run an inspirational blog (I sound so commercial! LOL!) where I let out positive mantras each day. And so now I am into cooking and my wish is to have a blog dedicated to veg dishes I will make.

2. To spread vegetarianism. Just to clarify, I'm not trying to form a cult or any group here or even try to convert any one of you into becoming a vegetarian. I just want to let people know how fun, delicious and healthy vegetarian food can be. If you like veggies, then maybe you can also start by having a meatless day.

3. Be a reliable source of information in the Philippines for veg foodies out there. I know how tough it is to eat outside, my vegetarian friends. Sadly, we are still a minority and while we are waiting for more restaurants to offer vegetarian options, all we can do is keep on looking for those that do offer veg options. I hope to provide such information to my fellow vegetarians.

So there. Slice yourself some carrots and nibble on them as you wait for my next post. :P

Leaf-fully yours,

Issa