6th – 12th January 2023
Our final stop on our trip was Manila, the bustling capital of the Philippines. It was an emotional week, the end of our incredible trip, and we ate at some great places! I had so much to put in one post about eating in Manila, it was difficult to know where to start so I’ve split it into two posts, the first with places a little scattered around Manila, and the second focussing, unexpectedly, on Greenhills Shopping Centre! We actually didn’t even scratch the surface of eating vegan in Manila, I can’t see me not going back some time.
Cosmic Philippines
7 San Rafael St, Pasig, Metro Manila, Philippines
My favourite meal in the Philippines! I had read about Cosmic Philippines ages before we came to the Philippines and it was on my list of places I had to go. It by far surpassed all my expectations. We went to the Cosmic Kapitolyo branch in Pasig near Mandaluyong. It took until the last day for me to get Oliver to come to this place and the menu was so good we ended up having an absolute feast between us. Cosmic describe themselves as providing ‘Vegan Filipino Comfort Food’, a ‘fully Filipino family-owned vegan restaurant on a mission to make veganism more accessible to Filipinos’.
The décor is beautiful and stunning, colourful, with lots of natural wood pieces. The prices were great too – between 180 to 295 PHP.
In our feast we had: Vegan Fried Chick’un, Sinigang (traditional sour soup), Longganisa, bangus (made from aubergine), no fish tempura nuggets and the piece de resistance – vegan isaw. Isaw is a traditional street food made from grilled chicken and pork intestines, this vegan version is delicious, the sticky sauce is divine. We also had garlic rice.
Everything tasted incredibly fresh, with high quality ingredients. The dishes oozed their distinct flavours. It was absolutely one of my favourite meals I had in the Philippines. If you’re in Manila, you cannot miss Cosmic, it was spectacular.
Vegan Grocer
201 Recto, San Juan, 1500 Metro Manila
The Vegan Grocer is a dream come true in the San Juan area of Manila. It is an absolute haven for vegans and has everything you could think of. From toiletries, to frozen goods, spices, cakes, Filipino ingredients, pizza, margarine, chicharon, vegan meats.
Staff were lovely and it was definitely worth going out of my way to specifically visit the Vegan Grocer. It was our next to last day so I had to be fairly reserved in my purchases.
I got mushroom chicharon, vagoong, mangosteen kalamansi, mushroom Koka noodles, deodorant and the most delicious ice cream by Super Scoops. All amazing. I wish we had a shop like this in Dublin! I loved the ube bliss ice cream in particular. And the vagoong is amazing, we’ve been having it on various Filipino inspired dishes back home here in Dublin.
Shaka
Level 2 Mall Of Asia, Square Pasay, Pasay, Metro Manila
Shaka, round two, my first Shaka meal was in Panglao, on my own and this time I got to take Oliver with me.
We had lasagna, pad thai, chocolate cheesecake and a chocolate tart. Everything we had was absolutely delicious and we were both stuffed. I was impressed at the incredible array of vegan cakes as well as their extensive menu, as before. Also had delicious coffee with plant milk too. Another one not to miss if you’re in the vicinity.
Green Pastures – Shangri La Plaza
Shangri-La Plaza 4 East Wing, Ortigas Ave, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong, Metro Manila
The first place we went out to eat, after making some mistakes about some markets, we found Green Pastures, at the top of the Shangri La Plaza. An omni restaurant, styled as having a healthy menu, there were a couple of vegan options, we went for opposite ends of the spectrum, Oliver went for the amusingly named ‘Veggieburger (that doesn’t suck!)’, with vegan cheese and chips (735 PHP around €12), and I had the Terra Natura bowl with quinoa, kale, mushrooms, beetroot and cashew brittle (695 PHP, around €11) and I had a kombucha too.
It was a relatively pricey place to eat, compared to other places we’d eaten around the Philippines so far, but would be around normal Dublin prices (where we live!). It could have been because we were now in the capital, and also the Shangri-La Plaza is a shopping plaza with high end shops, so it may be catering towards that audience. The dishes were tasty though and we both enjoyed what we had chosen.
Lyfe Bowls
Fame Residences Mall, Mandaluyong, 1154 Metro Manila
Situated in the Fame Residences mini mall, they specialise in chia bowls, with a section of vegan chia bowls and chia milk drinks offered with almond milk as an alternative for dairy.
I had a lovely healthy breakfast of avocado mango chia bowl, with vegan yoghurt and almonds. Delicious and served in a coconut bowl, with bamboo spoon. It was gorgeous.
Savemore @ Fame Residences
1554 Mayflower St, Mandaluyong, Metro Manila
The supermarket at Fame Residences, Savemore, has a good range of items, including plant milk. They also have hot food counters after the checkout with various options, here we found fantastic vegetable lumpia here (ignore my my excess of soy sauce on the rice), it made for perfect breakfasts in our little apartment.
The MarketPlace Venice McKinley, Venice Grand Canal Mall
McKinley Hill Dr, Taguig, 1630 Metro Manila
We had a blast at the Venice Grand Canal Mall. There were a few vegan finds in the supermarket here too, including vegan Magnum and Daiya vegan cheese.
SM Megamall
J. Vargas St Brgy, Mandaluyong, 1550 Metro Manila
We popped to SM Megamall in Mandaluyong, for the sole purpose of purchasing basketball tickets, it was another mall that was much bigger than I thought it was going to be!
There wasn’t much to eat here, but we did have a simple spaghetti dish at Italianni’s on the ground floor and I spotted some vegan ice cream options at Kurimu on the 1st Floor, unfortunately we didn’t get back to try it, but it sounds amazing!
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