Oh My Gulay Artist Cafe in Baguio City : A Vegetarian Experience

Ever since a friend of mine mentioned Oh My Gulay Artist Cafe in Baguio, I’ve been dying to try their food. Why? No, it’s not because it’s a vegetarian restaurant. But, since Baguio is known as a popular source of fresh vegetables like broccoli and lettuce, and other crops like strawberries, oranges (from Sagada), etc., I know I can only expect the freshest ingredients on anything on their menu. Something I wouldn’t pass up! 🙂

So, during our 5-day vacation last month, Oh My Gulay (O.M.G.) was definitely on our itinerary. We slightly had a hard time finding it ’cause when I did my research, someone said it’s located in “Green Azotea” building. 😀 We hired a taxi for the whole day (we went to Good Shepherd and Strawberry farm, which we’ll post about next!) and the driver didn’t know any building with that name. Turns out, it’s at the La Azotea building and the color of the whole structure is, well, green. 😀

It’s along Session Road so it’s pretty easy to find. It’s right in front of Metrobank. Oh My Gulay is on the 5th floor and there are no elevators. So, you’d have to climb up all the way to their floor. There’s a bookstore, a gym and other food stalls that might entertain you while you take a break from climbing up those stairs. 😀

Now, before I go on about Oh My Gulay’s food, let me just share with you some of the photos we took of their restaurant. The whole eclectic design drew my attention.

Even my bro Ken was fascinated by the intricate structure and decorations, both on the first floor and second floor. He took most of the photos of the restaurant and even went upstairs.

 

We chose a table near the balcony. It was around 12 noon already, but the breeze in Baguio is just so cool, especially from where we were seated.

Even their menu was interesting. I think the images were all drawn and the texts were handwritten. Or they just appear to look that way, I mean the texts. 😀 The names of the items on their menu are also quite quirky. Read on to know what I mean by that. 😉

The female server who waited on us was also very friendly and accommodating. All our orders were served at a very timely manner. Well, they’re mostly vegetables and pasta, so that shouldn’t take time, right? 😉

Okay, on to our orders. First, our beverages. We ordered their Manga Fresh (mango puree with brewed tea served ice-cold), Dayap Iced Tea (lime-infused brewed iced tea), and Limonada (freshly-squeezed native lemonade). All are priced at Php 60. A little pricey for a small glass of beverage, if you ask me. Plus, the taste of everything wasn’t that unique. But, still all refreshing, especially the Dayap Iced Tea.

By the way, I just wanted to mention that each order is good for one person. But, since I wanted to try all of them for this blog post, we decided to divide each plate among the 5 of us (me, Ken, my mom, her best friend and our aunt), so we can taste everything.

Next is Oh My Gulay’s Pasta Primadonna (Php 120), primavera-sautéed seasonal vegetables flavored with garlic and cheddar. It’s a little bland, but there’s some sweetness to it.

With the Pasta Primadonna, our order of Oh My Gulay’s Chow-chow Noodles (Chow mien-fresh market vegetables sautéed in garlic, flavored with spicy soy and hoisin, served with egg noodles) was also served (Php 120). It was sweet and spicy, with bits of pepper and herbs that made the dish really flavorful. It’s one of my favorites among everything we ordered.

Next, Oh My Gulay’s Anak ng Putanesca (Php 120), pasta topped with sautéed garlic, capers and olives, enriched with pomodoro (tomato) and spices with hot Cayenne pepper. This is another favorite. I guess the heat that it brings to my mouth, along with the cool breeze in Baguio really affected my appreciation of this whole dish. In fact, I almost didn’t get a chance to take a photo of this one and ALMOST didn’t get to taste it, too, because everyone at our table loved it. I was still taking photos of the rest of our orders that’s why I had to hurry. 😀

Now, this next one was everyone’s favorite – Oh My Gulay’s Lumpia Salad, crisp-fried tofu spring rolls on a bed of shredded greens (lettuce), tossed with Asian dressing (Php 110). This one, I’ll definitely order again. In fact, I want to try making this at home. 🙂

We also ordered Talong Parmigiana (Php 120), deep-fried, breaded eggplant set on crisp baguette, topped with sauce and basil oil. I liked it, though the baguette wasn’t as crisp as I expected.

My mother’s top favorite among everything we ordered was Oh My Gulay’s Waldorfesto (Php 120), tossed salad of apples, celery, potatoes, and slices of egg mixed with spiced garlic mayo, wrapped in lettuce. She actually recreated this dish for our Noche Buena. It was creamy. We loved the crunchiness of the apples and potatoes.

For dessert, we ordered their Mansanas crepe (stuffed with caramelized apples in cinnamon, served with chocolate drizzles, Php 60) and Kung Fu (crepe with Chinese mandarin oranges, with cream and chocolate drizzles, topped with blueberries, Php 70). I don’t actually like crepes, but I had no choice since Oh My Gulay doesn’t have any other dessert options.

All in all, we were pretty satisfied with our meals at Oh My Gulay. Our total bill was at Php 1,254. Some may say it’s a little expensive, but I believe everything was fairly priced. Take into consideration also that we ordered 6 dishes plus 2 desserts. And we had a very good dining experience.

Ken and I agreed that most of the dishes were a li’l bland for our taste ’cause we got used to cooking really tasteful dishes at home. But, it was indeed a unique experience – not eating any meat for lunch. 😀

I highly recommend you try Oh My Gulay’s food when you happen to be in Baguio or if you’re already there and haven’t dined there yet.

Oh My Gulay! (O.M.G.) Artist Cafe
5th floor, La Azotea Building
108 Session Road, Baguio City
Operating hours: 11am – 8:30pm
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ohmygulaybaguio