Muji @ High Street

Finally got around to visiting Muji. Mom had been there before and her only comment, there's no food in Muji here. We, that's me, Mom and Queen J, all love getting nuts, chips, chocolates and even spaghetti sauce from Muji in HK.

There's an abundance of skincare items, although I don't think I saw their makeup line.

The pen selection was also very few and I couldn't find their basic ruled notebooks.

But Muji's trademark minimalist furniture was present.

As well as kitchenware and china.

On the other hand, what Muji here lacked in food and stationery, it made up for in clothes, which covered half the area of the store. Here are some of my favorites:

Very Chloe-esque denim long sleeved top. Unfortunately, I don't have camel pants to pair them with.

They even have Ugg-boots-like boots!

Muji will be opening soon in Powerplant as well beside Fully Booked. I hope to see Muji's food line in Manila soon!

Other Recent Vegetarian Discoveries

I'm always delighted to find restaurants that offer vegetarian dishes other than salad. Here are a few more I discovered recently.

Grilla

I love having Filipino food--garlic rice can definitely make any dish more delicious. These two dishes had neither meat nor seafood, although the kare-kare was served with bagoong on the side.

Vegetable kare-kare, a mix of veggies including string beans, Taiwan pechay, eggplant and artichoke in thick peanut sauce

Not the usual garlic kangkong, this was served with sweetened soy sauce.

Cute interior as noted by Queen J.

Hanobe

This HK food place serves vegetarian dishes upon request. But of course, the selection is still quite limited.

Fried vegetarian noodles, quite tasty but nothing spectacular about it

My favorite eggplant dish before I became a vegetarian is eggplant hotpot with minced pork and dried fish. I've seen a vegetarian version a few times and was really glad that it was one of the veggie dishes in Hanobe. Mushrooms were the substitute for the minced pork and dried fish.

Fried tofu skin and potatoes in thick curry sauce. I was looking forward to this dish but found that the curry sauce didn't complement the tofu skin well.

Hanobe is located at 99 Maria Clara St in Banawe.

I must note here, though, that after both meals I instantly felt lethargic and dehydrated. I believe these are both side effects of MSG, so it's best to request no MSG upon ordering.

Tofu Skin

One of my favorite ingredients is tofu skin or what I usually call beancurd sheet. Tofu skin may be a misnomer as it is actually derived from soy milk. Anyway, the reason I love tofu skin is that its dried and tasteless nature allows it to absorb the sauce of whatever it is cooked with. At home, we usually do a simple dish with dried mushrooms, carrots and a light soy sauce. Before I became a vegetarian, I always used to have beancurd roll in dimsum places. As the name connotes it's basically a combination of veggies and pork wrapped in the sheet and steamed with a light sauce. Here are some vegetarian preparations of the tofu skin I've encountered recently:

Nomnomnom's crispy tofu skin on a tub of rice. It comes with a thick sauce but the dish still seemed a little bland. The pieces were also too crispy and a bit hard to chew.

Since Nomnomnom has been mentioned, I'd like to share the only dish I liked from there, fried mushroom and spinach ravioli. However, even this was not especially noteworthy.

I think Nomnomnom's appeal lies in its kitschy interior and the abundance of vegetarian choices in their menu. The restaurant doesn't serve any beef. Nomnomnom is located on the corner of E Rodriguez and Tomas Morato behind the 24-hour Persian place.

I found this sizzling tao pao from Happy Veggie to be far more appetizing. It is mix of diced celery, mushroom, and carrots wrapped in a thick swath of tofu skin, where only the outermost layers are crispy, then served with light soy sauce.

Happy Veggie serves only Chinese vegetarian dishes. It is different from Bodhi in that Happy Veggie serves some fusion dishes such as the burger on rice and some more complicated dishes such as sukiyaki and hotpot. It also sells some frozen vegetarian items such as veggie meat, chips and siopao. It is unfortunate that its Banawe branch had been closed down a while back. The only Happy Veggie branch now is located all the way downtown along Masangkay Street in Binondo.

Another one of my tofu skin finds, well it was actually discovered by my friend, is the soy chicken in Greens (not in the pictures). It is very similar to Nomnomnom's crispy tofu skin except that it is made to look and taste very much like soy chicken.

Romulo Cafe, The Vegetarian Way

After passing by Romulo Cafe a few times and seeing it packed with cars from the outside, I finally got the chance to try it. The following are some vegetarian-friendly dishes:

Filipino style nacho chips are made from taro and sweet potato topped with cheese and tomatoes. My only comment, not enough toppings, otherwise the chips were fantastic!

Ensalada done the Romulo Cafe way. It's quite disappointing at first glance but I enjoyed eating this medley of fresh, boiled veggies seasoned with soy sauce as I also don't eat bagoong (shrimp paste).

My favorite was this lime juice drink with a hint of cucumber recommended to me by the wait staff. It's very refreshing and not too sweet.

I also had some fried canton noodles topped with veggies (not in the pictures) which looked deceivingly simple but was made really tasty from the mushroom broth used to cook the veggies. All in all, though, after seeing what my non-vegetarian friends ordered, I would have to say this place is a little overrated and a little overpriced.

Frozen Yogurt, Two

I'm back with another frozen yogurt post. Some of these are taken from way back as I've been quite busy doing stuff lately and I've also been feeling lazy. I must say after my fro-yo craving, I can live without it for a while. Scroll down to see what else I've tried!

Teriyaki Boy with meringue and walnut toppings cost me around Php 120, nothing remarkable and slightly watery.

This one is from Pancake House. PH and TB must be using the same kind of frozen yogurt since they taste the same! I got one with meringue and pastillas toppings, which were too sweet for the frozen yogurt. It's also quite pricey at around Php 135 as I was charged some 8% service charge even when I had it to go.

I also finally got to try Red Mango with cheesecake, mango and crushed graham toppings. The price, Php 120 for regular size with 3 toppings, is quite alright but I didn't find it to be as fantastic as others claimed it to be.

There are still a lot I haven't tried but I think I'd settle for Yoh-gurt Froz if I want to have fun with my choice of toppings or Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for the more serious stuff. While I'm off my craving for now, I won't be able to stay away for long as I have not one, but two, coupons from CBTL!

Kanawan, Bataan

The trip was called A Sweet Escape to Kanawan. I can't remember the last time I'd been to a place that's green as far as the eyes could see. It was a wonderful sight, and I couldn't wait to dip my feet in the clear brook far below. But the real purpose of our trip was a half-hour hike up the mountain to where the natives reside. It was also the location of our activity, which would last 4 hours or just as long as it took us to get there from the city. The program included a drawing competition for the kids and giving out of hot meals and clothes to the families. We were left to help however we wished so I went around and took photos and discovered that everyone there loved to have their pictures taken. Overall, it was an entirely new experience for me.