BLISSFUL BELLY
On a very slow day, the fact that I had a class which our professor could not attend seemed to have slipped my mind. Because I had a lot of time on my hands before I had to attend my next class, I decided to explore further from Katipunan and closer into the heart of a foodie’s haven. I walked all the way from school until I reached Xavierville, which is quite near Maginhawa, the said foodie’s haven.
As the sign suggests, Blissful Belly is a vegetarian cuisine and shop. However, contrary to what you might think, their vegetarian food are quite scrumptious and unlike what I imagined it to be. It was quite a treat to be able to enjoy healthy vegetarian meals which are easy on the wallet. Dining there with Isaac proved to be quite an adventure for both our palates.
Ordering food as well as paying for them can be performed at the counter.
Food is served in a cafeteria-style or “turo-turo”. We went there on a Tuesday and the menu for that day included vegetarian sisig, vegetarian fish fillet, vegetarian kare-kare, malunggay soup, mixed vegetables and some sort of vegetarian burger.
While some of the food items are repeated, they change their food selections on a day-to-day basis. They mentioned that kare-kare, curry with vegetables and sisig with vagetarian meat are the ones that do not change.
The combo dish costs 140 pesos which is inclusive of one serving of brown rice and two choices of food among their dishes of the day. Our choices for our combo order were kare-kare and corn soup with malunggay which were served in a white plate similar to the ones we use at our school’s cafeteria.
A serving of brown rice costs 30 pesos.
The kare-kare came with tofu and bean bagoong.
The corn soup with malunggay was served in a small cup.
You can also choose to order singles. We ordered the vegetarian fish fillet (65 pesos) as our single order since it could not be availed for the combo order.
The fish fillet was made from vegetarian meat, along with salsa sort of sauce as well as cilantro. According to Isaac, upon biting into the vegetarian fish fillet, you can taste the saltiness that is found with real fish. However, despite the flavorful taste and the saltiness upon the first bite, the salty taste does not linger in the mouth which resulted into a mellow salty flavor pleasing to the palate, this itself is very addicting.
I really liked their vegetarian fish fillet so I had to go back for some. Truthfully, it was one of the main reasons why I kept coming back. Also, you can take out your food by paying five pesos for their take-out cup.
Say hello to the dress I wore in my Roses and Gardens post as well as one of my favorite kimonos from my When I Met You in the Summer post.
We went back a week later on a Wednesday. We came from school and arrived at around 11 o’clock in the morning and there were only two dishes available namely the kare-kare and the curry, the rest would be available at around 12 noon. However, vegetarian barbeque and suman can be bought at the counter.
The veggie meat from the curry was delicious and even more delicious if you consume it with rice. Isaac commented that even if you do not usually eat vegetables, with this dish, you might want to change your mind. Isaac may have a dislike for vegetables but he could not stop eating this scrumptious vegetable dish.
Usually, suman is produced with glutinous rice. According to Isaac, being made from cassava, their suman (15 pesos) was quite unusual. The taste was not outright sweet but you can indeed taste the sweetness found in cassava. In short, I liked it.
The veggie meat barbeque (45 pesos) tasted like, well, barbeque. The texture was firmer than the other veggie meats that they use so it really felt like I was eating meat.
The lemongrass drink (60 pesos) tasted refreshing, probably because of the ginger and the lemongrass. Thanks to the calamansi, we noticed a hint of zest. Our only complaint was the serving, we wanted more but there was just not enough to go around for our thirsty throats.
I like sisig, however, my problem with the regular sisig is that I erk at the thought that it is made from pig guts. However, such problems are non-existent with their sisig because it is prepared with veggie meat. It tastes so good and surprisingly, like actual sisig.
It had red bell pepper as well as veggie meat which was fried to make the dish a crunchy one. It may not be spicy like your usual sisig but it has a hint of zest to make up for it. The zest probably came from the calamansi that they added. This is just a speculation of mine, but they probably do not make their food spicy because some of their regular patrons are senior citizens. Not that all senior citizens do not like spicy food, but I am basing this off my grandmother who avoids spicy food.
They can be contacted at this number, 775-2419, in order to inquire about the menu for the day as well as about catering.
Location
Blissful Belly is located at the second floor of the building right across Xavierville. Had I lived around Xavierville while I was still a student, I might have eaten here every single day. Isaac said that he might have done so as well. Their address is Unit 215 Llanar Building, 77 Xavierville Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon City.
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