Veggiezen

My go-to veggie fix!! Does not taste like it at all!
✅ Good food
✅ Good price

I used to really watch what I eat. I was a l strong advocate of healthy living. And I get qualms when I dine in with family and friends. Yes, I could get in the way of their orders. This changed about 3 years ago.

Veggiezen serves everything vegetarian may it be vegetables or veggie meat Chinese style. Though the menu was quite extensive for a no meat, none of what I had impressed me.

The dishes lacked strong flavor. The veggie rice for example was green but tasted plain. The radish cake was ordinary without chili. The dumplings had a fragrant taste but still unappetizing.

No wonder I no longer eat as much healthier options.

I'm giving it a 5 because it's the first time ever I enjoyed eating different varieties of vegetarian meals. I'm a vegetarian and so far, it's the only vegetarian resto I can think of should I be asked to recommend one. I'm not fond of soup-dishes, but I enjoyed it here. ' had 2 soup dishes, both with subtle taste but surprisingly appealing to the palate. A lady recommended to order quekiam and cuapao, and the taste did not disappoint.

Veggiezen is a small Chinese vegetarian restaurant. Decor is simple and clean, and can seat 30pax max. Parking is limited so if you're going there as a big group, I suggest you carpool. J. Abad St. is weirdly one way in where the restaurant is. If you're familiar with Mokshah or Texas Chicken, Veggiezen is nearby.

What I love the most about this place is their unique Pandan Tea (free and bottomless, so what's not to love, right?) Now for the food. We ordered the Oakwood Mushroom (P100), it's coated and deep-fried mushroom with vinegar dipping sauce. It's an appetizer but somehow in the 2 times that I've eaten there, it's always served last.

Fortune Bag (P120) and Quekiam (P90) are 2 of their best sellers. Fortune Bag looks fried, but it's not. It's steamed tofu skin buns stuffed with minced mushrooms, marinated tofu & carrots. It's very very good especially when eaten steaming hot. Marinate is light soy and mirin (I think) so it's a bit sweet to the taste. Quekiam is a deep fried tofu skin log with vegetable stuffings, it's quite good versus other local vegetarian quekiam I've tasted so far.

Raddish cake (P50) and Fresh Lumpia (P70) are common dishes in Chinese restos. For raddish cake, though price may look relatively cheap, it's also because of its super small servings. One order will give you 3 pcs of 1.5" cubes of raddish cake. Unfortunately the small serving is not enough to be remarkable. It's just a plain mushed up raddish made into a cake. It would have been better if they added a few shitake mushrooms for taste.  Fresh Lumpia is also unremarkable. I didn't get that "ding" moment when I ate it. Grandmother's fresh lumpia is still the undefeated champion, I suppose. (of course there's bias! )

Tokwa w/ Okra (P115) is small and tasteless dish. If you want real vegetables, go for their French beans and golden mushroom (P125). It's sauteed vegetables with a hint of vegetarian patis. Yummy! :)

On the carbs side, we had the Garden Pasta (170). It's something like pesto carbonara only tastier. WARNING: All of their rice dishes are very very small. Veggiezen Fried Rice (P85), their signature dish is very good, but again, very small. I suggest for those who love to eat rice to get some steamed rice as well because their claim that it's good for 2-3 persons is not true. It's good for 1 guy or 2 girl appetites. We also got the Spicy Fried Rice (P85), (yes, ganyan kami katakaw sa rice), and it's like dry kimchi rice. Spiciness level is around 2 out of 10.

Overall, price is cheap, but servings are a bit small. It's an ideal place for people who want to switch over to vegan lifestyle or eat healthy for a meal. If you're on a budget and you want to feel full, this is not the place for you. But if you're looking for a healthy and delicious meal, this is it! :)

*Sorry no photos, I've refrained from doing too many food porn. Hahaha! Just try it to believe.