Pipino: Vegetarian Food by Pino

Pipino: Vegetable Food by Pino

     The Lenten season is fast approaching. With regards to food, it's the time for fasting and abstaining from meat. Pipino is the perfect place since they serve vegetarian dishes and desserts, too! :)

Details

     Pipino is owned by  Ms. Alessandra Libongco and PJ Lanot and is located at Teacher's Village. They are open from Mondays to Saturdays from 11am-12mn, and on Sundays from 11am-10pm. On the floor below it is Pino Bar and Resto.

THE AMBIANCE

Mio Alphabet

     The small restaurant has a nice feel to it, thanks to the high ceiling and big windows that let natural light in. You won't feel claustrophobic even if the room is quite small. Dominating the brick wall on the left is a large cork board with photos, memorabilia and some posters.


     On the far corner of the room is a spot dedicated to The Mio Alphabet. The monogram greeting cards and vinyl stickers designed by Mio, a 7year old boy diagnosed with leukemia last 2009, are for sale and funds go to Mio's medical treatment as well as those with rare diseases. To learn more about this project, visit miofightscancer.com 

Take a seat! :)

     The tables and chairs are simple, in line with the theme of the restaurant. There are also long tables coupled with benches, good for groups of 4-6. It feels like you're in a school cafeteria, but much more peaceful. :p

On the board

     The wall on the right is covered with a big chalkboard. Here, the desserts and the soup of the day are listed. Their menu changes every few days so this is a good way to showcase it -- easy to edit, fun to look at, too! :p

Dessert stand

     The cupcakes and cakes are displayed on a white shelf. All of their desserts are dairy-free and egg-free. They use whole wheat flour, coco or mascovado sugar instead of white sugar, coconut milk or almond milk instead of fresh milk. 


     For dessert, they have red velvet cupcakes, oatmeal and choco cookies, lemongrass, ginger, cucumber cupcake, blueberry muffins, banana choco peanut, choco-banana muffins, coconut muffins, vanilla cinnamon cupcakes, and chocolate muffins. Prices range from 25php to 50php.

Personalized

     The silver fridge holds their homemade ice cream. Selections include fresh lemon ice cream served with homemade honey-free graham cracker heart, banana sherbet made with almond milk, dark chocolate ice cream, oreo ice cream, coconut ice cream, vanilla graham. Their ice cream is made with cashew milk and sweetened with maple syrup! 

THE MENU

On the menu

     All the dishes are plant-based and do not contain animals or animal by-products -- perfect for vegans! They have pasta, rice meals and breakfast meals, too!

Behind the Counter

Pipino to-go

     Aside from the meals, they also have packed goods perfect for munching at home. Some of these goodies are choco chip cookies, taro chips, even vegan bagoong! Such unique and healthy snacks! :)

THE FOOD

     We had the soup of the day, pancit, kare-kare, lumpia and champorado -- all made from natural, fresh ingredients! :)

Soup of the Day: 
Creamed Corn Soup (45php)

     The soup for that day, Tuesday was creamed corn soup which we love! The thickness was just right, and the flavor? great too! You know that they don't scrimp on ingredients to make their food. :) 


   On Mondays, they serve cream of pumpkin, Wednesdays - garlic soup, Thursdays - Cilantro soup, Fridays - Potato leak soup, Saturdays - mixed veggie soup, Sundays - tomato soup.

Starters: 
Fresh Vegetable Lumpia (120php)

     Whole wheat egg-less crepe topped with peanut sauce, toasted seaweed, and fresh garlic served with crispy rice noodles. 

 All Day Breakfast: 
Brown Rice Champorado with Salted Tofu Chips (125php)

     This was a filling dish! The texture was really thick, the rice bits were all puffed up. The tofu chips replaced the usual tuyo that go with champorado. This combo tasted good too! -- different but good. :)

Pasta & Noodles: 
Pancit Canton with Fried Lumpia (165php)

     This one lacked in taste for us, but we were still able to finish it. Haha! The lumpia tasted great, with the fresh veggie filling. The noodles were kind of bland for our taste buds though, probably because we were used to the packed pancit canton which had lots of MSG. Hehe! :p

Entree: 
Vegetable Kare-Kare (165php)

     This vegetable kare-kare served with vegan bagoong brown rice was a hit! The bagoong rice obviously went well with the kare-kare. :p The rice was cooked just right and the kare-kare sauce was a feast to the palate!

Dessert: 
Chocolate Cake with Coconut Ice Cream

     The cake was moist and the chocolate was just divine! The ice cream was refreshing, great with the uber sweet cake! We were so full after eating all that good veggie stuff. Hehe! ^_^

Shake and Breverage:
Green Mango Shake (80php)

Pino Iced Tea (35php)

     Both the shake and tea were nice beverages to go with our healthy, veggie meals. The sour taste of the green mango gave a kick to our taste buds and the green tea was refreshing, perfect for the warm afternoon.

PIPINO EXPERIENCE

Happy Trio

     We never thought that eating an all-veggie meal would be this fun! We were surprised at how strong the flavors can be, even without using the usual ingredients. We think Pipino can change the minds of non-veggie lovers -- their meals can be as delicious as meat-lovers' meals. Hehe! ^_^

Pipino: Vegetarian Food by Pino

39 Malingap St., Teachers Village

Quezon City, Philippines

Contact Number: +63 2 441 1773

Email Address: pipinovegetarian@gmail.com

www.pipinovegetarian.com