Friday Bliss

*All photos by Stanley S. Ong

I'm a planner and OC at heart. Since we were planning to eat out on Good Friday, I wanted to make sure that a restaurant would be open with non-meat dishes. I initially thought of eating at Oh My Gulay in La Azotea Building. However, we didn't really want to brave the traffic in Session Road so I looked for another restaurant and found Bliss Cafe in Hotel Elizabeth. Bliss is an art space/restaurant serving lacto-vegetarian fare. They have a pretty extensive menu. Jon was excited since this was the first time that he could eat everything on the menu. For appetizers, the waitress suggested that we start with veggie chicharon (75p). I was first hesitant but she said that we wouldn't regret it. She was right! The chicharon was salty, crunchy and tasted just like pork chicharon! (75p). We thought it was made of tofu skin and it was really good. Jon also ordered some potato-cheese-chives rolls (75p) for Ju. This was just like cheese lumpia with potatoes - crunchy and yummy.We also ordered the Strawberry Fields and Bali Salad (200p each) and some spinach soup (70p). Papa wanted to try the carrot soup but they only had spinach available.
Salads and soup were terrific! The spinach soup was fresh and green - tasted healthy :-). We loved the salads! Bali dressing was yummy and the strawberry fields salad was scrumptious - it was heaped with strawberries! (cin's favorite fruit).
For the main course, Papa was not too happy with the choices -- he is a MEAT, MEAT, MEAT person. He even went to check the hotel-lobby restaurant the outside! He eventually ordered Pesto pasta while Mama got the Santorini (tomato) pasta. Both pastas were so-so. Neither Papa or Mama were happy with their orders. We all got different dishes to try out. Cin, Jon and Bong got the Lonely Planet Bliss set menu (250p, comes with 1 drink), with Cin getting Mexico City, Jon ordered Seoul and Bong chose Tokyo. Mexico City was a veggie burrito with spanish rice. Cin thought it tasted authentic and was satisfied. Tokyo was made of veggie nori and rice. The seaweed wrap contributed to the authentic taste. The veggies were pretty normal and Bong also liked it. Jon's Seoul dish was Kalbi --> we were talking whether this was made of tofu or gluten. But I definitely think that it was not tofu. Jon thought they got the "kalbi" sauce right. But I'm not a big fan of gluten - so didnt' really like it. Stan chose the "no oink sisig" (180p) -- which according to the menu, fooled Kapampangans. Ummm... not so.. I'm a huge fan of pork sisig which is probably why I got disappointed with this sisig. Again, it was made of gluten (which I don't like) and the "sisig-y" taste came from the sauce. Stan thought it was pretty decent though. I got the tofu burger (280p), which came with multigrain (probably Nova Chips). The patty, made of spinach and tofu, was quite thin. Also, they put it on square wheat bread! I don't think it qualifies as a burger. Taste was good but it can be improved-- bigger patty on a whole wheat burger bun - with potato fries. And for dessert, we had to try the "infamous bliss crepes" (100p for a full crepe; 60p for a mini crepe). The full crepe could serve about 2 persons, with choices of strawberry or mango/banana, we ordered 2 full crepes with strawberry. Unlike the regular crepe, the fruits were not folded inside. The main crepe was also not thin and light but according to Stan, it was more like "palitaw", topped with fruit and whipped cream. Sweet, gooey and filling - it was the perfect dessert to cap our meal. The crepes were quickly wiped out! I wanted to order another one but was saving room for our Baguio Country Club seafood buffet (which turned out to be a disappointment!). The guys also had some strong French pressed Benguet coffee (50p) to go with the dessert. Good coffee, taste good but Stan felt it was "mild". Then again, Stan is A coffee drinker (downs at least 3 cups a day). Definitely, our Bliss meal was more value for money than our Eve's lunch. Bliss' salads were as good as Eve's and for the price, the main course was better. Still, I don't think I will be turning vegetarian in the near future. I love meat and veggies and hate gluten! Bliss food is good and I wouldn't mind having a weekly meal there if it were in MM.
Bliss - Hotel Elizabeth, Gibraltar Road, Baguio City. To reserve, contact Jim (09178464729) or call 074 619-0367.