Vegan food (and foo) in the Philippines

 

To be updated - last updated 5 June 2025

The listing is in alphabetical order of the provinces.

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Abra province (northern Luzon)

Bangued

Like in many places in the Philippines, Max's may be the only restaurant where you can get decent vegan food in Bangued. Bangued is rather small.

Sizzling tofu (ordered without mayonnaise and oyster sauce, instead: soya sauce), vegetable kare-kare (ordered without bagoong, which is fish or shrimp paste), garlic rice, and calamansi-cucumber shakes (accidentally vegan, they don't contain milk). They were out of green mango shake (also accidentally vegan) and calamansi juice.

Important note: As of December 2024, Google maps shows two Max's restaurants in Bagued: one behind Victoria Park, next to Peñarrubia street - this place does NOT exist (it's in the middle of nowhere); the other one is at 10 Ilocos Norte - Abra Rd, Bangued - that's the one!

View from the viewing "platform" (I love Abra sign) in Victoria Park

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Aurora province (central Luzon)

Baler

Baler (pronounce as if Spanish: Balér; with an English "B", not a Spanish V/B) is one of the perfect surf spots in the Philippines - not that I know anything about surfing. They also seem to have the biggest skate park in the Philippines. There seems to be only one restaurant that serves vegan food:
The Shack (aka The Shack by Old Parola Seaside Inn; at Sabang Beach). The Shack is the restaurant accompanying the hostel in the same building and right across the street. There are several vegetarian things on the menu, also some vegetarian options outside of the menu's vegetarian section. Most vegetarian items "seem" vegan or like they could be vegan, and the owner, right when we arrived, without us saying that we are vegan or vegetarian, told us about the vegetarian options and that they can be veganized. Note that the restaurant and kitchen staff do not seem to really be aware what vegan means or they do not care at all ... or they do not care at all what customers say in general. Nevertheless, the food is quite good, quite a few vegan options, AND quite cheap - although portions are quite small (for my appetite, see photos). On Happycow, there were several other vegan-friendly places listed in Baler, but none of them seem to be in business anymore. So, here's the vegan food we found in Baler:
The Shack: Chana masala, katchumber salad, tofu masala (if I remember correctly)

There's a Puregold supermarket (Puregold Baler) about 3 km (2 miles) from the beach - well, depends on where you are. The Puregold sells Soyfresh soya milk (I think they did not have plain, but only cappucino and chocolate) and Quaker oats ... also almond milk, but not much else.
There's a 7 Eleven near The Shack. It doesn't have much, but it does have some edibles: Vitamilk chocolate (soya milk), Vitamilk plain (slightly sweetened soya milk); Pinoy Tasty (crappy England-style white bread; the only vegan commonly available supermarket bread in the Philippines), Oatside drinks in small packs (oat milk); Dutchmill Soy Secretz in small packs (flavoured soya milk), flavoured cashew nuts, ...

We also bout some sweet snacks from some young street vendor girls at the main square, diagonally opposite the Museo de Baler (which I did not visit).
Top (wrapped in banana leaves?): suman (coconut and sugar) - no matter what the vendors say, it does not last longer than a day without refrigeration. So, eat them all at once or hand them out to others on the day you buy them. The next day, they will already be semi-fermented and taste a bit off, and you'll see strings like with natto.
Middle (the round discs): sugared and flavoured coconut (flavoured with some leaves [green] or ube [purple]) - the one that look like flat noodles; and peanuts and brown sugar - the one that looks like peanuts with sugar. (These were not very good by the way, and they get a bit soggy too.)
Top left you see a block of tofu, which we bought at the central market. It only cost 35 PHP, but it was totally rotten, the worst kind of rotten imaginable. The central market may be the only place to by tofu in Baler. There were two vendors. Better smell the tofu when or directly after buying it.

Suman

The beach in Baler always seems to be wavy - perfect for surfing and swimming but not snorkeling. You can ask a tricycle rider to take you to the "rock formations" (see photo). There's a beach; left of the left rock) that I would imaging is great for snorkeling. You walk in on rocks, and then there is a sharp cliff-like drop (not sure how deep, several metres probably, not hundreds).


At the "hanging bridge". One one side (the one allegedly close to the central market) I bought some great and cheap local chopping boards.


Chopping boards made from "sopa" wood, an indigenous hardwood. They also had kitchen utensils made of "kamagong" wood.

Update: This type of wood (kamagong) isn't typically used for kitchen utensils. After the spoon fell onto the edge of a bowl - which I wouldn't have expected to cause any damage at all - a piece of the spoon broke off.

Side note: If you want to take a direct bus from Manila (Cubao) to Baler, you can choose the more luxurious "Joybus" or the more standard "Genesis" long-distance bus (coach, as they say in England). On the way to Baler, we took the Joybus (~900 PHP per person), and on the way from Baler to Cobao (Manila), we took the Genesis (645 PHP per person). But companies belong together and both have different times of day when they depart. On the way towards Manila, the Genesis bus first stopped at a roadstop restaurant/shop. They had plain rice (basically always vegan in the Philippines) and mung bean (munggo) sprouts with tofu (tokwa). The vendor said there was no meat etc. in it, but there ended up being small pieces of meat in it - the dogs who roamed around happily ate it.
Not vegan in this case: mung bean sprouts and tofu (contains meat)

Then, on the same bus trip there was a second stop at another roadstop restaurant/shop. There did not seem to be anything vegan there but there was a stall at the left side of that "square" (where the restaurant was), called "Traveller's Food Hub" (open 24 hours, it says; see photo below, where the guy with the white baseball cap is walking, the photo with the tricycle in the front). They had (all vegan) cassava balls with sugar (on the skewer), vegetable lumpia (in the plastic cup, with vinegar), and turon (fried plain dough wrapped around a saba banana; in the plastic bag). Each costs 10 PHP (!).

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Benguet province (northern Luzon)

Baguio City

If you arrive in Baguio after 8 pm, the only vegan-friendly option may be Chayo, and it's very vegan-friendly. Chayo is on the upper level (one floor up from McDonald's) inside SM City Baguio mall, which is directly next to the bus terminal.

Chayo:

Side note: The Kumori Japanese bakery in SM City Baguio does not have the vegan bread that they sell [used to sell] in Manila at SM North.

Oh My Gulay (vegetarian cafe)
None of the dishes at Oh my gulay are vegan, but some can be veganized. Oh my gulay is located on the 5th floor of the La Azotea building.




Unfortunately, they have a small pond with fishes and at least one turtle.

Photo from March 2025 (sent by correspondent):

Heaven on Earth (vegetarian cafe)
This cafe is also inside a small mall (2nd floor, Abanao Square Mall, Abanao Street).

Avocado shake ordered without milk, and black coffee

Another picture (March 2025, sent by correspondent):

Orchidarium

Taho vendor

Philippine street snack


Little Milkyway (vegan cafe) inside an art and cafe space called "Ili-likha artists' wateringhole". Little Milkyway is downstairs. There are two entrances. The entrance with the big wooden turtle above it leads straight down to Little Milkyway.








Coffee

The empanadas were quite good but a bit too salty for my taste.

More photos (March 2025, sent by correspondent):

We randomly found this vegan bread (a rarity in the Philippines) at a small grocery (on Palispis Highway).

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Cagayan province (northern Luzon)

Tugueguarao

Inside of Robinson's mall in Tuguegarao, there is a Romeo's restaurant - very similar to Max's. They had some veganizable options.
If you look closely, you can see that the sign says "Romeo's".

Left to right: dineng-deng ilocano (ordered without bagoong or any fish), ensaladang talong (ordered without bagoong and without egg), sizzling tofu (ordered without mayonnaise and without oyster sauce; soya sauce instead):


"Nuts" = peanuts and garlic (street vendor style)

Green mango shake (has no milk - but better always ask if any a shake contains milk)

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Guimaras province (western Visayas)

If you go to Guimaras island, I do not recommend taking any of the tourist trips (tricycle, van, etc.), even though the tricycle ride is quite fun. The stops of the tour are pretty boring. The famous "mango pizza" may be vegan, but as you may expect, no one knows the ingredients of the dough (crust). If you bring your own food and find a place to cook for yourself and then go to the beaches, it's probably good.

Side note (Alubihod Beach): If you find a fish entangled in a fishing net - let's say mesh size about 4 or 5 cm - the best way to free the fish is to try to pull the net near to mesh that the fish is trapped in in order to enlarge that mesh. Trying to push the fish backwards doesn't work well because the fish may keep swimming forward.

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Ifugao province (northern Luzon)

Banaue

Banaue is a small and cold place. We arrived at 5:30 am (on a bus from Baguio that went via Bayombong [!]) without a hotel reservation. We stayed at the Verandah. The rooms were nice, with a warm shower, extremely humid, but still OK. The staff were very friendly and were willing to cook boiled vegetables (chop-suey) with salt only and plain rice for us (450 PHP). They also cooked some noodles we had (two types), with some vegetables (they had), and soya mince (we had; this plus the room [1800PHP] to 2150 PHP). And they allowed us to check in very early (about 6 am).

View from the balconies at The Verandah

View from the street

Lobby

Rice and chop-suey

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Ilocos Norte province (northern Luzon)

Laoag City

There's a vegetarian restaurant in Laoag, The Green Box, but it was closed (we called) AND we could not locate it at its address. But it still seems to be in business.

Note: As of December 2024, Google maps still shows a "vegan restaurant" called "EcoEats Co" in Laoag - but this was never a restaurant, but rather an imaginary restaurant as part of a student's project.

 

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Ilocos Sur province (northern Luzon)

Vigan City

Public market downstairs

Public market upstairs

Tofu (in the yellow bucket)

Cafe Leona

Agedashi tofu ordered without oyster sauce or bagoong

The pizza vegetariana without cheese wasn't extremely good. Maybe they're using to little yeast or they don't let the dough rest for long enough.

Cris Refreshment ... selling fried tofu on a stick. There's also a Cris Refreshment right next to Plaza Salcedo.

Taho (from a vendor at Plaza Salcedo)

Max's in Vigan (we did not eat there). Max's is right next to (opposite) Cafe Leona.

Supermarket in the mall next to the public market (it was Robinson's supermarket in Xentro mall). They had several frozen unmeat (all vegan) fake meat.

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Iloilo province (western Visayas)

Iloilo City

To start with a side note: If you end up in Iloilo City and look for cheap hotels, you may find places in the "old city" (near the harbor) - this is a mostly terrible area with horrible air pollution. It may be better to stay north of the river, near "Esplanade" in one of the AirB***#!/!%$$ places. Iloilo City has many different faces.

Side note 2: A local has told me ... avoid Esplanade (walking paths across the river/s) after dark. Three guys tried to mug him. But it might not have been an entirely fact-based story.

Mestizo: A non-vegetarian place with "plant-based" (vegetarian) options that, according to the staff, can be veganized. Be very explicit about every possible non-vegan ingredient and explain everything three times - reject the food if they get it wrong. The place is next to a monstrous main road, but it actually looks a bit fancy (for that area) and is cool (air conditioning), friendly and quiet inside. Maybe the only vegan options restaurant in the old city of Iloilo City. Insider knowlegde: Mestizo is owned by the "JD" company (or whatever it is called). You can see many "JD" places all over Iloilo City, apparently one the richest guys (named JD?) in town. Right next to Mestizo (to the left) is "JD Burger Project" - online you can see a vegan burger they seem to have had. But as of December 2024, they do NOT have any vegan (or vegetarian) burger at all and no vegan food whatsoever.

Mestizo

Also in the old city: 

Harmony Vegetarian Health Foods, a vegetarian shop (not a restaurant) with a very limited selection of foods and practically no drinks (apart from very small bottles of Coca Cola - or similar). They have dried large soya chunks, dried mushrooms, MSG, some frozen foods, etc.

Also in the old city:

Some vegan products at SM Delgado mall supermarket (note again: not all Veega products are vegan)

Also in the old city:

Pan de Manila: they have vegan bread and peanut butter etc.:

North of the river (not in the old city):

Green Pantry

This place looked very closed but there was some fresh garlic on the shelf inside. I asked a woman in the laundrette (laundromat) next door, and she said that Green Pantry is not permanently closed but will be open "tomorrow" (Saturday). It wasn't open on Friday afternoon when I was there.

Photo taken through the window:

Several stores inside SM City mall (Benigno Aquino Ave, Mandurriao, open: 10 am to 10 pm): 

Simple & Whole: a fancy (and mostly pricey) "health food" and specialty foods store (non-vegetarian) with many vegan options that you cannot find elsewhere, e.g., the local Buhay Ermitanyo brand.

Simple & Whole

Vegan protein powder

Vegan Society certified, straight from the Czech Republic: Life Bar

Alt Pops ice cream (vegan)

Buhay Ermitanyo vegan meat alternatives (but also some real meat next to the vegan products)

Alt Scoops vegan ice cream

Vegan Buhay Ermitanyo products

Maybe the only place in the "food court" (all big malls have a food court in the Philippines) at SM City mall is the "vegan chickpea overload" at Salads and Wraps. There might also be some fried tofu at some other food counter.

There is also a Max's inside SM City mall - non-vegetarian chain with some good vegan options, especially the "Sizzling tofu a la carte" (not the sizzling tofu rice meal with fried egg).

Max's

Monkey Grounds: One of the very few "vegetarian" restaurants in Iloilo City ("Green Pantry" may be the other one). To be blunt: the ovo-lacto stuff may be tasty (I don't know, but the place was quite busy), but the vegan food is dreadful, bland, edible but not more. They also serve hot chocolate (even if you ask for vegan, with oat milk instead of cow's milk - oat milk costs 35 PHP extra) with a marshmallow - which almost certainly (99.99999% probability) is not vegan and almost certainly (99% probability) is not vegetarian either (contains gelatine), which makes the big claim on the wall (100% vegetarian) a bit dubious. The staff have no idea what vegan (or vegetarian) is - let's ask the carrot cake if it contains any nuts. That the staff doesn't have the faintest clue about anything is very typical in the Philippines (in my experience). Their pay is probably very low and their training is probably zero. The kitchen (with look-in window) has a sign that says "Staff must wash hands". They have WiFi but refuse to let it be used by customers. I would like to like this place but it is really one of the worst restaurants I've been to. They have pizza but as the staff doesn't know anything, they cannot tell you what the dough (crust) contains (which again is common in the Philippines).

Monkey Grounds

Maximized density vegan brownie - not bad (all other cakes/sweets/desserts are non-vegan).

Side note: Near SM City mall you'll find "K Town" and the Museum of Contemporary Arts (small but nice; regular entry fee 150 PHP):

Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art aka "ILOMOCA". Next door there is a free "brandy museum".

Right next to ILOMOCA (across the street) is the Festive Walk Mall. (In that mall, there's also an immigration office, in case you need to extend your visa.) Inside the Festive Walk Mall there is (1) free WiFi that also works without a Philippine SIM card (unlike in other malls) and (2) a grocery store/supermarket called "The Maketplace" (a chain), which has interesting vegan options.

The Marketplace (inside Festive Walk Mall):

Durians

Nuttelex vegan margarine

Veega products (only some are vegan) and UnMeat products (all are vegan):

Made the purchase.

Vegan (but owned by Unilever) "Magnum" ice cream:

Dear nuts and seeds

Large plant milk selection

View from above:

Dunkin' (formerly known as Dunkin' Donuts), at Festive Walk Mall, that actually had the plant-based (which are said to be vegan - see below) options available.

Healthy Kitchen Cafe: best vegan food in Iloilo City (!?). Non-vegetarian place with several vegan options ... and quite probably tge best vegan food in town. Out of all restaurants all over town that I am aware of, Healthy Kitchen Cafe has by far the best vegan food. Very close to ILOMOCA and Festive Walk Mall.

Mango shake (it doesn't have milk by default)

This is not the usual Philippine fizzy drink kombucha in a can (although I find the plastic bottle and the separate sachet of chia seeds a bit weird).

Menu at Healthy Kitchen Cafe as of December  2024:

Walk a little further, from Healthy Kitchen Cafe, and you'll get to "Cheat Buddies" ("Cheat Buddies - For Plant-Based Foodies" according to Google maps), but that place looked terminally closed. The sign doesn't look too old though.

Nearby: a very friendly fruit and vegetable stall (at the north end of Libertad Street):

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Leyte province (eastern Visayas)

Tacloban

Buutan: all vegan café in Tacloban, must visit in Tacloban!

"Coco Ice Cream" stall at Save More (shopping centre), Tacloban

Randomly saw this vegan coconut ice cream stall. Piolo Pascual (Philippine ultra-popular famous guy and coconut heartthrob). 

Plant-based doughnut-related sweets at Dunkin' Donuts at Save More in Tacloban. These plant-based options are rumoured to be vegan. Someone confirmed the rumour yesterday (but no official info yet). I've already seen these plant-based options adverstised at quite a few Dunkin' Donuts stores - which seem to be everywhere in the more central locations of the NCR. Many are no just called "Dunkin' ", rather than "Dunkin' Donuts".

Some vegan edibles from the breakfast buffet at meat-centric Hotel Alejandro, Tacloban

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Metro Manila (National Capital Region, NCR; southwestern Luzon)

Back to Basics Ecostore

Non-veg ecostore (they have fish sauce) with many vegan options, from chocolate, to spices, to shaving soap, to towels. It's almost next to Imanji (vegan restaurant - see below).

 

Batala

Right next to San Agustin chu

rch

Blissful Belly

Apparently all vegan restaurant near Ateneo and Miriam universities (and Ateneo Art Gallery). The restaurant is on the first floor (one up from the ground floor, i.e., second floor in Amerikkan or Filipino), above the Blissful Belly sign. The entrance is on the left side of the building, where you can see the security guard standing - he might actually show you the stairs if you just stand there confused like me. If not, just walk a few metres and there are stairs on your right. Very friendly and chatty staff. Food in the photos: Vegan "salmon", mango shake, guyabano shake, kare kare (with peanut sauce - I always eat kare kare), red rice, banana blossom patties, some soup.

Bubu

This is a vegan ice cream company from Parañaque, Metro Manila. They don't have a physical store, but I tried their food at an event in BGC. The ice cream is really good, quite dense - probably coconut-based (?). The owners are lactose-intolerant and that's why they founded the company. They even sell baseball hats that say "I'm lactose intolerant". Everything on the menu was vegan.

 

 

Campfire Burgers

Campfire Burgers is a non-veg place with at least two outlets. The food below we ordered:
Vegan nuggets

Hummus, "salsa", and pita bread

Vegan burger

Cosmic (Poblacion, Makati)

100% vegan restaurant in Makati.
Side note: Gnostic is a vegan restaurant next door! And Cosmic / Gnostic are only about 150 metres away from Hummus Elija.
Philippine favourite: fried "chicken"

Ensalada (with smokey aubergine and plenty of raw onions)

Pancit (Philippine noodles)


I would recommend ordering the kare-kare.

Cosmic (Kapitolyo, Pasig)

We were there just before they closed. I personally thought the place was too cold - bring a hoodie and proper shoes (not sandals).

Daily Veggie (Santo Domingo Ave, Quezon City)

Ovo-lacto vegetarian restaurant with many vegan options. They have another "picture book" style menu. They also sell some dry good (e.g., soya chunks, soya mince, etc.) and frozen food. Make sure to check the ingriedients or ask as not everything is vegan - some of the grain milk powders may contain cow's milk. Some drinks contain honey. Walking distance (I would say) from Santo Domingo church.

Ever Gotesco Mall, Quezon City

Also called "Ever Gotesco Mall Commonwealth Center", Commonwealth Avenue (north of Quezon Memorial Circle)

Fake "Vans" from a stall downstairs at the mall; price: 500 PHP (real Filipino price is probably 300 PHP). No leather, of course: upper barely resembling suede. (I saw Vans "Authentic", with an all-canvas upper, for about 5,500 PHP at the Vans store at SM City North mall.) They also sell fake Adidas "Samba", which are very popular right now in Manila (November/December 2024). Outside of Ever Gotesco there are also shoe and clothing stalls, where they sell, for example, the "original" (but fake) "suede" Puma "Clyde" (popular in around 1992; Beastie Boys "Check Your Head" era). Downstairs there are also T-shirt stalls, including some stalls that sell so-called "overruns", i.e., T-shirts that did not pass quality control, including some music shirts (Beatles, Snoop Dogg, etc.) and certain popular brands (Vans, Stüssy, etc.) - it always changes a little (price: 100-250 PHP per shirt) - I have not seen this at other malls.

In the Ever Gotesco supermarket:

The supermarket at Ever Gotesco is not exactly the supermarket of your dreams, but it does have some basics. I fell for the Oral B dental floss at the check-out - there was no price label (always a bad sign) and it cost 187 PHP (about 3 Euros or 3 US dollars!) [I don't usually buy Oral B because it belongs to Procter & Gamble]. The tofu can be found in the refrigerated section with all the vegetables - there was no price label, but this big block of tofu only cost 50 PHP (less than 1 Euro or 1 US dollar).

Everyday Mom

They didn't really have any vegan cake or baked goods. You can pre-order vegan cake.

FRNK (4th floor [yes - not 3rd], 1111 Robinson's Magnolia Rd, Quezon City)

The Robinson's Magnolia mall only goes up to the third floor. But there is a new section, which goes up to the fourth floor, and that's where FRNK is located. Go up the escalator and you can see it right on your left.

Awesome pistachio cake, "Holy Pistachio Laer Cake" (unfortunately they did not have the tiramisu, so I wasn't able to try that) ... Unfortunately, everything comes in plastic, but the little tubs for the cakes at least are quite useful if you take them home (I put ground flaxseed in one).

The view is great too:

... and from a second visit:
I think the pistachio cake is actually better than the tiramisu, althought the tiramisu is also great.



Third visit:

Gnostic

Gnostic is an all-vegan, alcohol-free "bar" on the third floor in the same building as Cosmic (Makati). I think, it might be more accurate to describe them as a restaurant. When I think of a bar, I think a shitty place with expensive drinks. Although I haven't tried their food, apart from two cookies, their menu looks great, and neither food nor drinks seem expensive, especially for the area they are located in - a super popular "party" area with many foreigners.

On Saturdays, they are open until 1 am. This was on a Saturday (May 2025) at 1 am:

The cookies were awesome: one with nori (you could just barely taste it - and that was perfect) and one with macadamia nuts!


What is strange to me is that there is no sign or other indication outside that there is a vegan restaurant or bar in there. No sign that says Gnostic, nothing. You walk in where it says 4980, past the security guy on the left and turn into the lift on the left ... and go up to the fourth floor (i.e., the third floor in European). If they advertised this place more, it might become really popular.
Side note: Gnostic is only about 150 metres away from Hummus Elija. I would definitely try Gnostic first.

Green Bar (Legazpi Village, Makati)

The location is great, and the restaurant is not too cold (some other restaurants are). The doughnuts and muffins are good. The other food we tried was decent, not super amazing, but good.

The "acai-berry" smoothie did not have a trace of acaí (or berries), of course. So don't expect acaí.

 

Greens

They have a fish pond, but all the food is vegan.

Menu (March 2025):


Mango shake

Tofu burger and adobo (in the background - usually people would order this with rice). The burger is good but not extremely meaty. The burger bun would maybe be slightly better if toasted.

Chocolate cake

Gulay Lang

... is located in "Z Compound", where they often have live music at night. Gulay Lang (Z Compound) is on the same street (Malingap) as Little India, Veggie Guys, and Pipino.

Right place, wrong time

May 2025

Tofu, mushrooms, and rice: 150 PHP:

 

Happy Cheerken

Happy Cheerken is a restaurant and a one-off pop-up restaurant-style restaurant event place inside a yoga studio. Something like that. So, this was special event food and it was great.

They also have really beautifil plates, and the place is awesome.

I'm not a fan of all the fake chicken everywhere, but Filipinxs love it. And this was pretty good - even for me.

Healthy Choice Cafe

A 100% vegan Filipino fast food café in Rizal, south of San Mateo.
March 2025:

May 2025:

Nachos

Cardamom milk tea

Shawarma in something like a papadum

Chocolate milk tea with vanilla ice cream

Halo halo

Saucy spaghetti

Double burger with banana blossom-based burger patties

Hummus Elijah

Hummus Elijah is a non-vegetarian Middle Eastern restaurant that is open 24- hours a day. They have many clearly labelled vegan options, including vegan (tofu) shakshuka, falafel, hummus, baba ganoush, and Mediterranean salad. They do not have any vegan desserts.
Side note: Gnostic and Cosmic (Makati) - that are both 100% vegan - are only about 150 metres away from Hummus Elija.

Home-made lemonade

Vegan shakshuka in a pan. What you see is tofu. As I've never eaten traditional shakshuka, I cannot comment much, but it might be an idea to add a pinch of black salt (?).

Mediterranean salad (regular, not large)

The slogan on their paper bags is "the best falafel and hummus in the Philippines". I haven't tried the falafel, but both statements might be true, although that is not saying much.
Hummus (regular, not large). This was a thick - one might say "Western" - hummus. There was a drizzle of tahini on top (top left corner of the photo). They also sell jars of tahini. 

The medium-sized jars/tubs of tahini were about 540 PHP, and the 1 kg tub was 840 PHP.

Vegan options on the menu:

Hummus Elija just before 1 am:

Tahini made in India! Great stuff!

Imanji Herbivores' Plate

Wonderful carenderia-style all vegan restaurant




Coffee with ice

Shabu-shabu (hotpot with many different kinds of vegan meats)

Soy and malunggay burger - it has their own mayonnaise (and doesn't taste like malunggay [moringa], thank god)

Guyabano (soursop) smoothie

Some stuff purchased from their store section: vegan mayonnaise, blackstrap molasses (made in the Philippines), and barbecue sauce

The outside seating - inside there's air conditioning

Lime oregano juice - came in a plastic bottle

Menu

From another visit: guyabano smoothie and blueberry smoothie ... the best smoothies in Manila?

 

Third visit:

Punjabi burger, mango smoothie, and buko juice (young coconut water) with spirulina

Strawberry coconut yoghurt - delicious

Side note:They have WiFi for customers and a toilet. 

Fourth visit:

Banana blossom burger

Laksa

Happening on Saturday,  7 June 202
, at Imanji:

This was the buffet:

 

Intramuros

Horses are still being used in Intramuros to cruise tourists around the old city in extremely polluted air and tropical heat.

 

Little India

Note that the "MOVED" sign does not refer to Little India. They were just closed for unknown reasons, maybe they close earlier than what it says on Google maps.

 

May 2025 - still looks the same. But Little India just moved across the street, a few houses down - and the new Veggy Guys location is right across the street.

New location (open until 10 pm - but kitchen closes earlier, so be there at 9 pm at the latest):

Mabuhay Teahouse (640 P. Ocampo St., Malate, Manila)

This is an lacto-ovo-vegetarian restaurant with several vegan options (like kare-kare), but they do not have vegan desserts. It's very close to the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Manila Bay Walk - great location. If they have an event going on, the security guard will tell you not to use the fron entrance but the side entrance (on the right of the building). Many students seem to come here but also kinds of other people. Just next to this building, on the left, is the Mabuhay temple, a Buddhist temple, and they also have a restaurant (see below). You can also rent the restaurant for special events (like weddings). The cost is 40,000 PHP for the smaller room (fits up to 70 people they said) right next to the street, and 50,000 PHP for the main restaurant. So, you only pay for the food.

View from across the street:

Mabuhay temple (Fo Guang Shan Mabuhay Temple), vegetarian restaurant (656 P. Ocampo St., Malate, Manila)

The restaurant inside the Mabuhay temple is for "regulars only", unlike the Mabuhay Teahouse (see above), which is just a regular restaurant. You can enter on the right side of the gate where the security guards are. Inside the temple, the restaurant is on the left. So, the idea is that you are either already a regular customer or that you are with a regular customer. All the food in the temple restaurant seems to be vegan - except the desserts! There are no vegan desserts.

Outside but inside the gate:

Inside the hallway:

The entrance to the restaurant:

Inside the restaurant:

The gas stove for the hotpot:

Wintermelon tea

Fake meats for the hot pot

Hotpot

Once it's dark: Mabuhay temple from across the street

Maginhawa Eco-Store

Maginhawa Eco-Store, 16 Maginhawa, Diliman - close to Imanji vegan restaurant. Very small non-veg (!) eco-store on Maginhawa street, close to Quezon Memorial Circle. The non-vegan things I saw were something with honey and beef tallow candles (!). They have dried fruit, spices, some vegan sauces in jars - same as in Back To Basics Ecostore - some books.

NAIA = Manila airport (MNL), Terminal 3 "Arrivals", i.e., ground floor

Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Terminal 3. Caffé-Té-Ree-Ya. They have several vegan savoury (fake meat) options by (all vegan company) Greenery Kitchen. Great for when you arrive at the airport "starving". 

Next to Café-Té-Ree-Ya (to its right) is a Dunkin' ("Dunkin' Donuts"), which also had the three newly launched plant-based options. These plant-based options are probably vegan - see above.

NAIA = Manila airport (MNL), Terminal 3 "Departures", i.e., upstairs (before security check)

Max's (the only decent vegan options at NAIA terminal 3 departures)
Sizzling tofu "a la carte" (not the rice meal, which comes with fried egg, see poster below)

Another view

Vegetable kare-kare, "no mayo!"

Mango shake (both ripe mango and green mango shakes are vegan - but it's best to ask to confirm). "Shakes" in the Philippines sometimes contain no milk at all (like in this case) ... other times they contain milk - don't ask me how one would know.


The non-vegan sizzling tofu rice meal (not "a la carte")

Max's "Worcester sauce" is vegan:

Banana ketchup, vegan Worcester sauce, hot sauce (all vegan)

The vegan sizzling tofu:

Vegetable kare-kare (the best!)

It's ironic that this horrible place is one of the best places to get fresh, good quality, freshly cooked (expect to wait 15 to 20 min) AND tasty vegan food: a Philippine tragedy (but quite practical - as Max's can be found almost everywhere, at least in major cities).

The vegan sizzling tofu:

National Museum of Fine Arts

Paco Park, City of Manila

A small green space/park. It was full of high school students when I was there. The park also has free toilets. "Beware of falling bridges".

Pan de Manila

"Pan de Manila" is a bakery chain in Manila/NCR. They have several vegan (labelled "vegan") breads, soya milk, soya ice cream, and decent peanut butter (something that supermarkets generally do not have in the Philippines), including peanut butter without added sugar. I've never seen one without added salt though, but at least no hydrogenated fats, etc.

Pan de Manila - Ali Mall, Cubao

General Romulo Ave, Cubao - apparently this one is open 24 hours.

Pan de Manila - Araneta Center (Farmers Plaza?), Cubao

20 General Araneta, Cubao

When you go up the stairs to the Cubao MRT station, you can cross that monster road in the overpass without entering the MRT station. You can enter the mall from upstairs on the overpass. After entering the mall, to your left there are some stairs going down, and on the left there is Pan de Manila. On the right there are free toilets (like in every mall).

Pan de Manila - Commonwealth Ave, Quezon City: 44 Commonwealth Ave

The large no-added-sugars peanut butter (it's not always in stock though).



Vegan ice cream

Pan de Manila - Kalayaan: 65 Kalayaan Ave, Diliman, Quezon City, 1100 Metro Manila ... There's also another Pan de Manila nearby, closer to Quezon Memorial Circle, but it's on a side street off of Kalayaan Avenue (Unit 69, Margarita Bldg, 28 Matalino St, Central, Quezon City, 1100 Metro Manila).

Pan de Manila - Kalayaan Ave:

Pan de Manila - Maginhawa Street:

In the same street as Imanji (vegan restaurant) and Back to Basics Ecostore

Pan de Manila doesn't sell any meat, but they are not a completely vegetarian store - they sell sardines.

Coconut jam, strawberry jam, calamansi jam, triple berry jam



Vegan bread

Vegan bread

Prices

Soymilk "chocolate", "melon", and "original" (plain, I think)

Vegan ice cream - "ube", "mango", "cookies and cream", and "strawberry"

Vegan posicles

Pipino

Pipino is the vegan section (on the left) of the non-veg restaurant Pino (on the right).

The vegan section, however, often seems to be closed. So, you'll just sit in the main (omnivorous) restauarnt. As of May 2025, the vegan menu has shrunk - there is no more vegan cake at all - and you get one large brand new-looking "Pino" menu board (omnivorous, no vegan food at all), and one clipboard with a slightly weathered-looking "Pipino" menu (all vegan). But the clipboard also has another sheet of paper with the "Limbaga 77" menu (all non-vegan). Additionally, several items on the vegan menu were not available (as is typical in vegan restaurants in the Philippines), including no desserts at all.

May 2025:

Walnut salad - with caramelized walnuts

Tofu Bistek (i.e., "beef steak"), which is four slices of fried tofu. The prices are not high but the portions are not big either.

Pipino menu, May 2025
 

A service charge of 10% is automatically added to the prices listed on the menu.

 

Plant Based Project (online only)

They sell a wide variety of vegan foods catering to the Filipinx palate ... including ...

"blood stew" ...

kare-kare (with small cashew pieces) ...

"grazing box" ...

and pizza:

Puregold Jr. supermarkert (268 Commonwealth Ave, Quezon City)

Puregold is a common supermarket chain in the Philippines (or at least some parts of the Philippines?). If there's a "Jr." at the end, it means it's a smaller supermarket, and it's tempting to call it a food desert. They really don't have many great things on offer, but they do have some basics, which can be essential (oats, soya milk), depending on where you are.

They've placed plant-based milks in at least three different places. So, it's best to look around.

"Pinoy Pandesal" is vegan. It doesn't taste very good and the one I bought smelled a bit like washing powder (maybe it was transported together with washing powder).

"Pinoy" "normal" bread is also vegan.

Olive oil

Vegan "Magnum" ice cream (made by Unilever though)

Coconut vinegar. The one with the red label inlcudes Mangrove tree bark as an ingredient, giving it a mild coconut wine (tuba) taste. Both the bark and the tree (Ceriops tagal) are called tungog.

Banana ketchup

"Home Soy" soya milk from Malaysia

Tomate paste

Quezon Memorial Circle (public park)

One of the few green and (more or less) quiet spaces in Manila/NCR. In the centre, you can find the Quezon Memorial Shrine monument (the tall pillars), which houses the Manuel Quezon Museum (Museo ni Manuel Quezon). Entry is free. Apparently, Quezon had hats made of pumpkin:

Available inside the Quezon Memorial Circle, where all the food stalls are: black gulaman (water, sugar, ice, artificial black dye, lots of artificial vanilla flavouring, and agar agar) 

Sandigan market (Commonwealth Ave, Quezon City)

November is not durian season anymore, but by a stroke of luck and friendly market vendors, a delectable durian still materialized. Price: about 600 pesos (about 10 Euros).

More durians at Sandigan market

I also saw durians today (22 November 2024) at the street market behind Binondo Church.

Also from Sandigan market:

Soursop, called guyabana in the Philippines

Calamansi

Shaka, BGC (Burgos Circle, Forbes Town Center, Taguig, Metro Manila)

100% vegan. In my ignorant foreigner opinion, the best vegan restaurant in Metro Manila (or the best I know).

Update May 2025: Out of three (?) Shaka restaurants in Metro Manila this is the only one left.

Note: Shaka had two other restaurants, but the Shaka in Salcedo (Makati) and the Shaka in SM MOA are not in business anymore ("temporarily closed"). 

Shirley's Kitchen (delivery only)

Ube coconut cake

 

Shopwise - Commonwealth supermarket

"Shopwise" is a Philippine supermarket chain.

Vegan protein powder at "Herbs of the Earth" (in the Shopwise building, opposite the cash register/till)

Seitan powder: "Red Mill" vital wheat gluten. Note: you can get seitan for a lower price at The Vegan Grocer: 280 PHP for 1 kg. The lowest price I've seen was about 270 PHP per 1 kg on Shopee.

The Red Mill gluten powder even has a vegan recipe for seitan on the back of the packaging.

"Oatside" oat milk

Tahini (quite pricey)

"Unmeat" products

Chia seeds, quinoa, etc. (quite pricey)

One freezer full of meat alternatives


"Nuttelex" vegan margarines from Australia

"Veega" products - note: only some of the products are vegan; they are clearly labelled "vegan" on the packaging.

"Super Scoop" vegan ice cream

"Magnum" vegan ice cream - note: only the one labelled "vegan" is vegan, of course; also note that "Magnum" belongs to Unilever, who conduct invasive animal experiments.

Durians

Dried fruit are not very cheap in the Philippines and often imported. These seem to be local (Mindanao) raisins (?) ... or they might be from California.

Shopwise did not have any wholemeal (wholegrain) flour, but at least they had unbleached white flour.

SM City Manila mall

There is a vegetarian (all vegan?) Chinese style buffet at SM City Manila. It's called Bodhi Vegetarian, and it's in the food court (lower ground, i.e., one level down from the ground floor). There's also a supermarket next to the food court (inside the mall), which I did not check out. I was told that all the food is vegan, no dairy, no eggs, "all vegetables", and I did not see anything that looked non-vegan. They asked if coconut milk is OK (as I asked about milk and dairy products). I said yes, but did not see anything that looked like it had coconut milk. I had sime seitan-like mock meat, tofu, and rice, and a free ice tea. That meal, rice plus two "viands" of choice, are 139 PHP (about 2.20 Euros). It's great to have vegan food available in this location, near the national museums, Rizal Park, and Intramuros. SM City Manila is right next to the Bonifacio and the Katipunan Revolution Monument (with the big KKK letters).

Bodhi Vegetarian at SM City Manila:

 

SM City North EDSA [mall], also known as SM North

Take Coffee: One of the "stalls" oustide of SM North - Take Coffee - has Oatside oatmilk. I didn't buy anything, just saw it while walking past.


Harvesters: Apparently vegan - and previously (?) ovo-vegetarian - buffet restaurant Harvesters Vegetarian at the Food Court at SM City North. As far as I understand, all the "viands" (Philippine English for savoury side dish that accompanies rice) - which are tofu/seitan and/or vegetables - are vegan (that's what the staff said). Apart from rice (vegan), they have two types of "pasta" (noodles), one of which is vegan (rice noodles, I think). The other type of noodles (I think, the thicker looking ones) contain egg. The staff all seem to be well-aware what vegan means and which dishes are vegan (everything except those egg-noodles). The typical way to order is to choose a set meal of either rice + 2 viands (139 PHP) or rice + noodles + 2 viands + free ice tea or soup (159 PHP). You can also order things separately ("a la carte") but this is considerably more expensive.

Update: As of March 2025, Harvester's at SM North appears to be completely vegan.

May 2025: Harvester's at SM North appears to be completely vegan. For 139 PHP you get rice plus two "viands", and for 159 PHP you get rice, noodles, two viands, and a small ice tea. Most of the "viands" are seitan or soya-based "meat" with vegetables. You order at the counter and take your tray to wherever you can find an empty place in the food court. The food court is located downstairs. This was a 159 PHP portion:

Japanese sweet bread/pastry ("vegan melon pan") at Kumori (near/on the outskirts of the Food Court) [update: as of March 2025, the vegan sweet bread is not available anymore - update May 2025: same]




There was also an ice cream stall with one "dairy-free" ice cream ("Mocha Oatmilk"). But the staff did not know the ingredients or whether this ice cream was vegan or contained egg. Many traditional Italian ice creams contain small amounts of egg. Whether this is common in the Philippines, I don't know.

Mango Tree Cafe at SM North, quite expensive, but they have several explicitly vegan options on their menu and several additional vegetarian one which might (?) be veganizable.

And there's a fairly large Lush bathroom products stall - it's just outside Mango Tree Cafe. Most Lush products are vegan and they do not do animal testing.

There's also a Pan de Manila at SM North (in the Annex building):

I bought this sugar-free peanut butter (ingredients: roasted peanuts and sea salt) at Pan de Manila (Annex building) for 145 PHP.

SM North supermarket ... I think, the "hypermarket" - see below - and the "supermarket" at SM North are two different places. The entrance of the supermarket is diagonally across the "Annex" building, where the Zebra crossing is. The supermarket does not have that many great vegan options.

This if from the SM North supermarket:

Vegan chocolate is uncommon in the Philippines, but at SM North supermarket, I saw some imported ones. "E. Wedel" from Poland (I think):

"El Corte Inglés" from Spain:

"Ritter Sport" dark chocolate (from Germany):

"UnMeat" meat alternatives (all vegan) made in PH:

SM Hypermarket at SM North: They have vegan bread, ...

and plant milks, ...

At SM North, there's also a Go! Salads (Goo"&"&&" maps claims it is closed but it is very much open as of January 2025) - they have a handful of vegan options (see below).

... Go! Salads (SM City North EDSA): garlic hummus and pita, vegan "grilled cheese" panini, and vegan "sweet bars" (brookie vegan bar = brownie/cookie - more like a brownie; banana oatmeal vegan bar - a bit like a flapjack in England, but softer). Not super cheap, but OK and the taste is pretty good.

Evil pet shop that sells animals as slaves (and an apparently particularly malignant pet shop)

 

SM City San Mateo mall, technically in Rizal province, not the NCR

Several Airwalk shoes, all synthetic. I had not seen this brand around in decades. 

The 2024 version of the Tony Hawk (around 1990) logo

Australian soya milk in the supermarket at SM San Mateo

Beware: NOT VEGAN, not all tableya is vegan, apparently - check the ingredients. The supermarket at SM San Mateo only had these two non-vegan brands.

SM Mall of Asia, also known as SM MOA

To find anything in SM MOA you just need to ask around, I think.

Auro Chocolate Café:

This place is right outside of IKEA, on the left. A lot of the chocolate available in the Philippines is not from the Philippines. But Auro is a company from Davao that sells cacao and chocolate from Davao. Most of what they sell is not vegan, but they have some good vegan options: vegan hazelnut fudge brownie, vegan peanut brownie, vegan dark chocolate gelato, and 100% cacao tablea. The vegan dark chocolate gelato does not taste like what I would have expected - the chocolatey taste is mild and very slightly sour, which comes from fermented cacao, I think.

Vegan hazelnut fudge brownie

Vegan dark chocolate gelato - with cornflakes on top

Decathlon:

Decathlon is a sports and camping chain store. They sell things like backpacks, tents, kettlebells, shorts, diving shoes, sandals, ... They also sell vegan protein powder, but surely you can get vegan protein powder more cheaply on Shopee.

Easy, Tiger:

"Easy, Tiger" is a non-veg Thai restaurant with several vegan options.

Photos from March 2025:

The options I marked in blue boxes should be vegan:

I would recommend the tofu curry (below, right) and the fresh spring rolls (top, right).

Photos from May 2025:

Tofu satay: good but the peanut sauce is quite sweet.

Vegan tom yum soup, with mushroom balls - this is more plasing to the "East Asian palate", I think.

Vegan tofu curry. The "lemon grass juice" (front) and "vegan milk tea" (back) come in plastic cups with plastic straws, and they taste like soft drinks, very sweet.

El Chato Mexican Kitchen:

They have clearly marked vegetarian options (tacos and burritos) on their menu, which may or may not be veganizable. They are located a few metres to the left of "Easy, Tiger".

Fine Middle Eastern Eats:

They have several things that are likely vegan: baba ganoush, hummus, falafel.

IKEA / Swedish Bistro:

There is a IKEA "bistro" "downstairs" to the right of where the escalators go up to IKEA - but they do not have the vegan soft serve. Once upstairs, there is another "bistro" area, but only about 100 metres further, across the actual furniture store, you'll see the biggest "bistro" section, the soft serve machines, and also a small store section where they sell vegan Bolognese sauce powder, bread (not sure if any of the breads are vegan), and vegan banana slices (banana bread). They also cafe banana chips- which are vegan according to the ingredients listed. 

The vegan (soya) soft serve ice cream machines. There is no non-vegan ice cream. The ice cream cone (waffle) seems to be vegan (?). I did not try this. You get the cone and serve yourself at the machines.

Vegan banana slice - something like banana bread or banana cake, I think. I did not try this.

The IKEA hot dog is very cheap, does not look good, does not come with anything (?), but tastes quite OK. The bread roll seems to be vegan, although I did not see this explicitly stated anywhere.

The Cafe Mediterranean:

This restaurant has quite a few vegetarian (light green dots on the menu) and vegan options or veganizable options (dark green dots). Below are just two pages of the menu.

SM Megamall

SM Megamall is smaller than SM MOA.

Right at the entrance (or one of the entrances), you can buy vegan turon: the turon with langka (jackfruit) is vegan, but the turon with ube might not be vegan. Turon is something like a deep-fried spring roll wrapper, wrapped around a saba banana. The jackfruit one only has a small piece of jackfruit inside. It's very greasy and quite sweet. It's also a pain to buy, as you need to queue to pay and then get the turon with your receipt - all of this takes very long (~15 min).





Food Festival (31 May 2025)

In May/June 2025, there was a "Food Festival" there (at the Megatrade Hall 1). Most of the food was non-vegan, but there were some vegan stalls too.

An all-vegan (and intentionally vegan) company called "Kyla's" from Valenzuela City, Metro Manila. They sold soya milk, taho, tofu (they didn't have it), and vegan milk tea. The owners seem to be vegan.

This is a vegetarian (?) - rumour has it vegan (not true) - company, called "Bec and Geri's", from Davao City (?). The sold different drink powders with coconut and soya milk powder. However, two of their products contained milk protein, and the people at the stall did not seem to understand the difference between vegetarian, vegan, and plant-based

Note: Always check the ingredients (if there are any). Often people at stalls will say "No, it has no milk, only pure coconut / soymilk" - but some soya milks and coconut milks in Asia are not vegan

Vegan granola (muesli) by a company called "Merly's Own" - "freshly made in Baguio City"

An all-vegan company called "The Good Choices". They sold vegan meat alternatives and "rice meals" with thos meat alternatives. We even met a teenage lifelong vegan at the stall - the daughter of the owner(s) maybe.

A coconut-based vegan "butter" (accidentally vegan) by a Swiss (!) brand called "Saganà". They also sell vegan chocolate fudge brownies. Everything they had at the stall was vegan, I think. 

Vegan coconut-based ice cream by a brand called "Kaka Coco". The "Kaka" refers to the brown mature toasted coconut meat sprinkles on top - I think. Accidentally vegan.

Soy & Bean

A vegetarian soya foods chain store in Manila (NCR). I have seen these stores mostly in Quezon City, but this one is in the City of Manila (see photo above; it's on San Gregorio Street; technically, the address is 1374 Paz St, Paco, Manila, Metro Manila). There is also an Indian store/supermarket (called "Anmol") about 100 metres to the left of of this Soy & Bean - but I didn't check it out. There is also a small park (Paco Park) nearby, a rarity in Manila. It's about 800 metres away, on General Luna Street.

 

Starbucks

Starbucks usually doesn't have many vegan options in the Philippines. And yes, Starbucks is crap. At Starbucks Bonifacio High Street Central Square mall (or whatever the official name is), in BGC, one of the most "upmarket" places anywhere, they only seemed to have one vegan cookie and no other vegan food (?). The cookie was a chocolate cookie. It was clearly labelled as vegan-friendly, but wasn't exactly the best cookie ever. OK though. It costs 85 PHP.

 

Taho street vendors (everywhere)

Most street foods in the Philippines are far from being vegan. However, taho - a typical morning snack - is widely sold by street vendors who walk around carrying heavy buckets: one filled with tofu (similar to silken tofu) and the other with tapioca pearls and syrup. These vendors often also sell tokwa (regular tofu) and soya milk in 500 ml plastic bottles (which usually contain some added sugar).

All of these are vegan - I’ve never seen otherwise - and the vendors typically do not sell anything non-vegan. You can often find taho vendors within neighborhoods, away from the main streets, but they also frequently appear along major thoroughfares.
If you bring your own cup, the “taho man” (I’ve never seen a taho woman) will happily serve the taho in your cup instead of using a single-use plastic cup. The cup can also be bigger for a bigger serving.

Thai Mango Commonwealth, Quezon City

There are at least two others of the "Thai Mango" restaurant chain in Quezon City. Thai Mango is open late (hardly any other vegan-friendly place in Manila is) and has menu items explicitly marked "vegan", including a delicious shake.
Vegan options at Thai Mango (as of January 2025):

Thai Mango, Marikina

 

Through Habit (745 Aurora Blvd, Quezon City)

This is a picture book-21st century café. People come here to chill out, read a book, play video games (with headphones on), etc. We were there quite late, just before last orders. The location is (in my personal opinion) horrible, next to a monstrous road. But the café is quite and very comfortable.

I personally don't think a bowl of potato or kamote (sweet potato) chips is a restaurant food, but I'm not Filipino.  

The pasta was quite good (the sauce was a tiny bit too dry for my taste - but still great).

Careful, the chilis (red and green slices) are really hot.

Every restaurant in the Philippines must have "fried chicken" (mushrooms in this case).

Vegan Options (Cubao, Quezon City)

Great little Hare Krishna-inspired (?) restaurant and food shop, all vegan. Seitan tocino, soya (I think) "a la cubana", banana blossom fritters, rice, soup, ice cream.






You can also order from them online, with free delivery in Metro Manila.
Moringa (malunggay) powder

Coconut sugar

Palapa, an extremely spicey condiment, sort of like sauerkraut or kimchi, but made from white scallions, ginger, turmeric, grated coconut, and chilis. It's a typical dish originating from Mindanao.
Siopao, kind of sweet and savoury. The outer wide bun is a steamed bread but doesn't taste like bread to me, maybe because it's steamed.

From a visit on 5 June 2025:

This was a combo meal for 150 PHP (you can choose three "viands") and vegan onion hopia bread (85 PHP). I also met Vegan Options boy, eleven year-old TJ at the restaurant, who prefers to call Tagalog Filipino and who entertained me with first-rate riddles. However, he guessed wrongly that I was from Australia, or Afghanistan.

Vegan Treats Manila (online only)

They deliver vegan foods, e.g., these sweet ube empanadas and some England-style white bread.

Vege Select

A vegetarian restaurant in China Town. I did not see anything that was not vegan. You queue on the right for the buffet (the woman behind the counter said everything is vegan). Additionally, they have some kind of soup and siaomai in a metal steamer basket - I did not try those.

They also had these fried (?) - hard - chickpeas (in the round container) and these slightly sweet yeast dough buns (wrapped in styrofoam and cling film), which were nice.

Food from the buffet:

Inside the restaurant: It was quite busy. The restaurant looks like a regular (non-veg) Chinese restaurant and they do not advertise the fact that the food is vegan very much. So, maybe some customers just randomly come in, unaware that this is a vegetarian/vegan restaurant.

 In addition, just outside the restaurant, to the right of the entrance, there is a sugar cane juice stall (people were queueing), which belongs to Vege Select, but it operates (for you as the customer) independently. So, you pay and buy outside (one was 100 PHP). Right next to the sugar can juice stall, there are two or three barbecue stalls, where they fry sausages etc. All of that also belongs to Vege Select and all of that food is vegetarian too - but I did not find out if it is vegan.

Outside Vege Select:

Vegfest Pilipinas 2024

This took place at The Spine, Blue Bay Walk, Pasay City, Metro Manila , 16-17 November 2024, at 9 am to 10 pm...

Below: one of the OG vegans in the Philippines, Nanay Nona, giving a talk. She's been vegan since 1991, originally motivated (as far as I understood) by health reasons to stop consuming dairy and eggs. She said the term "vegan" only started being used in the Philippines from aroun 2011.

Vegan for the animals

 

Animal Rights March, Manila:

Taft Avenue to Roxas Boulevard; Saturday, 7 December 2024, 2 to 5 pm

Vegan para sa mga hayop (Vegan for the animals/Vegan FTA)

AKLAS

PeTA: Consider adopting or fostering a rescued animal.

Thrive & Co

Master Cheng Yen's wise words

Vegan kwek-kwek

Stray cat eating vegan cat food

 

Coconut yoghurt drink

There were three hardcore bands playing on Saturday night (16 November): Arcadia, N4S [not for sale], and Shockpoint.

N4S is a Hare Krishna community and band (?). They started their set with chanting the "maha mantra", Srila Prabhupada's name, etc. From my understanding, this Hare Krishna community is promoting vegan eating, rather than the traditional lacto-vegetarian practices associated with the "Krishna" movement. They also seem to have regular vegan (!) Vegfests with free food at the "Krishna Balaram Ashram - Manila East".

N4S

Shockpoint

Green Rebel

"𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 for the benefit of the Support Your Navy Foundation" (by ELPI Veg Haus) ... and some other delectables.

Taco (by WILD Plant Based Café Bar)

Sisig (by Shirley's Kitchen)

Spicy laing (by Green Meat Hub)

Chickpea tempeh (by Tempeh King)

VeggieDose - does not exists anymore

This place does not exists anymore. I found "VeggieDose" vegetarian restaurant on Google maps. The address is 60 Main Ave, Cubao. However, at that address, there is a pet grooming place now called "Pet Alley Lounge" . and the oldest review of this place on Google maps is from three years ago. 

Veggie Guys

 

Chocolate truffles

Arroz de la cubana

Cucumber lemon drink

May 2025, new location: 22 Malingap street, just a few houses down the street, on the same side. This large building is 22 Malingap street:

You can easily spot Veggie Guys, look for the big VG sign: 

 

Wabi Sabi Noodle House Thomas Morato (Quezon City)

The place is a bit hidden. It's right across the street from "Il Terrazzo" shopping centre. You walk into a small "roofed area", on the right there is a dentist, straight ahead there is a sneaker store ("Kicks to Kicks") - and to its left is Wabi Sabi.

Wabi Sabi is a "Japanese Vietnamese East Asian fusion restaurant. It's all vegetarian, and almost all dishes are available as a vegan option. They have "ice cream desserts", which are mostly made of shaved ice (water and soya milk frozen), a small amount of vegan ice cream, and some fruit and/or sugar, plus adzuki beans/matcha (depending on which one you order). They cost 240 PHP each (there was no price written on the dessert menu, see photo).

Inside there is barely any seating, but "outside" (inside the roofed area) there are several tables. They also have a toilet (walk towards your right when standing right in front of the Wabi Sabi entrance). They don't seem to have WiFi.

The Wabi Sabi entrance.

Blurry photo of a "bao tse"-like dumpling (steamed bun regular chaypao) - vegan version (maybe always vegan?)

The adzuki dessert "Kuromitsu" - vegan version. This one is quite sweet.

The strawberry dessert "Ichigo" - vegan version

Banh my - vegan version (I don't think it had mayo - it says mayo on the menu)

Dessert menu - 240 PHP each

Main menu - almost everything is veganizable (except the sweetcorn & cream cheese tempura, I think)

Barely worth mentioning, but right across is the small shopping centre "Il Terrazzo". Downstairs there is a "The Marketplace" supermarket. They have vegan meat alternatives (Unmeat - all vegan; Veego - some vegan) and vegan milk alternatives.

WILD (Taguig)

Note: WILD seems to temporarily (?) be closed (as of May 2025, since about March 2025).

"WILD Plant Based Café Bar" (Uptown Parade, 9th Ave, Taguig) is an all-vegan food cart in BGC. We only had some sweet snacks.

As expected, the "Acai" shake did not contain a trace of acaí - so don't expect acaí when ordering it.

For Manila, this is a quite nice place to sit down.

+++++++

Negros Occidental province (western Visayas)

Bacolod

The entirely vegan restaurant Veego in Bacolod is worth visiting. The staff is really attentive and the food is probably one of the best in the Philippines. Many dishes contain mushrooms (great!). Note that the restaurant is closed for the "Sabbath" (Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday) as the owner is a Seventh Day Adventist. (They do not have WiFi.)

Side note for history nerds: Veego seems to have opened in August 2023.
Shiitake miso noodle soup (Christmas special)

Green smoothie

Mushroom fries with vinegar

Chickpea sandwich

Tom Kha Gai

Rainbow crunch salad (sesame dressing not shown)

Fiber boost smoothie
 

Calamansi juice (in the Philippines, "juice" typically means juice, water, and ice)
 

Sweet chili tofu (Christmas special)
 

Bustillo mushroom (Christmas special)
 

Mediterranean tofu bowl (although I could not detect any za'atar)
 

Red rice

Menu

December specials


What Veego looks like in the morning, when it's closed:

 

Sian Tian Food Center

A very basic (or typically "Chinese Buddhist") Buddhist vegan (!) restaurant not too far from Veego. This place is already open in the morning, it's a bit removed from the main street (great!), it's quite spacious (great), and cool (air con) and quiet.

Walk in here ...


It's a buffet. The staff was OK-friendly. Each plate costs 50 PHP; not sure how much the rice was; the soya milk (blue bottle) was a bit watery and bitter (but safe to drink) and was about 40 PHP. (They do not have WiFi.)


They also sell some dry foods (including raw peanuts) and quite a few frozen foods (which I did not check out in detail).


Veggie Bites ... there reportedly used to be a vegetarian "fast food" place, with many vegan options, called Veggie Bites, also run by Seventh Day Adventists (I think), at Robinson's mall on Lacson Street. On Google maps, it still seems to be open, but on HappyCow it is reported to be closed since at least April 2023. I did not check because when I walked past Robinson's mall the whole mall looked a bit closed (under construction), but apparently the mall still seems to be open (althought there are refurbishments going on - as of December 2024). If I had paid any attention ... check the huge banners: "We are open".

Robinson's mall (Lacson Street) ... no more Veggie Bites (?)

Save More supermarket at City Mall, Bacolod. This mall is small but it already opens at 9 am (unlike all the other malls which open at 10 am). The supermarket only has the most basic Philippines vegan "staples" that you can find almost everywhere (based on what I have seen): Quaker oats, soya milk, oat milk, Veega tocino, Sky Flakes, ... I did not even see tofu.

 

Moises Padilla

Moises Padilla (Negros Occidental) is a very small place, in the middle of nowhere, a bit gruesome too. It's in "hearing distance" of Kanlaon volcano. If you walk around, the first thing you may notice is that there is one bakery next to each other (why?) - bakeries usually do not have a single vegan thing in the Philippines. On Google maps, you can find major places in town: cockfighting ring ... and ... livestock market. In the early morning you can see animals being carted off. After dusk, you might find yourself next to rusty iron street stalls displaying pig heads (that look recently severed) and skinned pig heads (with the eyes still looking at you). ... So, it was a bit surprising to find a 7-Eleven there, which sold some vegan basic survival foods, including chocolate Vitamilk, some Oatside drinks, vegan (Vegan Society-certified) cup noodles, and some roasted nuts and seeds (I think oats too?).

+++++++

Negros Oriental province (western Visayas)

Dauin

There's also a completely vegan restaurant - called OMUS - in Dauin. Unfortunately, I didn't make it there. But check them out online. Their address is: Dive Camp, Luka 1 Rd, Dauin, 6217 Negros Oriental. I think they are closed on Tuesdays.

+++++++

Nueva Vizcaya province (northern Luzon)

Bayombong

At Max's in Bayombong, which is quite close to the (very affordable) Lo Tus Garden Hotel.

Lo Tus Garden Hotel - cheap and nice atmosphere. Unfortunately, they have the "obligatory" fish pond.

Bayombong market

A bit outside of Bayombong (it's "before" Bayombong if you're coming from Manila - just get off the bus there) ... there's a privately owned cacao farm that you can visit (entrance fee: ~50-150 PHP). It's called Macababbad's Orchidarium, Cacao and Coffee Farm:

Dragon fruit plants:

Coffee:

Unfortunately, they also had two rabbits in a cage.

+++++++

Rizal province (southern Luzon)

Antipolo

Pinto Art Museum and Arboretum

View of Manila from the nearby "hanging bridge cafe" (Tyvo Overlooking Grill & Cafe) - the café doesn't have anything vegan, apart from bad (my opinion) black coffee. But you can just walk to the top floor and have a look and walk across the bridge even if you don't buy anything.

 ⁷