Eating Healthy at Le Bistro Vert
Okay, I promised myself I will consciously try to start eating healthy. This was after having had two amazingly good lechon dinners and hundreds of meals that include me indulging in something oily, sweet, buttery and basically...deadly.
For fear of clogging up my arteries and cutting my life shorter than it should be, I have started to have a bowl of oatmeal again for breakfast and to choose my meals wisely for the coming days...months...years...so help me God.
Kidding aside, I know once in a while I'll still allow myself to bite into that fluffy piece of caramel cake or grab a bag of chicharon when the craving hits but this time, I'll try to be wiser.
I started my healthy campaign last Saturday as I had lunch with fellow bloggers and friends Jin and Leslie. This time, Paul was able to join us and I gladly introduced him to two of my favorite food bloggers.
Since Leslie was under strict Cohen diet and is quickly turning into a va-va-voom sexy lady (hehehe!), we supported her and opted to try Le Bistro Vert which is known to prepare healthy dishes with items sourced from local farmers. I love how they really make it a point to help the community thus making me feel extra happy to be able to eat healthy and organic dishes and knowing that I'm also supporting a good cause.
Lunch began with a bowl of complimentary Sweet Potato Chips. Lightly sprinkled with salt, it's one of the lightest, less-salty chips that I've ever had. Still, I couldn't stop munching while catching up with Leslie and Jin that we even asked for a second round.
I ordered the Pandan Iced Tea for lunch and sadly it was a bit too bland. I even added in a good amount of syrup but it was a bit bitter and I could hardly taste the pandan too. Not one of my best choices that day.
I said we are eating healthy so Jin, Paul and I ordered two salads to be shared by the three of us. Leslie, had her own which was specially prepared to meet her dietary requirement. Hats off to Le Bistro Vert for being flexible enough to adjust their serving size to meet their customer's needs.
Our first salad was the LBV Signature Salad (Php. 295). Even without reading the description I immediately pointed this out to our server as I was instantly attracted to the word "signature". I'm glad it turned out pretty okay. The serving of fresh greens was pretty generous as it was topped with poached organic egg and chopped baby tomatoes. At the side were two crunchy strips of bacon, two crostinis with goat cheese spread and the entire salad drizzled with Bistro vinaigrette. Without the bacon though, the salad was admittedly a bit too bland. I'm glad that there was the addition of fried bacon which was pretty good it reminded me of the yummy bacon that my friend Irene made during one breakfast with The Food Club. I think there was just something lacking in the salad.Could it be some croutons or were we supposed to break the crostinis and sprinkle this on top of the salad? It was pretty good but nothing fantastic enough to be called a signature salad.
Our next salad was the Le Bistro Vert Caesar (Php. 240) which Leslie pointed out to us. I actually liked this one more as I love anything with tinapa (salted fish) and how can you go wrong when paired with Queso de Bola and salted egg? A little bit high on cholesterol but I hope the fresh greens were plenty enough to cancel that out. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this salad more.
For our appetizer, we had the Thai Style Fish Cakes (Php. 250). It's served with watermelon relish and sweet tamarind dip. The fish cake itself was a bit too salty but I enjoyed the watermelon relish which gave a very refreshing twist to this traditional Thai appetizer.
We also agreed to share on our main courses. First was the Inch Thick Grilled Pork Chop (Php. 350) which was Paul's favorite. He was impressed that despite how thick the pork was, the inside was well-cooked and the meat very tender. One order gives you a huge slice of pork chop which I feel was worth it especially when you're like Paul who cleaned out the bone till it was sparkling clean.
We also tried the Palawan Cashew and Herb Crusted Fillet of Fish (Php. 375). The herb crusting had a good salty-sweet flavor that had successfully perked up the naturally bland taste of the fish. I tried a bit of the Edamame puree which I used to coat the diced potatoes served with the fish. It was a pretty good dish but my heart still belongs to the pork chop.
While I can totally skip eating rice anytime, what I am having a hard time giving up on is pasta. I love pasta and this is my ultimate comfort food. Taking the advice of our server, we tried the White Oriental Mushroom Linguini (Php. 350) as he told us that it had truffle oil in it. As much as you guys probably know my love affair with pasta, I'm sure you are also aware of my ongoing addiction towards truffles too. Well, this pasta dish didn't disappoint at all. Every bite has that strong truffle smell and the noodles were cooked al dente and served with a generous amount of mushroom and fried herbs. Yum!
Unlike in our previous dinners where we would get more than one dessert to share, we were pretty disciplined this time and just had a slice of Valrhona Sansrival which was dee-li-cious! Every bite gives you deep dark gooey chocolate with a bit of crunch from the sansrival. Definitely a must-try.
Our lunch at Le Bistro Vert was very relaxing truly perfect to match our lazy Saturday plan. Service was good with our server being very attentive to our needs as he would promptly pour water into our glasses as soon as he sees that it's almost empty.
Le Bistro Vert is located at Fraser Place, Valero street, Salcedo Village, Makati City. Call them at 403-1841.
For fear of clogging up my arteries and cutting my life shorter than it should be, I have started to have a bowl of oatmeal again for breakfast and to choose my meals wisely for the coming days...months...years...so help me God.
Kidding aside, I know once in a while I'll still allow myself to bite into that fluffy piece of caramel cake or grab a bag of chicharon when the craving hits but this time, I'll try to be wiser.
I started my healthy campaign last Saturday as I had lunch with fellow bloggers and friends Jin and Leslie. This time, Paul was able to join us and I gladly introduced him to two of my favorite food bloggers.
Since Leslie was under strict Cohen diet and is quickly turning into a va-va-voom sexy lady (hehehe!), we supported her and opted to try Le Bistro Vert which is known to prepare healthy dishes with items sourced from local farmers. I love how they really make it a point to help the community thus making me feel extra happy to be able to eat healthy and organic dishes and knowing that I'm also supporting a good cause.
Lunch began with a bowl of complimentary Sweet Potato Chips. Lightly sprinkled with salt, it's one of the lightest, less-salty chips that I've ever had. Still, I couldn't stop munching while catching up with Leslie and Jin that we even asked for a second round.
I ordered the Pandan Iced Tea for lunch and sadly it was a bit too bland. I even added in a good amount of syrup but it was a bit bitter and I could hardly taste the pandan too. Not one of my best choices that day.
I said we are eating healthy so Jin, Paul and I ordered two salads to be shared by the three of us. Leslie, had her own which was specially prepared to meet her dietary requirement. Hats off to Le Bistro Vert for being flexible enough to adjust their serving size to meet their customer's needs.
Our first salad was the LBV Signature Salad (Php. 295). Even without reading the description I immediately pointed this out to our server as I was instantly attracted to the word "signature". I'm glad it turned out pretty okay. The serving of fresh greens was pretty generous as it was topped with poached organic egg and chopped baby tomatoes. At the side were two crunchy strips of bacon, two crostinis with goat cheese spread and the entire salad drizzled with Bistro vinaigrette. Without the bacon though, the salad was admittedly a bit too bland. I'm glad that there was the addition of fried bacon which was pretty good it reminded me of the yummy bacon that my friend Irene made during one breakfast with The Food Club. I think there was just something lacking in the salad.Could it be some croutons or were we supposed to break the crostinis and sprinkle this on top of the salad? It was pretty good but nothing fantastic enough to be called a signature salad.
Our next salad was the Le Bistro Vert Caesar (Php. 240) which Leslie pointed out to us. I actually liked this one more as I love anything with tinapa (salted fish) and how can you go wrong when paired with Queso de Bola and salted egg? A little bit high on cholesterol but I hope the fresh greens were plenty enough to cancel that out. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this salad more.
For our appetizer, we had the Thai Style Fish Cakes (Php. 250). It's served with watermelon relish and sweet tamarind dip. The fish cake itself was a bit too salty but I enjoyed the watermelon relish which gave a very refreshing twist to this traditional Thai appetizer.
We also agreed to share on our main courses. First was the Inch Thick Grilled Pork Chop (Php. 350) which was Paul's favorite. He was impressed that despite how thick the pork was, the inside was well-cooked and the meat very tender. One order gives you a huge slice of pork chop which I feel was worth it especially when you're like Paul who cleaned out the bone till it was sparkling clean.
We also tried the Palawan Cashew and Herb Crusted Fillet of Fish (Php. 375). The herb crusting had a good salty-sweet flavor that had successfully perked up the naturally bland taste of the fish. I tried a bit of the Edamame puree which I used to coat the diced potatoes served with the fish. It was a pretty good dish but my heart still belongs to the pork chop.
While I can totally skip eating rice anytime, what I am having a hard time giving up on is pasta. I love pasta and this is my ultimate comfort food. Taking the advice of our server, we tried the White Oriental Mushroom Linguini (Php. 350) as he told us that it had truffle oil in it. As much as you guys probably know my love affair with pasta, I'm sure you are also aware of my ongoing addiction towards truffles too. Well, this pasta dish didn't disappoint at all. Every bite has that strong truffle smell and the noodles were cooked al dente and served with a generous amount of mushroom and fried herbs. Yum!
Unlike in our previous dinners where we would get more than one dessert to share, we were pretty disciplined this time and just had a slice of Valrhona Sansrival which was dee-li-cious! Every bite gives you deep dark gooey chocolate with a bit of crunch from the sansrival. Definitely a must-try.
Our lunch at Le Bistro Vert was very relaxing truly perfect to match our lazy Saturday plan. Service was good with our server being very attentive to our needs as he would promptly pour water into our glasses as soon as he sees that it's almost empty.
Le Bistro Vert is located at Fraser Place, Valero street, Salcedo Village, Makati City. Call them at 403-1841.
