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By Jamille Alcid, Special to The Manila Times
To step in into Oh My Gulay, one of artist Eric
de Guia a.k.a Kidlat Tahimik’s architectural masterpieces, is to
become part of a wondrous whimsical collage. Located on the fifth
floor of the La Azotea Building on upper Session Road in Baguio
City, one climbs the building’s staircase, only to find it turning
into surreal tangle of off-tangent angles as one approaches Oh My
Gulay. Stare above and one sees the stairwell lit from above by the
transparent plastic bottom of the restaurant’s goldfish pond.
To enter Oh My Gulay is to be overwhelmed by
fantasy made real. A galleon juts forth from one wall as a verdant
waterfall flows from another. Snaking steps lead to a hidden gallery
spaces. A balcony open to reveal a panorama of the mountain city. At
first, one thinks Neverland and Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory
has come to life. But this is no artifice of a themed restaurant. Oh
My Gulay is as authentic, organic and indigenous as de Guia himself.
The internationally acclaimed filmmaker is
famous for championing indigenous culture of the cordilleras, his
past architectural projects such as Café by the Ruins and Tam-awan
Village and his founding of the Baguio Arts Guild together with the
late Santiago Bose, Roberto Villanueva and national Artist Benedicto
Cabrera (Bencab) as well as for the for his children, a television
and film director Kidlat de Guia, painter Kawayan de Guia and mosaic
maker and painter Kabunyan de Guia. More importantly, de Guia is
beloved by Baguio residents for his humility, charisma and
bottomless zest for transforming the mountain city into an art
haven. Oh My Gulay is an attraction not only because of his
whimsical design but also for his presence. The man lights up the
place. With his company, eating Oh My Gulay scrumptious cuisine
becomes a more heavenly experience.
Chef Marlon Caranto is the other brain of the
place. He manages the menu and prepares them personally. The place
serves vegetarian foods, but it doesn’t mean that their only
patrons were vegetarian. He says that even non-vegans visit and try
their food.
The success did not come overnight though. They
had to struggle for the first year, and the only patrons they have
were close friends. And after that, words spread about their place
and it slowly gained the reputation it has today.
Asked when why they serve vegetarian foods, Chef
Marlon said that it was a way “to introduce the produce of Baguio.”
And the menu backs up this reason. The food, which are salads and
pasta features only the best Baguio market vegetables. Their in
house salad (Oh My Gulay! Salad costing just P95) consists of
assorted market vegetables on a bed of greens served with blend of
honey-mustard and herb dressing.
Waldorfesto Salad, another must try, is a tossed
salad of apples, celery, potatoes and slices of egg bound by spiced
garlic mayo. All for just P110 bucks.
After having their salads, another must is their
pasta. Their bestseller, Chow Chow Noodles consists of chow mien,
fresh market vegetables, sautéed in garlic and flavored with spicy
soy and hoisin and served with fresh egg noodles. This hearty pasta
which can feed two to four people is only P115. Then down it with
freshly squeezed Dayap ice tea (Dayap is Ilocano for lemon) for P55
a glass.
But upon reading and trying what’s on the
menu, one would see that something is missing. Strawberries. There
is no strawberry infused drink or salad in the list of food there.
Chef Marlon quickly answers to us, “Strawberry infused foods are
seasonal. We only serve them every Holy Week, Christmas, holidays
and during the peak season for tourists.” Maybe because not
everyone who goes there are tourists. They don’t want to saturate
the locals with strawberries. It’s a bit redundant.
It is quite obvious that this place really
describe in a silent yet screaming manner what Baguio really is all
about. The food, with ingredients freshly picked and had not
experienced any bumps and bruises of the long travel toward the
artificially cooled place called supermarket freezers, and the story
of the artworks that hung in the walls of the restaurant. Truly, one
will exclaim, “Oh my gulay.”
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