What’s new on the menu at Green Pastures

MANILA, Philippines – Green Pastures has earned quite the reputation over the years for being a healthy, organic, farm-to-table restaurant. It’s the kind of restaurant that serves a vegetarian burger that actually tastes (and fills you up) like meat, and manages to make even a cauliflower bowl loaded with greens comforting. 

If there’s any restaurant that can turn Filipino food into a healthy option, it’s Green Pastures – and that’s exactly what it is doing with their new menu. There are some 20 new additions to the restaurant’s menu, which has also been redesigned to reflect the new offerings. Instead of their usual clipboard list, they now sit you down with a picutre-book menu that will get your mouthwatering just by leafing through it. 

Typically, Filipino food is filled with fat, salt, sugar, and other artificial flavorings, but Chef Robby Goco rose to the challenge to minimize (or eliminate) all that from Green Pastures’ homegrown offerings. For instance, he does away with soy sauce and favors natural umami boosters and homemade fish sauce. He also makes sure that every ingredient he uses is locally sourced (except for the extra virgin olive oil). That means no salmon, lamb, or even saffron in the dishes!

The result is a menu made up of Filipino dishes we all know and love, with all the familiar flavors but less of the aftertaste, and post-binge cholesterol-spike headaches.

Among the new additions to Green Pastures’ menu are the Shrimp and Sweet Potato Fritters (P355), or Chef Robby’s take on the crispy deep-fried shrimp snack, okoy. The dish is made of fresh river shrimp covered in crispy sweet potato and carrot strands, and served with a coconut vinegar and cilantro dipping sauce. With equal parts crunch and chewiness, and a subtle sweet flavor from both the sweet potato and the shrimp, this dish makes a great starter.

The Steamed Clams (P255) also make for another great starter. Chef Robby’s take on the local binakol, it’s made of Manila clams steamed in coconut water with ginger, garlic, lemongrass, and malunggay. Oyster mushrooms and squash blossoms were added to make it even more filling.

Also on the menu is the Naaaks! Fried Chicken (P650), a play on Filipinos’ favorite fried chicken from the iconic Pinoy restaurant, Max’s. This dish has the same crisp skin and flavorful meat as Max’s and is also served with fried sweet potato and banana ketchup (though Green Pastures’ version is homemade and not bottled). 

Chef Robby included some of his family recipes in the menu too, such as the Adobong Dilaw or yellow adobo (P630), which he says is “the adobo I grew up with.” The dish is your classic pork and chicken stewed in vinegar (in this recipe its coconut vinegar), but with turmeric added to the mix for a slight curry-like flavor. And because it’s Green Pastures, it’s not served with white rice, but with garlic quinoa and kale.

Another new addition is the Duck Arroz ala Cubana (P830), a version of the Filipino favorite that includes white rice, a fried plantain, meat, and a sunny side up egg. In Green Pastures’ version, the meat is shredded duck, served over kale, quinoa, and brown rice. It also comes with a sunny-side up egg, fried saba, and with edamame thrown in for added texture.

For dessert, there’s the GP Bibingka (P160), which is a baked rice cake filled with organic salted egg and Bacolod cheese. Unlike the usual fluffy bibingka you can get anywhere, Green Pastures’ version is sticky and chewy, and the cheese gives it a salty edge. 

Other new dishes include Bagoong Cauliflower Rice (P690), which is made of grated cauliflower topped off with shrimp paste, green mango, pickled onion, tomatoes, and beef tapa marinated in coconut sugar, coconut vinegar, and coconut aminos; Beef Bignay Bourguignon (P750), which is beef short ribs slow-cooked in local Bignay wine; and Sous Vide Chicken Inasal (P650), grilled chicken flavored Bacolod-style, with achiote and lemongrass.

For big groups, there’s also the GP Meat Platter (from P1,500 to P4,200 depending on the size), which has a little bit of everything including Beef Bignay Bourguignon, Muscovado Baby Back Ribs, Roast Organic Chicken, and Grilled Corn. – Rappler.com