one-stop noodle houses are love

Happy New Year! I know, I've been gone for so long & I have a very serious blogging backlog for my other space, too, but here I am again. I've so much to tell you over the coming weeks & I'm really happy about a lot of things. ♥

But first, let me tell you about my new super-awesome happy place, & I'm not kidding. I can go back there every single day of my life from now on, but since I need some time out for myself at least every other day of the week, I can only go back just as much. But it's the place to be, especially on a quiet weeknight, & I knew I should've posted this bit much, much earlier. Anyway, the secret's out, & let me count the ways why I so love Wabi-Sabi Noodle House & Vegetarian Grocery in The Collective in Malugay St., Makati City. ♥

When I first walked into this quaint, quirky little restaurant sometime November, during a Taurus Full Moon, I was already full from my tuna pasta dinner in Serendra after picking up my new Legacy of the Divine Tarot deck. But to my surprise, I found out I could actually enjoy both ramen & pho in this joint whenever I wanted to! This was quite a big deal for me, considering I have to go to certain noodle houses for either my ramen or pho fix, especially when it's that time of the month again & emotional eating can't be helped, ugh. I even splurge for those (think Umu & Aquaknox) IKR. But yay, everything's reasonably priced here! Plus the fact that everything they served was vegetarian made it all the more delightful. I eat vegetarian or seafood pasta & salad every chance I get when I'm out, even if I still enjoy meat dishes at home & gorge on food in general just the same! So I went back after a week with my brother in tow, then another week with one of my best friends, & then practically dragged one of my tarot pals back to the place shortly after that before the holidays ensued (& they were closed anyway for a long time until after New Year's), & we couldn't stop hanging out ever since. It was truly love at first sight then first bite, to be cliche about it, haha.

I've tried almost everything in the menu except for their banh mi sandwich & lemongrass iced tea, & I seriously love everything I've tasted! Their shoyu ramen & pho are priced at PhP95, & their new addition to the menu, miso ramen, should be around PhP105. A friend of mine loves their miso ramen best, probably mainly because of the buttered sweet corn in it, while I'd have any of them soup bowls everytime. I also love their gyoza & steamed buns (PhP45 & PhP25, respectively) for that distinctive mushroom taste (if you order the asado variety, & I'm a shiitake junkie like that) & their Thai milk tea (PhP45, too, if I remember correctly).

To cap off the vegetarian theme, Plants VS Zombies fans can buy miniatures as inspired by the game, made locally. There are also magazines from PETA that customers can leaf through, & a mini-grocery is by the counter. Try also their yummy bottled drinks from Bundaberg, P65 each. The brand's ginger beer, sarsaparilla, & peachee are bestsellers. Wabi-Sabi also sells eco-bags (& more people should use less plastic bags, seriously) & I totally like what I got recently from them.

I'll always recommend this place because not only is the fare superb & the very staff friendly, especially Ms. Tess (though please bear with them if the service is slow, especially on a packed weekend night), but also the background music is my kinda thing (either you get Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californation — though I'm really more of a Blood Sugar Sex Magik fan — or Cibo Matto's Stereo Type A or Pearl Jam's Ten, if not reggae or ska samples playing). I can always be myself here, no holds barred, & I'll always feel so much better everytime, especially after a hectic afternoon or so. & yeah, this is another affirmation that vegetarianism can be really fun & easy (READ: nonthreatening), to begin with.