Mimi Vergara-Tupas serves plant-based dishes that taste like a celebration. Well-thought-out and beautifully executed, she salutes vegetables for what they are: delectable food that can pleasantly surprise even the pickiest of eaters.
“There are no bad vegetables,” she said during the press preview of her creations that will be featured in a one-night-only 4-course wine pairing dinner on Monday, July 11, 2023, at The Westin Manila in Ortigas.
“It is more than just creating plant-based versions of meat dishes. We are doing entirely new plant-based dishes,” added the Davao-based vegan chef who is the creative director and founder of Made Simple, a vegetable-forward fine casual restaurant, and Clean Café, a 100% plant-based café recognized as one of the best restaurants in the country.
Tasting her creations will make you want to order seconds – I certainly piled up one clean plate after the other, and I am a heavy meat-eater who has been disappointed countless of times in the past by plant-based versions of beloved dishes that tasted too healthy, too bland, or too much like hospital food.
“We should not be afraid of veggies,” she said after I told her that no one has yet to succeed in making me eat an ampalaya dish delicious enough for me to actually like it, instead of just swallowing it like some bitter pill.
For an umami flavor, she harnesses various kinds of mushrooms and seaweeds to balance the earthy notes of vegetables.
Her mushroom pâté, for example, was made with forest mushrooms and topped with walnuts, rosemary butter, and garlic confit and served with artisan bread.
She used enoki mushrooms and truffle oil for the watercress soup, while the tomato panzanella salad was a mix of farm tomatoes, greens, crusty bread infused in olive oil and spices, Spanish olives, and vegan cheese with a tangy dressing.
The burnt tomatoes dish was a farm-to-table showcase of plump and sweet cherry tomatoes charred to bring out their best flavors, served on a bed of plant-based cheese and infused oils with a side of seed crackers.
Her main course featured the diversity of mushrooms, cooked three ways: King oyster mushrooms in pesto butter and served with microgreens; assorted forest mushrooms with vegan cheese, walnuts, and microgreens; and a bouquet of crisp enoki with garlic aioli, and black lava salt.
“All my creations are built on these pillars: simple, beautiful, and vegetable-forward. I teach my team how to build flavors, textures, aroma out of plant-based sources, how to have a connection with their produce, and know their flavor profiles so they can build on flavor bombs that define the depth and complexity of each dish,” she said.
For Westin Manila general manager Alexander Dietzsch, the philosophy behind Vergara-Tupas’ plant-based creations is aligned with the hotel’s own wellness-forward belief.
“We are very focused on the well-being of our guests. Eat Well is one of the six well-being pillars,” he said, the others being Sleep Well, Move Well, Feel Well, Work Well, and Play Well.
Some of Vergara-Tupas’ best-selling dishes will also be part of Westin Manila’s daily lunch buffet until the end of July, including the watercress soup, mushroom adlai salad, Tempeh mushroom grain bowl, pesto pizza, Asian salad with fish tofu and sambal matah, roasted tofu and vegetable skewers with cauli rice and tzatziki sauce, and rosemary olive oil cake.
“Our selections range from indulgent to wholesome, all made with sustainably sourced ingredients. While we serve buffet and savory, hearty delights, we also have an Eat Well menu with a few plant-based and vegan options to cater to guests looking for healthier alternatives,” said Rej Casanova, the hotel’s Executive Chef.
But then again, the wonder of Vergara-Tupas’ dishes lies in the fact that one would order them because they are delicious. That they are good for one’s health is just a bonus.
“Most of our customers in Davao are not vegans nor plant-based eaters. They come back and order again because they like our food. We let our food do the talking,” she said.