Related Blog Post: SOUV! by Cyma with Chef Robby Goco’s Culinary Magic!
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★ HOUSE-MADE CHEESE (P455 +10% service charge). Combination of 2 cheeses served with toast
GREEN PASTURES is the farm-to-table, back-to-basics, organic resto of Cyma’s Chef Robby Goco. Most of the ingredients are proudly locally-sourced, they don’t use MSG or canned ingredients, and nearly all of the items are homemade.
Its name is inspired by the desire to look for greener pastures and something a lot better than the status quo, especially when it comes to the Manila dining scene. Unlike that of its restaurant neighbors, Green Pastures’ concept is not a rehash. The excitement for this place is actually reminiscent of when Cyma first opened in Shangri-La Mall.
Yes, the Chef did it again! This is, so far, the BEST among the many successful restos he launched in Manila over the years. This is definitely one of the must-try restaurants of 2013. 🙂
Related Farm-to-table Resto: GRACE PARK: Farm-to-Table Organic Restaurant by Margarita
Here’s our Green Pastures experience…
Green Pastures is located at the fourth floor of the new East Wing of Edsa Shangri-La Mall. It’s right beside Balboa, across Corazon.
(Tip: If this is the first time you’re going to the East Wing, there’s plenty of parking space at the basement)
Just look for the friendly, farmer-inspired servers – the Bettys and Marys or Bobs and Johns.
It gets packed during lunch and dinner and is full almost everyday since it opened last Aug.28.
(Trivia: Chef Robby Goco is not afraid to open during the ghost month because Cyma was also opened around the same time and is still successful to this day.)
The resto features an open organic kitchen setup where you can see how the food is prepared.
The focal point of the place is the vertical green garden amidst the wooden farmhouse theme.
GREEN PASTURES MENU: Organic Provisions, Signature Salads | First Course, Always Available, Meat & Bread, Commandable Mains, Grill, Sides | Liquid Provisions
The menu is printed and has a validity period, as if to communicate their commitment to an ever-changing, vibrant list of choices based on what’s available.
You can make your own salad from a wide selection of ingredients for P385.
We decided not to order salad. We weren’t sure if the ingredients were still good after being exposed to flies and kitchen activity.
I do hope they start covering the salad ingredients to ensure their cleanliness and freshness.
You can also order from their organic juice bar. See menu: Liquid Provisions.
★ PINEAPPLE-MALUNGGAY (P125 +10% service charge)
We tried their smoothies and liked our healthy pineapple-malunggay. We love that they don’t use ice to make it cold, but rely instead on frozen fresh fruits to deliver a refreshing smoothie.
ORGANIC MELON GREEN TEA (P100/glass +10% service charge)
Their iced organic melon green tea is just OK. It tastes a bit diluted and is expensive for what you get. You can add P50 to make it unlimited.
★ RICOTTA (P255 +10% service charge). Cow’s milk cheese made fresh daily, with onion jam and roasted garlic
We love their freshly made ricotta cheese. The best way to eat this is to first top the toasted bread with a piece of roasted garlic, add some cheese, and then a little bit of the sweet onion to complete it. 🙂
(Trivia: We thought the bread was toasted with butter, but we later found it to be a buttery type of extra virgin olive oil from Greece. :))
★ STRACCIATELLA (P325 +10% service charge). Buffalo milk cheese prepared fresh daily, with EVOO and arugula
We also love this combination of arugula, stretchy fresh buffalo cheese, and EVOO. 🙂
(Tip: Try both cheeses and order them at the same time; everything is good to share.)
★ MUSHROOMS TOAST (P210 +10% service charge). Organic mushrooms and quail eggs with house-made ricotta
We love this, too! Toasted organic mushrooms from Ministry of Mushrooms topped with ricotta cheese and quail eggs…Sarap!
It was great chatting with Chef Robby about how he came up with Green Pastures. He makes it a point to visit each table, so make sure you don’t miss the opportunity to hear the story from the Master Chef himself.
★ CRAB MEAT AND SEA URCHIN PASTA (Solo – P385 +10% service charge) with lemon, chives, spaghetti
It’s refreshing to see new pasta combinations like this seafood one with crab meat and yes, sea urchins. 🙂
(Tip: Make sure you try their other combinations like the tender Octopus and Bone Marrow pasta.)
★ BLUE RIBBON BURGER (P455 +10% service charge). Grilled freshly ground Kitayama Wagyu shortrib, chuck, and brisket, Malagos Roquefort blue cheese, grilled brioche
We love this simple but yummy burger with a thick Kitayama Wagyu patty, just topped with Malagos blue cheese, on a grilled brioche bun.
It was really good, sulit for its size and big enough to share.
(Note: The waiters forgot to ask us how we wanted our meat done, so make sure you specify your preferred doneness to enjoy this burger.)
★ TEQUILA JOE’S ORGANIC BEEF SLOPPY COW (P495 +10% service charge) with homemade oyster jus and mushroom glaze
YES! Tequila Joe’s iconic dish, the Beef Sloppy Cow (Salpicao), is back with a vengeance in Green Pastures, using their own oyster jus (not commercial sauces) and mushroom glaze. The meat is very tender, comes with lots of garlic, and has a smooth oyster-mushroom sauce flavoring.
(Note: This is the best throwback dish ever and I can understand why its popular among the Tequila Joe’s generation.)
★ SALTED CARAMEL ICE CREAM (P235 +10% service charge) with popcorn crunch, house-made chocolate sauce, and whipped cream
We love this dessert combination of organic popcorn & honey, house-made chocolate sauce, and salted caramel ice cream from Bono!
I really like the crunchy texture with just the right combination of chocolate and salted caramel flavors.
★ MILKEGGSHONEY (P155 +10% service charge). Organic honeycomb, homemade greek yoghurt, citrus curd
It’s the first time I’ve tasted organic white honeycomb! I love the sweet and crunchy texture, and the combination of the citrusy-sweet curd and creamy greek yogurt is just heavenly.
This is the BEST original dessert I’ve tasted in Manila for 2013!
Overall, we really admire the great execution of Green Pastures’ farm-to-table restaurant concept, focusing on the use of organic and locally-sourced ingredients and with the committment to back-to-basics preparation by avoiding MSG and canned or commercially packaged products.
We recommend the house-made cheeses, the innovative pasta combinations, the Kitayama Wagyu burger, the popcorn crunch ice cream, and the organic honeycomb dessert. And how could we forget Tequila Joe’s iconic salpicao? 🙂
Budget is P700/head and make sure you’re there early.
The facade of the restaurant looks commercialized because it’s in a mall and is beside other commercialized restos. It would have been nice if it were in an outdoor-type mall or stand-alone location like the original Cyma in Boracay. I also hope they take the necessary steps to ensure the freshness and cleanliness of their salad ingredients moving forward.
Congratulations to Chef Robby Goco for a well-executed Green Pastures!
GREEN PASTURES by Chef Robby Goco
4/F East Wing, Shangri-la Plaza, Mandaluyong City
Telephone Number: +632 654-3219
Operating Hours: Open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Facebook: Green Pastures Resto
★ – Highly Recommended
Related Review: Green Pastures Zomato Review by Kirsten Uy De Baron
The Best of Edsa Shangri-La Mall Series:
- GREEN PASTURES by Chef Robby Goco: Farm-to-table, Back-to-Basics, Organic Resto
- BROTZEIT Philippines: Starting the German Bar & Resto Craze in Manila?
- IKKORYU FUKUOKA RAMEN Philippines’ Black Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen!
Live an Awesome Life,
Founder, www.OurAwesomePlanet.com
P.S. I’m excited for new resto concepts from Chef Robby and cheers to Greener Pastures!
I don’t think this is an original concept as there is a restaurant in Davao city with the exact same premise and the name is as explicit as the sun every morning. Try visiting Balik sa Bukid. I’ve been there once last year and I think they’re still in operation. Everything on the menu is literally fresh as they operate and maintain. Their own organic farm right on site. Cheaper too. Of course chef Goco has bragging rights but come on, 400 pesos for local cheese??
Thanks for the tip on Balik Bukid! I'll check it out 🙂
Anton
Thanks a lot for the tip… Will visit it soon…
http://www.teknogadyet.com
Robby Goco really knows how to rock food….. Looking forward to dine to that place…. Thanks Anton
We heard that his partners in Charlie’s took out his management team Degustation for failing to deliver what they had promised which is to make the company prosper. But Robby is still very much a shareholder of Charlie’s. Looks like whoever told you that he’s out of Charlie’s deleted the part where it was actually Degustation that was removed because of their failure to manage the company well. One more thing, isn’t this entry supposed to be about Green Pastures? What’s the point of writing that portion about Charlies? Are you out to sabotage, as well? There’s always 2 sides to every story.
Glad I stumbled upon this! Can’t wait to try Green Pastures!!!!! Just a side note for Karen – the straciatella is a close relative of burrata (which sells about 1,200 per kilo from the last I checked) and is made from fresh carabao cream which is rare. Won’t be surprised it costs P400! =)
Hi Anton,
This is my first time to comment. I’m an avid follower of your blog and I appreciate your honest reviews of new restos in the country. I just don’t think it was necessary to include issues that Chef Robby Goco may have with his partners in Charlie’s. This was an entry on Green Pastures, as Cristina pointed out. I don’t know what your purpose was in mentioning their internal conflict. You’re a well-respected food blogger and I don’t want your reputation to be tainted just because of unwarranted comments. Just my humble opinion.
Hi Anton! This is Chef Robby Goco. Thank you very much for the awesome blog, I enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed cooking for you. More power to you and your blogspot. However, I apologize for it becoming more of a hate page because of the post script comment on Charlie’s which I shared with you.
Now to clarify the issue, I am no longer connected with Charlie’s nor do I have shares in that company whatsoever. Another management team and their Chef is already running the operations with their own set of standards and principles. My management team, Degustation and I have nothing to do with it anymore so please disassociate me with that concept. We take pride in knowing that during our management, Charlies was able to bag the Manila’s Best Kept Secrets Burger of the year award for 2012, Ernst and Young nomination for proper management and being listed in the Top 10 Tax payers for Pasig among other things. Now to whoever is running Charlies, its time for you to step up, do your own thing and earn your badges. With this, let us now rest the issue as we now move on to Greener Pastures!
Hi Gina and Jessica, thanks for the comment and I changed the ps as you suggested to be more appropriate for the review 🙂
Hi Chef Robby — Thanks for clarifying this and cheers to greener pastures!
Anton
Bravo Mr Blogger! Your entry has officially become a hate page rather than a review for Green Pastures. Told ya, you shouldn’t have posted that remark about Charlie’s. What was the point? Piece of advise, THINK before you write. Your blog has just become like one of those chismis/expose sites. I feel sorry for Green Pastures coz instead of people being able to put positive comments, it has been filled by crappy ones.
YES, You are right. I usually share the latest news about the chefs but I didn’t realize how sensitive the issue is. I learned my lesson and apologize for any further issue it caused.
Will close the comments for this post.