van gogh is bipolar

april 18,2013

i decided to bring my then-suitor to this place since i've been dying to visit this place ever since coz of the good reviews. well, it was worth going even its raining very hard that night. we really had a greattimesince we're welcomed by the owner itself who was busy for his exhibit the next week. the place was sooo comfy and cozy and very private. dining experience at its best i must say.

so van gogh was serving what they call the cuckoo diet - designed for beings who are feeling depressed, stressed out, anxious, or just in a plain foul bad mood. it is designed nutritionally and chemically to activate these specific nuerotransmitters in the brain known to make you happy and chill.
the meal includes:

* virginia woolf’s tears - light tangy turkey broth soup with greens and banana chips
* larry flynt’s cabbage experience - entails wrapping cucumber, tomatoes, banana chips, salted egg, and walnuts in a cabbage leaf then dipping in soy sauce.
* "happy" - organic chicken with mountain brown rice and "chill" - crunchy salmon with mountain brown rice
* mel gibson’s darkest sin - absinthe with dark chocolate
* courtney love’s potion - is a cocktail of various fruit pulps and juices using rare ingredients such as wild palawan honey


rating our dining experience:

location: 5/5 (very private)
serving: 5/5 (self service but they're very helpful especially if you need something and you can't find it)
food: 5/5 (yummy and different)
overall experience: can i give this place a 10? hahaha.

xo.
ani

my seventh five! so we wanted to try this place since my friends say it is a good one and my boyfriend and i went to try it during a weekday, dinner time. so we looked for it in maginhawa and we were close to giving up but then we parked and just asked the guard and tada, there it was! at first we were confused about the place. it is quite a small house and there were a lot of things in it. like literally. 

we were then welcomed by a girl. i forgot the name but then she explained everything and i was like amazing! new things to try. and she gave us a small book and it contains the things to do and both of us were go! so first we ordered and did step b step the things written in the book. and it made us really calm. like we just let it go. we felt fresh and light.

then the food came and wow. the way how it is presented is so artsy! like really artsy. artsy and at the sametimedelicious.

i often read about "van gogh is bipolar" when i search about the best restaurants in maginhawa. a friend and i wanted to explore maginhawa and we decided to go here. i used waze to find the place and honestly, when we got there we still couldn't find the resto. it was located in a lot and had no signage. if we hadn't asked around, we probably would never find it. for those who want to go here, please note that they only open from 3pm-12mn regardless of what it says on the signage (it states it opens at 1pm), please also note they are closed on tuesdays. the whole area can accommodate around 20 people so it's best to come early as they do not accept reservations anymore.

coming in van gogh, you'll notice there are so many elements to the place. there really is a story to tell for each section of the restaurant. they even have a guidebook to let you know what you can do inside. there are really a number of things you can do but i probably can't tell them in the order stated in the book. some of the things you can do are:

1. write negative thoughts in the dark room
2. have a shot of the coconut oil
3. have a shot of the baking soda water
4. write positive thoughts on the red wall
5. wear a hat/mask
6. make your own tea

an interesting concept from this restaurant is that once you order, you have to put your payment in a jar and get the change yourself. you will also have to record the sales on a log book which they will use to tally at the end of the day.

the food they serve is a set meal and your choices are vegetarian, pescetarian and carnivore. there's not a specific vegetable, fish or meat you can choose, it varies everytimeif i'm not mistaken. i had the omnivore set meal while my friend had the pescetarian set meal. i was served with lamb on top of red rice topped with some fruits and herbs while my friend was served with salmon on top of red rice topped with fruits and herbs. with the set comes a tamarind juice and a special dessert. i initially found my lamb a bit salty but then i dipped it in their van gogh sauce and found that it actually balances the flavors. the serving portion was so big i honestly couldn't finish it so definitely value for money. i also love their tamarind juice, normally i don't drink/eat anything that involved tamarind but i really found their drink very pleasant.

now on the most interesting part, their dessert! i had the wholesome dessert which was a frozen ice candy and it was quite good but it was the sinful dessert that got our attention. it was chocolate liqueur but the alcohol used was actually absinthe! on a spoon, the waiter placed some muscovado sugar and placed some of the absinthe on it. he lit it up on fire as to lessen the alcohol content and finally placed it on the chocolate. my friend drank the shot of absinthe and finally ate the chocolate liqueur. i was so engrossed with the presentation i forgot to take a video!

i also wanted to note how kind everyone was in the resto. the owner's pet cat actually jumped on the chair beside us and ate the leftover skin from my friend's fried salmon. out of concern for the cat, we had told the staff that the cat had taken it and it might be bad for her. the waiter was so shocked and went in the kitchen and a few minutes later came out to apologize and told us they would replace the salmon. we insisted that it was unnecessary since we were already done eating but they still had another one made. we were so embarrassed as it really wasn't our intention to get a new salmon served to us.

honestly the whole experience was amazing, we spent almost 3 hours there because there were just so many things to do! i definitely recommend everyone to try this, perfect date spot as well! :)

had the best experience at vgib
4 years ago, plan lang namin ng bf ko mag punta dito and celebrate ng valentines but since we can't book and malayo ang place samin never na natuloy. we never expect na in thistimeof pandemic pa kami makakapunta ❤️ a little storytimeoct 29 8pm pumunta kami ng maginhawa looking for a nice restaurant. nagwoworry kami kasi baka wala ng open. luckily chef jethro accommodated us and bonus pa na kami lang ang nasa place! the start na naka pasok kami ng restaurant, sure na akong ibang experience and sulit lahat, their food was really delicious and healthy then ang dami pang serving! dont hesitate na baka di sulit yung babayaran nyo kasi sobrang sulit at sobra sobra ang iooffer nila sa bayad mo 😆 can't wait go back here! more power to this restaurant ❤️

p.s couples, group of friends or even solo ka lang dapat talaga nyo ma try to. promise super worth it!

truly unique experience and great ambience. only thing was that there was no one to attend to us by thetimewe came in. but everything else was perfect

eating at van gogh is bipolar is a unique experience. from the friendly volunteer staff welcoming you, to dining on the menu of the week which in this case is a vegetarians delight. i found the experience enjoyable even if the price for the meal is somewhat high but i learned that the proceeds they get from the food also helps sustain the charitable work they do here. in the afternoons from 3pm to 5pm except tuesdays, they invite people to care for the homeless. volunteers are welcome to spendtimewith the homeless, talk to them or do activities with them. you can also donate clothing, toys and even food bec they also have a feeding program. all this is done out of love and this serves as a good reminder to be selfless fromtimetotimeand give back to society.

it was my firsttimeto eat at van gough is bipolar yesterday.

service:

i love that the owner himself was very hands-on. he was out there talking to all the customers. he was very accommodating and pleasant. to our sever, me and my friend are both very honored to be the first yolk-breaking customers that you served.

food:

the food was very interesting. if your palate is not that adventurous then this might not be your cup of tea. it was my firsttimeto taste those kinds of flavor combos in food and i fancied it. it is not typical. it is not what i'm used to, but at the same time, i enjoyed it. it was something that gave me a good feeling even hours after eating it.

experience:

i love the alice in wonderland feel. i love that things are not what they seem here. although i was not used to using the utensils that they had ( i almost gave this a rating of 4 actually because i had a hardtimeusing some of it xd) and i didn't get to see any fairies, everything was really chill- especially in the shadow room. the light room was also nice, but i like the shadow room the best. you won't know what kind of food they're going to give you but they will give you a piece of paper where in you can write down what food you're allergic to and what kind of food you prefer. it is good for people with food restrictions.

overall, was i satisfied? yes i was. will i go and eat here again? yes i will. i enjoyed all the surprises and everything that i experienced for the first time. it made me really happy. :)

i don't really mind how pricey the food is here because the food here is a gastronomical delight! 😍 you go through this cabinet pathway (lol. that's how i would describe it) and enter a place with a lot of paintings, a lot of cool stuff, and some nice chandeliers. there is a myriad of interesting things here.

we got the set menu for 700 pesos or so at the time. i lovvvee their juice drink here. it's just so naturally good. 😍 plus the buddha something tea here (i forgot the exact name) is really, really good. 🤗 i got lamb for my dinner and it's actually amazing how they made the rice with nuts and fruits. it seems a bit bizarre but it works wonders. :) at thetimewe were here we didn't know what kind of food we would get since it's a surprise but everything was really good.

i wouldn't exactly label this place as 'hipster' since this place is actually a haven for those who are struggling with mental illnesses. we talked to the owner, and he's a really wonderful person, and he told us that the food he served here was also his diet. he told us that he researched on a kind of diet that would help recover from mental illnesses. pretty great stuff huh? i'm not sure but many the effect of the diet he has has something to do with the hormonal pathways like dopamine and such. again i'm not sure. lol. but it is a nice concept. and he told us he got the ingredients fresh from their own farm.

he also told us that anyone who struggles with mental illnesses like anxiety, major depression and such can actually go to this place and just talk with the staff. i think it's a great advocacy since a lot of people think that mental illness is so simple. they usually fail to comprehend it's a cascade of hormonal or neurotransmitter imbalance in the neurological circuitry. it's like any other disease like hypertension or diabetes that warrants medications. so i'm happy this place practices that. ❤️

all of these plus great food makes this place a really unique one.

we're all weird anyway.

i've been thinking of going to this restaurant a bunch of times and i finally called, made a reservation and it's a good thing i did that because i never had such an amazing dining experience.

this restaurant is all about the experience you have while enjoying your meal. they ask you to take your shoes off and so you walk in, feeling like you're at someone's kitchen or apartment. and then, depending on what seats are available, and how you feel, you get to sit wherever you want (i suggest that you make a reservation and arrive a little early than your reservation to get a good seat.)

what makes this place really unique is that they let you be who you really want to be. you can have dinner with a tiara, or hat, or mask, or whatever floats your boat. they're also trying this new thing where they wash your hands before you eat with natural ingredients so that you'll feel like royalty. the experience of stepping out of your comfort zone yet still being so much of yourself is what makes this place worth visiting. it is a little pricey but it's absolutely worth it.

the food is weird but that's what you'll love about it. it's weird in all the good ways you want it to be. i suggest getting the chicken because it's soooo tasty but remember that they do change their menu fromtimeto time. as for the tea, i suggest you go crazy and do whatever you want with your tea as long as you drink it after :)). trust me when i say that the mood they want you to feel after dinner is the mood you will feel through out the night :)

i've never had such a greattimeover dinner and i'd love to come back again :)

went here last december 23, 2017 with my boyfriend for our christmas dinner. the place is very chill with a mystical vibe. the experience is very unique and interesting! it's a good dining place for lovers who wants a quiet and peaceful environment. the food is a bit expensive though since we paid 3800+php for the lovers set with mostly just salad, a 1/4 roasted chicken, and 2 small cut of salmon but still very filling. i would recommend to my family and friends but we kinda felt it's for a onetimeexperience only. but overall, we love it!

not just a café, not just a restaurant — but a mood-healing sanctuary. that perfectly sums up van gogh is bipolar which is located in the ever popular foodie destination, maginhawa.

i've been wanting to visit this place for years and finally had the chance to do so last weekend. van gogh is bipolar is owned by artist jetro rafael, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and uses culinary adventure as a form of healing.

we arrived at the place at exactly 12nn for our reservation. you'd need to take off your shoes before entering the place, and upon entrance, we were greeted by all sorts of weird, quirky and whimsical objects. even the feel of the place was like falling onto the rabbit hole.

we were greeted by lawrence, who was our attendant for the day. he was very cheerful and friendly and felt like he could be my baby brother. you'd instantly warm up to him. haha! he gave us a black guide book and a checklist for our food preferences (where you have a choice for the heat level of your food, if you're a vegetarian, pescetarian or carnivore, and you can list down any food allergies), as well as their ala carte menu. we opted for the experience set meal for p999/head. it comes with soup, appetizer, drinks, mains and dessert. not bad, eh?

now back to the black guide book, this is where all the magic starts. ✨ inside the black guide book are different self-healing rituals you can do. first, choose your own teapot and make your own mood-healing tea based on your current mood. they have a mood meter for your reference on what tea leaves to choose from. the process of making my own tea is a relaxation in itself, bakit pag sa bahay at nag-steep ako ng lipton tea bag hindi ganito? lol, jk. 😂

i'm not going to list down all the mood-healing activities so as not to spoil those who haven't been to vgib yet. but i'd like to highlight the activities that i enjoyed — the dark room, where you can write down your deepest, darkest thoughts and secrets. the garden, where you can sit down, breathe, think and relax. oh, and it has a swing! ♥️

now let's go to the food! their menu is always shifting and mostly depends on the mood of the owner.

✨ soup — virginia woolf tears
it's a veggie-based hearty and slow-cooked broth using just natural ingredients. perfect to soothe and comfort your weary-stressed soul. yas! they had me at "comfort your weary-stressed soul". charot! but kidding aside, what i loved about this soup — aside from its unique name — is that it's uncomplicated (unlike your relationship status, charot again!) 😂 it's very flavorful with just cabbages and cashews as its main ingredients.

✨ appetizer — axl rose's organic egg shot
this one was personally prepared by lawrence for us. it's made of organic egg submerged in hot water for 5 minutes, then the egg white is separated from the yolk. the yolk is then put on a shot glass, sprinkled with organic sea salt with wild honey mustard, and jägermeister. organic egg is a known stress buster especially when eaten raw, and jägermeister is a type of herbal liqueur which includes 56 herbs, fruits, roots and spices.

before downing the egg shot, lawrence told us to never take a shot without saying "cheers!" in a different language. the boyfie and i toasted to "kampai!" and downed it! damn, bruh! this one is for the adventurous soul! i'm an adventurous foodie anyway so it was no biggie for me, but i gotta admit i was a bit weirded out. in a good way, of course. 😂

✨ drink: courtney love's potion
— my courtney love's potion of the day was fresh coconut water with a slice of dalandan, topped with mint and edible flower. it was served in a tall glass and the drink was just too pretty!

✨ mains: personalized happy or calm dish
— consists of lamb chop with cordillera black mountain rice, and different sorts of veggies and fruits, all in one huge plate. this dish was super filling, i loved how perfectly cooked the black rice was! it wasn't grainy and goes down smoothly. and the lamb chop was 💣 — the meat was tender and very flavorful. plus, i liked that they included fruits and veggies in the dish, it was a nice combination of salty and sweet.

✨ dessert: mel gibson's darkest sin
— for dessert, lawrence gave us a choice between wholesome and sinful. we initially chose sinful for the bf and wholesome for me so that we can try both. but he suggested that for first timers, sinful dessert is recommended. who am i to argue? sinful it is!

this sinful dessert is a shot which is mainly absinthe liqueur with wild honey and homemade melted dark chocolate with walnut as chaser. lawrence prepared this drink in front of us, he poured the absinthe on a glass bowl and lit it on fire to dilute the alcohol volume and sprinkled cayenne pepper which created a "firework-like" effect, it was too entertaining! 😂💯 (fun fact: absinthe is vincent van gogh's favorite drink and he was high on this when he painted his most noted masterpiece, the starry night.)

again, in true vgib fashion, we toasted to "cheers!" in a different language, thistimein german — "prost!" i felt the burn of the alcohol from my throat all the way down to my stomach. the melted dark chocolate was indeed the perfect chaser, it washed down the bitter taste of absinthe.

van gogh is bipolar is truly a gem. the experience was one for the books! the saying "good food is good mood" holds true in this mood-healing sanctuary. no wonder first timers are intrigued and regular patrons keep on coming back.

this is a place not meant to be rushed, you need to linger and savor the experience. i instantly felt lighter afterwards. ♥️ i will be back! and for those who still haven't been here, i suggest you reserve a table, pronto! ✨

me, my girlfriend and her bestfriend went here last july 7th for her birthday and since she wanted to go here for the longest time. i also want to go but sadly i didn't had thetimebefore. so on to the review.

place = 4/5

i really love the ambiance of the place. it's very different and since we went inside barefoot, i really felt at home. i apologize that i've forgotten the lady who assisted us but she was very polite and so were the other people there. try to call just to be sure you have a place since some people tend to stay for awhile just like we did (note: there were nobody yet when we went there so we had the place for ourselves for a few hours). they also have a word of the day for "cheers",

ours were

the only thing that i didn't like was the fridge where you put the shoes, it smelled different.

price= 4/5

some people may say that it's pricey but for me it's totally worth it. some people that you are just paying for the experience but i could say differently. the food tasted fresh and you have like an explanation for the food you are about to eat.

taste=4.5/5

i have forgotten what the names of some of the food that we ate so i just looked it up from other food reviews.

we chose "experience and calm diet" (what do you expect, of course i'd choose meat).

hot tea (holy water if i remembered correctly) = 👍

when we got inside and sat down. we were served a hot tea. it tasted a little like a mango, a little sweet.

soup

the soup was okay. it's like rice porridge with lots of vegetables (cabbage i think), since i don't really like vegetables, i had a little trouble enjoying it.

axl rose’s egg shot

the appetizer is an egg yolk mixed with tamarind sauce/drink, i didn't like it that much since i don't like tamarind but it's still good.

courtney love's potion = 👍    

it's our drink and it's great. it had some fruits in it but it still tasted great. as per jetro, it would be better to drink using the glass instead of the straw as they have a paper straw and it might affect the taste of the drink.

main dish = 👍

since the main dish varies depending on what is fresh and jetro as well. i didn't find the name so i will just describe it as much as i can.

it was a chicken breast (i think) with black mountain rice with different kinds of fruits and vegetables on the side. the chicken was cooked well and it was delicious. the black mountain rice was great too and i was joking that i'd want more of the rice. the fruits were fresh as well. i at least tried all of them even though i didn't like some. the vegetables i had to give to my girlfriend.

mel gibson's darkest sin + yogurt = 👍

for our dessert, it was a shot of absinthe flambeed with sugar i think then served with dark chocolate. i took the shot and ate the chocolate. i think i might have drank it the wrong way as i didn't tasted the absinthe that much.

her other dessert was the yogurt with dark chocolate. she said she liked it too.
~~~~~~

all in all, van gogh is bipolar is a great place to stay at and definitely worth the visit.

tried it here waaay back october 2015 for a school project and interviewed the owner. hmm, i must say.....i will never ever forget this place

we went here after school. i live in pasay so yup, we braved the traffic and rushed to maginhawa and prayed that it would still be open by thetimewe find it. we kinda had trouble finding it since it was sort of hidden. it was my firsttimein the maginhawa area then so you could imagine how lost i felt.

all these aside, my experience in van gogh is bipolar was a m a z i n g in all aspects: the service, the vibe of the place, the food, the cleanliness, etc.

my friend and i got:
- sweet marbled potatoes for our hot appetizer
- a dish that consisted of salad, black rice and chicken w/ sauce on the side for his main
- linguine pasta w/ salmon strips for my main
- some ice candy for his dessert
- some ice cream (ginger, i think??) with dried mangoes on top for my dessert

and everything was plated attractively & pleasingly. but what's really interesting is that the owner mentioned something like having different dishes depending on the cook's mood?? it's that cool.

the place was decorated in a way that each side/part of it had a different feel (you should really go there to see it for yourself) i also loved the bathroom. it was so clean, relaxing...and just wow

they also had a "make your own tea" section which is a super plus because duh, tea is life.

the owner we interviewed was very warm and welcoming. he told us about how van gogh is bipolar came to be and we were just amazed because it wasn't just buolt for fame or whatever reason there is for people to put up restaurants...but to heal and to comfort those who need it

if given the chance, i would definitely go back to vgib

in love with this place! migo and i were roaming around maginhawa (again) for a new place to eat. of course since food is not as easy of a compromise as most couples since he and i have different diets, we were lucky to find vib!

it's such a feel-good sanctuary that reminds us to unwind, relax and get weird once in a while. the price-point is really up there, but i promise it's worth it. 4-course meals at 999 per head is totally worth it if you're willing to enjoy the adventure that comes along with it.

during thetimewe had our lunch, it was really nice to have the entire place to ourselves. it was serene and fun, made us go back to when we were in our teenage dating years.

i recommend you guys try everything, since there really is no specific dish here that repeats itself. taboo as it may seem, i suggest you give it a chance. they serve meals for meat-eaters, pescatarians, vegetarians and vegans! such a diverse menu keeps us wanting to come back for more! will definitely give credit to the life server. he's super accommodating and smart. we learn something new at every dish!

beware and be ready for alcoholic drinks to be served. my boyfriend had two courses with two different hard drinks that made him say, "hmmmm" 😂

4.5 out of 5! the place lives up to its hype! great and unique gimmick. i love it. bringing my friends here soon. 💁🏻

i've written a blog about it - not a food review, but basically to just share my experience when i tried vgib. i know that it's been a while since the lasttimei've visited, and i'm sure that there were already a lot of changes and improvements. nevertheless, i am still waiting for the opportunity to be back in the resto for another great experience! prost!check my wordpress blog at jerichoswalls : van gogh is bipolar – more than just a place to dine.