MANILA, Philippines ? Chinese vegetarian menus often get mired in agonizing meaty flavors of gluten, but at the Makati Shangri-La?s Shang Palace, the dishes are appetizing and familiar, made with the best ingredients.

Beyond the prodigious use of dried black mushrooms, abalone or straw mushrooms that add interest to the vegetables, this cuisine shows a harmonious arrangement of colors, textures and flavors. It is also de rigeur to find dishes resembling a type of meat or seafood. For example, the vegetarian prawn is made from mowu, the Japanese equivalent of taro, mashed with yellow bean powder. No fishy taste here.

The vegetarian prawn is served with crispy asparagus or with steamed wintermelon, sea moss and preserved vegetables for a little kick. It is also made into a hearty soup which is Wu?s version of colorblocking by adding sheets of black nori and bits of green spinach to contrast the yellowish faux prawn.

The classic roast goose skin is made from bean curd sheets marinated in soy sauce. These sheets are lightly fried, offering a contrast of crisp outer skin and soft and chewy interior.

Bean curd skin stuffed with bits of black mushroom and chopped vegetables, then folded like a pancake and fried, is softly chewy. Braised mock meat is a product of the protein of flour, accompanied by with black mushrooms and bamboo shoots. As in typical Chinese meat appetizers, the classic mock meat is dipped in a variety of palate-tickling sauces.

Inspired by Bodhi

Over lunch, Chinese executive chef Wu Kin Man explains that the recipes were based on his impressions on dining at Bodhi, a popular vegetarian restaurant in Hong Kong, steeped in Buddhist principles and temple food. But unlike the heavy sauces and oily textures of traditional vegetarian cooking, he applies a discreet hand to the fresh ingredients.

As a result, even the fairly straightforward dishes make a commendable showing. Sauteed snow peas are uncomplicated in preparation, but the celery, quickly sauteed, have a snap to them. Wu doesn?t fuss with vegetables and mushrooms. He lets the ingredients do all the work. When a slight turn of the wrist will do the maneuver in cooking, he does no more. A dash of salt and sugar instead of MSG, for example, gives the needed wattage for the braised broccoli flower with golden mushroom or for the abalone mushroom with black beans that have cooked separately to let the flavors come out.

A golden plate of vegetarian duck, deep-fried to a light crunch, takes a spare, lemon sauce. The succulent black mushroom is packed with crunchy minced vegetables.

Exotic elements

There are other exotic elements lending distinctive accents. Lettuce is used to wrap crunchy julienned vegetables, turnips, carrots, water chestnuts, mushrooms and pine nuts.

The braised vegetables with bamboo pith, young corn, black mushrooms with broccoli leaves are prepared with a tangle of frilly white fungus. Bamboo pith adds a classy touch to the hearty corn soup or braised Chinese cabbage and golden mushroom.

The soups are made of a basic stock of boiled red dates, mushrooms, mandarin orange peel, ginger and carrots. Wu explains that this formula clears the throat and the lungs. He offers the usual varieties such as sweet corn soup with bamboo pith. Black vinegar, an aromatic condiment, perks up the hot dishes. His version of the Sichuan hot and sour soup is made with bamboo shoots, mushrooms, black fungus and laced with black vinegar and oil to substitute the shredded chicken, shrimp and eggs. For a delicate and sweetish soup, he recommends the gingko nuts packed with bean curd and vegetarian prawn.

Wu has prepared dishes which are coolers for the humid weather. The barley and wintermelon soup assuages the heat in the system. The chilled vermicelli salad with slices of cantaloupe, cool cucumber and mango, topped with caramelized walnuts is refreshing to the taste buds.

To cleanse the taste buds, you could have a choice of red bean or green-tea ice cream.