A FRIEND of mine was called bipolar once by a frustrated boyfriend. It was not a compliment.

Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric condition that has one feeling manic (with excessive enthusiasm or excitement) one moment and the next moment feeling depressed (sad, gloomy, dejected, downcast). There are various treatments for this disorder that range from self-help methods to mood stabilizing medications and anti-depressants.

But owner Jetro has found a better solution: food! Diagnosed as being bipolar since he was young and having experienced medication that made him feel worse, he began experimenting with his diet, cooking with ingredients that made him happy and avoiding food that would lead him to spiral into depression.

Initially a cure for his personal mood swings, the idea has grown wings of its own and has evolved into Jetro?s very own restaurant called Van Gogh Is Bipolar in Sikatuna Village near the University of the Philippines in Quezon City.

Actually, the place is not so much a restaurant as it is an ?art space.? It feels like you are entering a friend?s apartment rather than a restaurant when you walk through the door. There is just one dining table, one coffee table inside the ?apartment? and a couple more coffee tables outside near the parking area/garage. Service is just as if you were at a friend?s house. There are no waiters because Jetro is owner, creative director, cook, host and waiter all at the same time!

He will welcome you into Van Gogh, happily share with you the concept of the restaurant, point to a wall where his artfully painted scribbles tell you his story (he is very eloquent), seat you, hand you the menu, disappear into the kitchen to cook, then peep through the little window where food is shoved, and ring a bell. That?s your cue to pick up the food from the window (if he?s inside the kitchen; otherwise he gets it himself and serves it to you).

To say that the food is interesting is an understatement. The menu maintains the theme by having the dishes named after famous bipolars: Van Gogh, Larry Flynt, Axl Rose, and even American bipolar presidents Roosevelt and Clinton.

Axl Rose?s Egg Shot is an organic egg served raw, still in its shell, in a glass of hot water, covered with a saucer. After a couple of minutes, a shot glass with wild honey and some kind of toyo (soy sauce) is served to you, and you are to break the egg and pour the yolk and whites into it. It is literally an egg shot. I would drink this at night with a glass of beer. As explained by Jetro, this is supposed to perk you up. How can it not, with all that cholesterol?

Sting?s Hot Cherry Potato are simply boiled cherry potatoes made spicy. This is great pulutan (bar chow). It is supposed to be good for bipolars because potatoes supposedly relieve anxiety.

If you want a salad, try Larry Flynt?s Cabbage Experience. No green joke here. It?s an entire cabbage boiled and served in the middle of a plate, surrounded by dilis, pomelo, mango and salted egg. Jetro then instructs you to get a leaf and wrap the ingredients in it. The result is a refreshing, light yet crunchy cabbage roll. It actually gave me a light feeling! This is in the menu because cabbage is apparently known to beat depression with its vitamin C and folic acid. Cabbage helps release a high level of serotonin in the brain for a ?happy-state-of-feeling.?

The specialty of the house is lamb and salmon, so try Roosevelt or Clinton. President Roosevelt?s meal is simply roasted salmon, served because salmon is a source of omega-3 oils that give you a ?happy feeling,? served with ?Van Gogh rice? which is really organic white rice topped with mountain rice, a piece of marigold and basil leaves. These are served generously.

Van Gogh rice is special because, the menu says, it is 100 percent complex carbohydrate, with B1 and B3, and folic acid. The glucose (duhhh!) gives you a happy high. And Jetro says it beats depression too.

They also have pastas, tea, coffee and sardine concoctions that I have not tried but are interestingly described on the menu. After dinner, you must try Mel Gibson?s Darkest Sin. This is simply a vodka shot but with dark chocolate, an almond and a walnut. With chocolate and vodka, you are sure to forget your problems.

Now I don?t know about this whole study on food making people happy, what ingredients release serotonins or Richard Bonnins or whatever onins. All I know is that when you?re down, the solution is to eat! ?

Van Gogh is Bipolar. 154 Maginhawa St., Sikatuna Village, QC. Tel. 3940188 or 0929-1638592. Wheelchair accessible. Cash basis. Casual. Around P250/P300 per head.