Oh My Gulay: Where to Eat in Baguio (4.4★)

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Why Oh My Gulay is worth the climb

You won’t find this place by looking straight ahead. Oh My Gulay hides on the fifth floor of a nondescript commercial building on Session Road, and the only way up is a stairwell that feels more like an art installation than a fire exit.

Vines spill over the railings. Hand-painted signs, found-object sculptures, and dangling lanterns crowd every landing. By the time you reach the top, you’ve already forgotten you’re in a building that also houses a photocopy shop.

The name is a playful pun — “gulay” means vegetables in Filipino — and the restaurant leans hard into that identity. Expect a menu built around produce from the Cordillera highlands, the region Baguio sits in.

Getting there

The address is 108 Session Rd, in the heart of Baguio’s main commercial strip. Session Road itself is the city’s central artery, easy to reach on foot from Burnham Park or by jeepney from almost anywhere downtown.

Look for the building number rather than a storefront sign — Oh My Gulay doesn’t have street-level frontage. Head inside, find the stairwell, and start climbing; there’s no elevator, so budget a few extra minutes if you’re with kids or anyone who needs a slower pace.

What to eat

The kitchen is vegetarian-forward, though not strictly vegetarian, and pulls heavily from Cordilleran vegetables and herbs. Portions are generous and prices sit firmly on the budget-friendly end.

Dishes worth flagging:

• Vegetable lumpia and salads built around highland greens
• Baked goods and desserts, since the space doubles as a gathering spot for Baguio’s art crowd
• Herbal teas and fruit shakes, good for warming up or cooling down depending on the season

Baguio’s elevation keeps things cool year-round, so the food here — warm, earthy, vegetable-heavy — fits the climate.

The atmosphere

This isn’t a polished, minimalist dining room. Every wall, ceiling beam, and corner is covered in local artwork, hanging plants, or handwritten notes.

Tables are mismatched, lighting is dim and warm, and the whole place feels assembled by decades of artists passing through rather than a single designer. It’s cluttered in the best sense — the kind of clutter that rewards slow looking.

Give yourself at least 90 minutes, less for the meal itself and more for soaking in the visual noise around you.

When to go

Oh My Gulay is closed Tuesdays, so don’t make the climb that day. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday it runs 11am to 7pm; Friday through Sunday it stays open until 8pm.

Weekends get busy, with a steady crowd from 11am through closing at 8pm. If you want the place closer to empty, aim for a weekday evening between 7pm and 8pm — the quietest window by a clear margin.

How to visit like a local

Oh My Gulay is still under the radar relative to Baguio’s bigger tourist draws, so you won’t fight the crowds you’d find at, say, Burnham Park on a Sunday. That said, a few habits help you blend in rather than stick out.

• Climb the stairs slowly and actually look at the art — locals treat the stairwell itself as part of the visit, not just an obstacle.
• Go on a weekday evening near closing if you want a table without a wait.
• Cash is the safer bet for a small, independently run spot like this — don’t assume card payment will be smooth.
• Skip Tuesday entirely; showing up on the wrong day is the most common tourist misstep here.
• Order family-style and share — the portions and pricing are built for grazing across a few dishes, not one plate per person.

The mistake most first-timers make is treating this as a quick bite between shopping stops. Oh My Gulay rewards lingering — order slowly, look around, and let the fifth-floor detour become the actual point of the visit.