Papillon Vegetarian Cuisine & Grill

Wait… what?!
Vegetarian AND Filipino… like, together?!! As one?! NO WAY!
YES WAY.
Like everyone else, I am VERY VERY VERY sad that this place has closed. Although I don’t live in the area anymore, I always looked forward to the possibility of eating here again.
This is by far THE BEST Filipino restaurant that I’ve ever tried and everything that my co-​workers and I ordered were vegetarian versions. Every bite blew my mind, because I couldn’t believe that Filipino food so delicious could be without (real) meat.
Anyway, Papillon needs to re-​open. SERIOUSLY.

I’ve always been on the hunt for a good FIlipino restaurant, and when I figured out that Papillon was not that far away from me I was excited to give this place a try. This Filipino place, while vegetarian, was one of the best Filipino places I’ve been too. I was so happy when my sinigang actually came out with a multitude of FRESH vegetables, and that the sauce in my Beef Steak and Adobo had the viscosity of a great sauce. Although I did wonder if they remembered to check if the sinigang mix they were using was vegetarian. Most sinigang mixes have shrimp powder in them. I only wonder because I am allergic to shellfish, not because I am vegetarian.
Can’t believe I’m reviewing a place that closed down already, but I had to. I’m so happy I got to visit this place twice before it closed down. My first visit was about a month before I heard they closed down too. I couldn’t beleive they closed down when I heard the news.
There needs to be more Filipino places like Pappillons –as in the ingredients are fresh, food is made to order, taste great, and while the setting left a little to be desired, it was cute enough. Loved the cute little old town El Segundo street it was on too.

I Loooove the Special House Tofu, and the veggie Adobo tooo!!! Vegetarian Pilipino food whaaaaa?
The waitress is so nice and friendly. Anna and I came back to this place countless times during the time they were in business at El Segundo.
I came here one day to order and surprise my hun with Papillon, but I did not find the place! The sign was gone and in its place was a BBQ joint, do’h! I couldnt believe my eyes, that I drove up and down the street in search of good olé Papillon… but nothing around me was close to it.
Does Anyone Know where Papillon is? Please let me know if you find them.

So sorry to hear this place had to close down. I went there weekly when I worked in the area and would go to El Segundo on a regular basis from Pasadena just to get some of their house special tofu. Their soy meats were some of the best I have tried — and I have tried a lot. It was the perfect work lunch spot with it’s meat menu for those coworkers that wouldn’t venture into a fully veg restaurant.
Having been a patron there for many years, I have tried most of the veg items on the menu and I never had a miss (though I never tried the fish/​seafood ones because I never liked fish or seafood as an omni).
I hope they are able to find a new location someday and reopen.

Yum, yum and yum.
This place is close to my office and such a treat to go to for lunch! Their «beef» and broccoli is my favorite thing! The only thing that scares me is that they serve real meat dishes as well. i always have to check my food before i leave if I do takeout (not that they have ever messed up, I’m just paranoid). I also love their eggplant with tofu and their cashew «chicken».
The people that work there are super nice.
I am definitely a fan and will continue to go back!

So, I review a lot of veggie places… but if you are vegetarian (or like one) you’ll appreciate it.
Papillion is a cute café style place. It’s located on Main St in El Segundo, and during the summer, it’s great to walk up and down the street.
The food is yummy, and they have vegetarian and non-​vegetarian options. I LOVE the House-​Special Chicken (fake), it’s a little spicy (jalapenos), but if you need a kick, it’s great.
We have taken out-​of-​town guests here and they have all said they enjoy it as well. Not for a nice, romantic dinner, but good for a quick bite out.

Wow, that was lovely. We ordered chicken adobo, sinigang, and lumpia (all vegetarian), plus a big pot of brown rice ($ 40 with tip, 2 people, lots of leftovers). The sinigang was so, so, so good with tons of vegetables and some kind of. .. pork-​flavored.. .vegetarian.. . something. Delicious. The adobo had plenty of good sauce for the rice. The lumpia was serviceable, but nothing compared with the other two dishes. They did the brown rice right, which never seems to happen.
The ladies who work here are very nice. We got to watch the Oscar red carpet on T.V. while we ate dinner.

Happy healthy stummy alert!
My homegirl Judith brought me here for lunch last year and I was impressed! Nice little joint on a main street in El Segundo (*cue ATCQ). Quaint and very homey. Pleasant and friendly wait staff. The clients were also interesting because all kinds of people walked in and dined there. We had 3 dishes and unfortunately I only remember 2. We had house special something which was my favorite and I ordered the adobo. Everything was absolutely delicious! (exclamation point even!) I will definitely make a pilgrimage to Papillon everytime I make my way out to So Cal because I like to please my stummy. I wish I lived next door to one of these joints so I can eat healthy and not feel bloated after piggin’ out. Cheers!

I was very happy to find this restaruant. As a rule, I stay away from filipino food because it is hard to find anything remotely vegetarian.
It was great to be able to select from their extensive menu. I have had the adobo several times and several other dishes. I wish it was a purely vegetarian restaurant, but it’s nice to see that they do have some great veggie selections.
Atmosphere– not too fancy, but it’s on a nice little street to walk on after you eat.
5 stars for being the only time I’ve ever seen the words vegetarian and filipino together anywhere (and delivering on it!)

I tried the Vegetarian chicken adobo and loved it. Don’t compare it to real chicken adobo as it’s like comparing apples to oranges. In giving it 5 stars, I had to ask myself, has such a feat ever been done in Filipino cooking? If so, then I have never heard of such a thing as vegetarian Filipino food.
The combination of Garlic, veggie meats, peppercorns, and other spices made their vegetarian adobo a wonderful experience. I tried the vegetarian escabeche which was also good. Gonna try some more later.
While their menu says vegetarian, I’m wondering how much of their menu is actually vegan (no dairy or eggs).
They also have meat options but I imagine the vegetarian dishes are what they are known for. Being that it’s a Filipino restaurant and not a Chinese food place, I’d try the Filipino stuff first as I’ve already tried vegetarian Chinese food but we’ll see how that can be.

This was by far my favorite restaurant in El Segundo when I was working there and El Segundo has no shortage of good restaurants. I only ever ate off the vegetarian menu so I can’t vouch for the meat but the vegetarian menu was amazing. The vegetarian beef and broccoli was awesome. I still miss it. Sometimes I even dream about it at night. Well not really, that would be kind of sad, but you get the point. If all vegetarian food was this good there would be no reason for anyone to ever eat meat.
The staff is super friendly and after only a few visits already knew my usual. The prices are very reasonable. They also have brown rice and don’t charge extra for it which is always a sign of a quality place in my book.

Oh, I wish I could give more stars for my peeps!!!
I have been craving good, home cooking and dragged my husband here.
I guess it wasn’t a good sign that there was no one else in the restaurant. Hmm…
Service was attentive and gracious.
We tried the chicken (real) adobo, beef (real) steak, and non-​vegetarian pancit canton. It’s hard to explain the taste of the adobo and steak. Both sauces were a bit muddy (like the meats were overcooked and crumbled) and had plenty of garlic. The food just didn’t taste good. I don’t know if the adobo lacked vinegar or if the beef steak needed more lemon or soy sauce?
The pancit had chicken, slices of spanish sausage, and shrimp. It was fresh and tasted just okay.
Perhaps we should give the vegetarian choices a try…

The start of the South Bay Lunch Crew…
Yup… I was there and this was the spot!
Initially, I had my reservations about this place because of the «vegetarian» claims.
Pilipino + Vegetarian = anong sinabi mo? (What did you say?)
But… it was actually quite tasty and (thankfully) not all vegetarian.
Every dish we had was nicely cooked. The sinigang was a little on the sour side… but it still had really good flavor.
I LOVED the Lechon Kawali.
And the Adobo was different. It was chicken, but all thin slices of white meat. Good, and healthy (er).
Parking is atrocious. I ended up parking across the way at the City Hall and ended up with bird crap all over my car…
Other than that… it was great food, good service, and always nice to break bread with some Unilocalers.
Happy Birthday, Julie!

I came here today for a South Bay UYE. There were 7 of us and I was the only Filipino virgin but I love all food so I was not worried that I would not like it.
We order several dishes and shared so we could try many entrees. Some dishes were vegetarian and some were not but everything was fantastic. My favorite foods were the non-​vegetarian dishes.
I drink a lot of ice tea and the server probably filled my glass 5 times without me ever asking. The owner was in and he was very friendly and hospitable.
We hung out there for a couple hours but they did not seem to mind.
Oh yeah it was Julie M.‘s birthday and her first UYE so we ordered her a dessert [see photo] which she shared with everyone.

So today was another Southbay Lunch Crew series get together!
7 of us converged onto the sleepy Mayberryish town of El Segundo to have… of all things… filipino food! Yes, you read me right!
We decided to order family style although the lunch specials were very tempting at $ 6.95 a plate which by today’s standards, is a very, very good deal.
We started with appetizers of veggie lumpia (large eggrolls with veggie meat and cabbage) and non-​veggie lumpia shanghai (smaller eggrolls with real pork) all which were the courtesy of Papillon! Thanks Papillon!
We decided to mix it up and order both vegetarian and non-​vegetarian dishes. We had the Papillon House Special Vegetarian Chicken which was one of their signature dishes. It was really quite tasty and had a slight spicy kick to it.
We also had the El Florido which consisted of string beans, potates, eggplant, okra, whole straw mushrooms, vege chicken, vege pork, and tofu all mixed in a coconut milk and curry sauce. This dish was simply delicious! A must have if you come here!
In addition, we had the non-​vegetarian pancit bihon (noodles), lechon kawali (fried pork belly), chicken adobo and sinigang (vegetables in a tamarind broth).
The pancit was good and the chicken adobo rocked too. The chicken were slices of white meat chicken which made for a nicer looking presentation and was really quite good.
The lechon, even while being the unhealthiest dish, was really, really delicious with the special dipping sauce. The sinigang was slightly more sour than I’m used to, but was tasty nonetheless especially when eaten with rice.
We also ordered halo-​halo for Julie, the birthday girl in our crew, who was nice enough to share her treat with a few of us!
Chris, the owner, was very accomodating with us and the wait staff was very attentive as they continually refilled my drink even when it was still half full!
It’s a cozy place serving great tasting and healthy filipino fare! I’ll be back again!

Vegan filipino food? Wha wha what? I was trippin’ when I initially saw this place. Filipino food without the meat? Is there such a thing? How can you have something like dinuguan, adobo, pinacbit, calderreta to be vegan? hehe. I have to say… this place was pretty awesome.
There’s parking on the street, but if you want, there’s a small parking lot behind the building, and you can enter in from the back. I parked behind the building, and when I was entering in from the back, sure enough, I knew I was at the right place, when I saw 2 older filipino men, playing cards. I met up with the rest of my peeps at the restaurant.
Started off with the veggie lumpia… not bad. Then we had veggie beef steak, veggie pancit, house special tofu roasted chicken. Dude, that «chicken» was GOOD! The pancit… was pretty much your average pancit, except with tofu chicken and shrimp in it. The veggie beef steak… man, they even had it appropriately shaped and everything. I wasn’t a big fan of it, but the rest of the company that I was with, liked it.
We topped it all off with a nice helping of Halo Halo. Dude, I know this sounds lame, but I don’t discriminate against what’s in my halo halo. Whatever they put in there, I’ll eat it. Beans, ube ice cream and all. It was really good. They had cornflakes in it for the crunchy aspect (instead of pinipig), which just made it yummers.
Who knew I’d be full after a vegan meal? Hehehe. Definitely a place to go back. I want to try so many other dishes.

I don’t know how the reviews are so high for this place. I got the kung pao tofu and hot and sour soup. Both tasted weird.
The kung pao tofu was deep fried in some kind of batter and wasn’t very good except for maybe the peanuts.
The hot and sour soup was a little too sour.
Maybe it’s just a matter of picking the right thing to order? I don’t know but don’t think I’ll go back.

This is one of my very favorite places to eat. The pancit and orange chicken are yumm yumm yumm. So is the Thai iced tea. And lumpia, start with lumpia!

My little sister, always a fan of torturing me in a passive aggressive fashion, decided she was going to chose a flight that landed at LAX at 7pm on a Friday. Upon receiving this news, two things were apparent to me. 1) I was going to sit in traffic. A LOT of traffic. 2) She was going to arrive with one very empty stomach. I knew I should probably have a restaurant pre-​selected and pre-​mapquested to avoid possible conflict. I’d been wanting to try Papillon for some time now, and this seemed like the perfect excuse to do so. I’m a veggie, she’s a voracious carnivore. It seemed like the perfect fit.
Have I mentioned that I love when I’m right? Papillon is located in this charming little stretch of restaurants on Main St. in El Segundo, which I never would have known existed. We sit down at a table, and the waitress comes over to take our drink orders…
Waitress: What would you like to drink?
Sister: Just water.
Me: Do you have any alcohol? (Hey…it was a long drive).
Waitress: No.
Me: Do you mind if I run to the liquor store next door and bring some in?
Waitress: (Gives me the «Are You 12?!» look) No, but you must hide it!
Score! I run next door, grab a 4 pack of mini Barefoot bottles, ask the waitress for an extra glass, and the diner now officially begins. My little sister ordered the Garlic Rice. She and I, both full blooded Jewish females, have a true understanding that there is no such thing as too much garlic. This rice will back up our philosophy. It was spectacular. I ordered the Airport Special, which is basically veggie chicken, rice and a side of veggies. Minus one star because the veggies weren’t that fresh, and were served in a very odd, almost flavorless sauce. The garlic sauce on the chicken, however, really made up for it. It was delicious.
All in all, it lived up to it’s expectations by about 85%. I’d definitely return.

UPDATE: Staff members give me the cold shoulder and once served me a meat entrée with real meat. I’m still unsure whether it was on purpose. I will probably order to-​go from now on.
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Cheap, inconspicuous and delicious. Papillon has the most plausible $ 5 to $ 7 meatless lunch specials in Los Angeles.
I go to graduate school about five minutes away from Papillon on the other side of the airport. My eyes perked when I read the $ 5 student lunch specials on their menu. Five dollars. I like you already.
Add tax. Add tip for expedient service and for the cooking — a generous amount of piquant orange sauce over chicken with rice in a bowl. I was impressed. The food tasted as rich as other expensive vegan places.
Papillon is located in the antiquated and winsome downtown of El Segundo’s Main Street. You wouldn’t believe this small eatery is sandwiched between dirty refineries and the colossal LAX runway. There is outdoor seating because the air condition isn’t as crappy as one would imagine.