Frannywanny

This is a classic story of when a foodie dream came true.♥   Exactly 3 years ago in (almost always) sunny Manila, The Cheese Steak Shop opened its doors to the hungry public of the Philippines. That was the time when my taste buds were elevated to higher standards of cheese steak sandwich appreciation. "This is the REAL thing" my mind has been telling me. I've later found my favorites such as the Breakfast Cheese Steak  paired with a cup of crunchy onion rings .  I knew that when we left Manila, this will be one of those restaurants that I'll miss terribly. Oh for two years, I continued to long for that delicious piece of cheese steak sandwich that's packed with thinly-sliced tender beef and a generous serving of veggies. How I wish they'd come to Singapore. Just like that, my wish was granted! A month ago, Paul, O and I went to Kallang Wave Mall to check out the newly opened Cheese Steak Shop . O hasn't tried the one in Manila but hearing how Pau...

As a food bloggers, friends and even strangers would come up to me and ask one common question: What is you most favourite restaurant ?   What may seem like an easy question to some is actually one that has left me stumped a couple of times as I rack my brain like it's some kind of a filing cabinet as I try to recall all those amazing, I-could-die-now dining moments. After having the privilege to dine in hundreds of restaurants in the Philippines alone, I realized that finding my favourite restaurant wasn't exactly all about focusing on the swanky and classy ones that serves caviar, foie gras and a lot more dishes most of us could hardly pronounce properly. It's all about being extremely comfortable when dining in there that it will definitely be the one that I'd automatically go to when I'm feeling down or when I'm just craving for a surefire good meal. That said, one of my favourite restaurants in the Philippines  is none other than Cibo . I have been a lo...

I have to admit that I am very sentimental most especially when it comes to... LOVE . Who can blame me? I grew up thinking that once upon a time, a dashing prince will just sweep me off my feet and we'll live happily ever after. Despite this, I would also hope that no wicked witch would come our way but I don't mind having talking tea cups, 7 friendly dwarves (seriously, Fran?!) or a sassy fairy godmother who can instantly give me a ride and a make me a nice looking gown too. ....Well, at least that part about finding my prince charming became a reality but I don't think the others would materialize anytime soon...maybe not ever. *sigh* That's life! So, for the past 11 years, my prince, who knows me so well, would ensure that Valentine's Day would be extra special for us. This year, we took the weekend off to have a nice hotel staycation complete with dinner and a movie date too. Nothing extremely fancy as I'm not really a fan of degustation dinners whe...

"Sugar and spice, and everything nice, That's what little girls are made of." Truth to be told, it really seems like girls or women have this on-going love affair and fascination towards dessert, agree? So, when I met up with fellow blogger Justinne  for a double dinner date in Cebu City last December and we both agreed to have dessert after, our ever supportive and loving partners just willingly went along with the plan. After all, they know better than to stand in the way of true love dessert. I'm so glad that Justinne and her beau Luis knew just the perfect place to take us to. Located close to Ayala Center Cebu, Sweet Incantations Confectionery is a cozy looking shop that specializes in cupcakes and homemade ice cream. I totally love the minimalist interiors of this cafe -- black chairs, marbled top tables and wooden serving plates. Simple yet classy! We were the only customers that evening which is rare as Justine and her beau L told us that we went ...

To celebrate Valentine's Day, Paul and I booked an overnight staycation at Marina Mandarin Singapore . Anyway, let me tell you more about that in my next few posts. Allow me to skip and talk about the lunch that we had the day after Valentine's Day . Since we had a hearty breakfast at the hotel, lunch for us was at 2pm. We got two Groupon vouchers from cousin J for High Society Cafe at The Shoppes @ Marina Bay Sands so we decided to check the restaurant out since we were already in the area. To be honest, I had no idea where the restaurant was as it was only Paul and his cousins who went and ate there before. After walking for about 10 minutes, I spotted the restaurant. It's funny that I don't recall seeing this before perhaps it was overshadowed by the Cold Storage and The CD Shop beside it. The best landmark is to look for Cold Storage and Toast Box which is located across the restaurant.

Huat Ah! This is probably the first Singlish phrase that I've learned when we moved to the Lion City exactly two Chinese New Years ago. As half of the city went overseas and the other half were busy visiting families, we took this time to make our visit to IKEA to quickly furnish our new place. All around us, people were tossing shredded vegetables while screaming " Huat Ahhhhh!! " I had no clue what they were doing then but who would have thought that this would be one exciting practice that I always look forward to every Chinese New Year -- Lo Hei . Paul and I loved it so much that we even brought back packs of Yu Sheng Salad to share this "veggie-tossing" practice with our families in Manila.  This is just one of the many things I love about Singapore and the Singaporean culture. Another thing we love (and we're pretty sure the rest of the world do too) about Singapore is the yummy hawker heritage . Many have been saying that hawker centres won'...

At the start of the year I made two major resolutions and I vowed to finally make sure that I accomplish them. First is to start a fitness regimen and to get healthy while the second is to cook more. It may sound contradicting but you see, I realized that being able to cook my own meals means I can have full control of the amount of oil, salt and sugar that goes into each dish. This way, not only will I be able to hone my domestic goddess kitchen skills, we can eat healthier too. With that, #frannycooks on Instagram was born. I'm no Julia Child or Giada de Laurentiis (although I wish I am as pretty and hot as her) , however that doesn't stop me from being creative with my cooking. Thankfully, I've moved forward from the usual pasta or egg dishes that I've been making all these years. I'm someone who loves challenges and on nights when I know that Paul will be working late, I take that as a challenge to be able to surprise him with a good meal. I also hate...

"Care for some dessert? Admit it. No matter how full you may be after a meal, the thought of enjoying dessert never fails to put a smile on your face. Be it a scoop of ice cream, a piece of chocolate or a slice of cake, a meal will never be considered complete without dessert. That said, a trip to one of my favorite cake shop here in Singapore is something that I always look forward to. Luckily, it's located so close to my workplace so it's so easy to just pop by to buy a box of cake for someone dear or to enjoy a slice or two when my stress level calls for it. Yesterday though, the goal was to introduce Cake Spade to my newly married friend L . This was after pigging out over our individual gyoza lunch sets at Gyoza King. I'm so glad that L is such a great eating companion that she was so game to have some cake after lunch. Yay!

Every time I look at my growing list of restaurants to try in Manila, I can't help but sigh. The list is just so long and mind you, this includes carefully chosen a.k.a. curated restaurants brought about by my daily blog hopping that I think I have to go home at least once a month to be able to have the time and appetite to try them all. This is why I'm thankful for friends who are always so game to try any of these restaurants with us. I swear, I just love the thrill of being able to cross something off my list. #OCDproblems Take for example three of our favorite people in Manila -- Didi , Rowena and Peter . We've been friends from the early days of blogging and somehow, our friendship has slowly moved on from being mere "blog friends" and "eating buddies" to real, genuine friends whom Paul and I know will be there for us no matter what. After all, we've all had our fair share of being victimized by pseudo friends who were just there to take adv...

The entire world knows about Singapore 's fast and reliable transport system. Buses and trains arrive right as expected and should there be any breakdowns, announcements will immediately be made. That said, being late is really a non-existent excuse in the Lion City as everything can be well calculated for from point a to b and back. We also know that Singapore is a pretty small country with a land area of a little more than 700 km 2 . So, when Paul and I had to travel for more than an hour by MRT to get to our lunch destination, I guess that's considered to be quite far. On the way there, I was really crossing my fingers (and toes) hoping that the wait and travel was worth it. Finally we got to Yishun 10 Complex for the grand opening of Burger Up . It's a purely Singaporean concept and I tell you, it's not your ordinary fast food / quick service restaurant system where you queue up, give your order and your food will be ready in less than 3 minutes. Let me walk yo...

One thing I love about Singapore and more importantly the people in Singapore is their ability to queue up orderly. No kidding. I believe that the secret to a country's success is the people living in there and seeing how disciplined and organized everyone is here, it's no big surprise to see that Singapore is one of the fastest progressing country in Asia. Queues are normal. Wherever you go in the world, you'll see people queueing up to purchase something -- food, tickets, bags, clothes...anything! There's also always a queue inside the loo! However, it's how people react to queue differs greatly. I've witnessed people jumping the line, cutting queues, creating their own imaginary queue in another country and I can't help but notice how this kind of mentality affects the progress of the country. Anyway, enough political talk and let me go back to FOOD. Since late last year, there seems to be a new food trend that's quickly taking Singapore by sto...

When Paul and I flew to Cebu for a short but sweet R&R, we also agreed to have our post Christmas / early New Year's dinner date there as well. You see, since we don't get to go home to Manila that often, all our schedules are always so jam-packed we're home. Yes, we're physically together as we do our personal errands and when we meet up with friends but we rarely get to have our own quiet time with just the two of us. So, we finally saw Cebu as a great opportunity to unwind and to simply enjoy each other's company. For our first night, I suggested that we head over to Crossroads Banilad which has been my favorite dining spot in Cebu. It consists of a number of establishments including my favorite dessert place La Marea and what's said to be the best Mexican restaurant in Cebu called Maya .

Whenever I think of Germany , the following instantly come to mind : Oktoberfest, yummy German sausages, FIFA World Cup 2014 championship and a couple of really pretty luxury cars (hello Audi and BMW!) . Being a foodie, let us focus on those meaty, perfectly grilled German sausages, shall we?  Looking back, I remember how Mommy and I love visiting Santi's Deli and we would pick up a mix of German Sausages at least twice a month. It's interesting to note that there are more than 20 types of German sausage s, 80% of which I could hardly pronounce. :P However, my favorite is the German Bratwurst which I love having with rice.  Last Friday lunch was spent with two of my favorite local food bloggers at Mr Berlin . It's a relatively-new restaurant located along Shenton Way, within the busy CBD area of Singapore. Mr Berlin specializes in authentic German currywurst which is a very popular snack made out of chopped chicken/pork sausage and served with a rich toma...