Frannywanny

If there's one thing that I dread experiencing whenever I'm back in Manila then that would have to be the crazy traffic jam! It must be the never-ending road works or the growing number of cars on the road but the traffic condition continues to worsen year after year. Take our recent trip for example. We were very lucky that our  Philippine Airlines  flight arrived earlier than scheduled giving us more time to quickly see our family and head to San Juan for dinner. We got to NAIA 2 at 6pm and believe it or not, we reached San Juan at 830pm. That's 2 and half hours on the road with Waze giving us various routes to help us get home as quickly as possible. Oh my goodness! Papa, Pan and E were at home waiting for us and after we quickly dropped off our luggages, we headed to the nearest restaurant for our late dinner. I suggested Hai Chix & Steaks  as it has been on my list for the past months. I wasn't sure if it was any good but I guess, we'll never know if ...

I know the traditional romantic will probably strangle me for saying this but falling in love with food is pretty much like falling in love with that special someone. It's that moment when you had an amazing meal and you can't stop thinking about it. You find yourself talking about it to anyone who'll listen and you can't wait for the next visit to finally happen. A few weeks ago, I just had one of the best meals of 2016. That's quite a bold statement, I know given that the year is coming to a close. Add to the fact that I was down with a bad 3-week-long cough, I clearly wasn't in the best physical condition but wanting to check the restaurant out, I still pushed through and luckily, every single dish made the tiny struggle so worth it. Basil Thai Kitchen  opened it's flagship outlet at the basement of Paragon Shopping Centre. I have to admit that while I've visited this mall a number of times, it was my first time to explore the basement and boy I...

There's really something so calming about watching the sunset by the beach. It could be the relaxing sound of the waves crashing into the shore or feeling the sand on your feet or just watching the sky turn from blue to golden yellow to orange to pitch dark. It's just so magical. Growing up in a country that's pretty much surrounded by huge bodies of water, I've learned to love the beach life. It's that one thing that Paul and I would make it a point to do at least once a year. For us, heading out to the beach means taking a break from work, from city life and just allowing ourselves to relax. Sadly, it has been years since we've had our annual beach getaway but as they say... "you can take the girl out of the beach but you can't take the beach out of the girl." The sun, sand and sea will always find me and here in Singapore, I found it in Sentosa. For the past two weekends, Paul and I has been heading over to Sentosa to catch the sunset an...

Rise and Shine! Let me start your mid-week by talking about a new all-day breakfast nook that my friend (and kumare) S and I recently discovered during my last visit back in Manila. As I've mentioned before, our schedules every time we're back home is always so packed so I normally would meet up with friends for brunch, tea time or after dinner milk tea sessions. I haven't hanged out with my dear friend S for so long and I was so happy that we finally found a common free schedule to do so. Since we live quite near to each other, it was easy choosing a place to meet. She suggested Eggspresso  along J. Abad Santos and I excitedly said yes as I've been hearing about this place from my friend T. As the name suggests, this restaurant specializes in all things with eggs. I believe that eggs and cheese are the two things that you can never go wrong with. These two can make what could be a simple ho-hum dish into one that's so delicious. The restaurant was very new wh...

Call me hipster but I really enjoy dining at cafes and eating healthy cafe food. There's really something about getting the feeling of being satisfied minus the guilt and nagging thought that your heart is getting clogged up by fats or your blood is filled with sugar. I'm never a fan of most veggies and believe me, for a food blogger, I have been a very picky eater ( just like my friend Richie, hello there! ) but age and reality is fast catching up and I know I have to get my act together by eating healthy if I want to live a better, longer life. First came Ninja Bowl at Duxton Hill where I fell so in love with their interesting lunch bowls which can be filled with veggies or healthy grains and combined with the best proteins. A year or so after, came Ninja Cut  along Seah Street which promises to offer choice cuts and all-day brunch items very similar to its sister restaurant. I love how the same operating group decided to open this second outlet with a slightly different...

If there's one thing that I missed the most about our Japan trip. It would definitely be the FOOD. The fact that every single meal just leaves us so happy and satisfied. There was definitely no bad meal in Japan and even something as simple as the rice is worth swooning about. During one of those nights strolling along Paul's favorite district -- Akihabara, we chanced upon a small restaurant that's packed to the brim. Well, okay it's a really small restaurant but every single seat was taken by Japanese office men busy eating what looks like a mountain of rice covered in Japanese curry. Ooh lala! We both love Japanese curry and so we patiently queued up. Luckily, turn over was so quick that in less than 10 minutes, we found ourselves comfortably seated at the far end of the restaurant while watching the chefs prepare our food. There's really something about Japanese curry that's so comforting and addicting. The mild spicy note, the totally umami flavor prof...

Who can relate to this? "You have to work late at night and with barely enough cash in your wallet, you wander around your office area looking for something to eat. Not in the mood for fast food as you just want something more comforting, a bit more healthy yet quick to consume and one that won't hurt your budget. Where do you go?"  I can probably say that just like you and me, 80% would probably head to the convenience store. It has a wide array for food and snack options and you can definitely get hot dishes that doesn't necessarily mean having to ingest deep-fried food. Personally, 7-Eleven has been my go to place ever since I started working here in Singapore. It's where I can find good and reasonably priced siu mai, a delicious bar of Magnum (where I don't have to buy the entire box if the craving strikes) or the place where we bought our first ever SIM card upon landing in the Lion City. It has basically everything and almost everything that you...

"People who love to eat are always the best people."  - Julia Child I totally agree with this quote as come on, eating is such a joyous occasion and people who love to gather around for a good meal are naturally joyful and happy, don't you think? Take my food-loving friends for instance, there's never a sad or dull moment with them as we all enjoy discovering a new restaurant or when we do get to discover a winning dish, we all share that same amount of excitement and thrill over it. Our friend D is one of those people whom we just love hanging out with. Often times, I would tell him that he's such as a nice and down-to-earth guy. He's always true to himself even when that means having the appetite to order almost everything on the menu and not being ashamed to do so. Of course, Paul and I will always support this "dreams" and we would be game to pig out with him too! Kidding aside, we're really blessed to have a friend like D and how cool is...

No matter how short or long our stay in Manila is, what we loved the most are those times that we would spent with our families. I'd say, we're really improving in terms of scheduling our meet-ups as we get to allot more to family and our ever understanding friends would willingly take the brunch or tea time slots. During our recent visit home, we blocked off our Sunday lunch to go out for a nice meal with my in laws. It was also this time when Paul and Achi Jen decided to co-celebrate their belated birthdays similar to how they used to do in the past since their birthdays are two days apart. Achi Jen took care of making the reservations upon my request to try Tomo Japanese Dining  in Araullo Street. It's really a good thing that she made a reservation as the whole place was fully booked that day. We even bumped into our former flatmate C and his family there! My MIL has been there a couple of times so she knows what are the must-orders. Here are some of the dishes that...

Chef Lee Hoong Wan of Hotel Jen Orchardgateway did it again!  Remember that time when I got to taste his delicious Laksa Fried Rice  and promised to myself that I need to visit Hotel Jen Orchardgateway to have more? Well, I kept my promise and so, to celebrate our 13th year anniversary as a couple, Paul and I agreed to have our dinner date at Hotel Jen Orchardgateway's restaurant Makan@Jen . Call it perfect timing but the restaurant was holding a two month long Ultimate Prawn Party  and we couldn't be happier as we love seafood and crustaceans the most. Oh, I can feel my mouth water by just thinking about it. From the 3rd of October till the 1st of December , patrons of Makan@Jen can indulge in a wide array of prawn-filled dishes from the mouthwatering Salted Egg Prawns to the very comforting Prawn Noodle Soup and more. Mind you, I'm not talking about your average prawns that you get to see in the market everyday. These are specially imported prawns such as the T...

Outback Steakhouse  has been a household name since the early 90s. If anything, there are three things that I remembered clearly about Outback  -- yummy (and complimentary) brown bread with butter, the best onion rings and really good steak. I remember visiting their Glorietta branch with my family quite often as Papa is a certified steak fan. Outback  opened pretty much around the same time as TGI Friday's , Italiannis  and Tony Roma's  in Manila. This was when US-branded restaurants serving huge sharing portions became the trend. Not only is it a family-friendly place but given its huge sharing portions at reasonable prices, it was also a good choice among high schoolers and college students too. It has been years since I've dined at Outback Steakhouse  so I was really excited when I got an invite to visit the one here in Singapore. It may be confusing to think that Outback Steakhouse  is from Australia. Actually it's from the US serving Aussie-ins...

Rise & Shine ! What do you normally have for breakfast? For me, it's normally bread, instant oatmeal, yogurt or my favorite Chicken Pau from the hawker stall across my office building. For someone who just loves traditional Filipino breakfast that normally consists of garlic rice, egg and a meat variant, I've somehow learned to go easy on my breakfast choices simply because I barely have time to cook a lot every morning. Well...except on Sundays. I know this may sound weird but Sunday is actually my favorite day of the week. Ignore the fact that it's the day closest to Monday but it's actually the only day in the week when Paul and I have no work and this means we can sleep till much later and relax all day. So, whenever I feel like cooking something new or experimenting on a new recipe, I'd schedule to do this on Sundays.

So how does it feel to be a "tourist in your own country?" I never thought the time would come when Paul and I actually would feel that way. I guess it's pretty inevitable given that we've been away from Manila for more than 3 years and we only get to fly home at an average once every quarter and during those visits, we would only stay for a week or even less. For a country that's fast developing ( I hope ) and there are just a lot of new retail outlets and restaurants opening left and right, we recently found ourselves lost while navigating around... Bonifacio Global City  -- a place that we used to frequent more than once a week many years ago. Believe it or not, I even had to call my sister to help us find our way out to C5. Unbelievable. Anyway, before our little "lost in BGC" moment, Paul and I had a wonderful quadruple dinner date at the newly opened Salvatore Cuomo  with our long-time friends. I was so excited when A suggested that we try Sa...

"건배!" This means "cheers" in Korean and truth to be told, it's one of those words that I rarely get to say as I don't really go drinking very often. Perhaps "맛있는", which means "delicious", would definitely be one that I'd say on a daily basis. For some reason though, when I received an invite to visit Joo Bar  for dinner (and drinks), I was really excited to go check it out. First of all, I've never been to a Korean bar not unless you'd consider those in Myeongdong that serves Korean Fried Chicken and beer then yes, I love going to those! Secondly, together with the drinks I'm pretty sure the food will be interesting to try too. Thirdly, it's just in Bugis which is one of my favorite shopping and eating districts in Singapore. However, finding the restaurant can be quite a challenge. My tip is to take the road across Bugis Junction  and walk all the way towards  Marrison Hotel . Before reaching the corner, kee...

Question: Where you can find the best restaurants / hawker stall / food kiosks here in Singapore? The answer? Just follow the queue! I heard this tip a long time ago and thought that friends and colleagues were probably joking. Let me tell you that this is one thing you have to believe and take seriously as we speak the truth. The simplest way to know where to eat is to go for the stall with the longest queue. I got to admit though that the Pinoy in me hates queuing up and while I will never jump or cut queues, I have the tendency to go for the ones with the shorter line or even those with none at all. We gotta support them too, right? I'd like to think that there can never be a bad meal here in Singapore. With hawker stalls lasting for decades and restaurants opening one after the other, the food industry here is definitely alive and kicking.  So, on those rare occassions that I found myself with a couple of hours to spare, I found Tai Cheong Bakery  at the bas...