Frannywanny

Gone are the days when we can list off all the best and authentic Chinese restaurants available in town. Lately, it seems like they have dwindled in number and what's left are really just a handful of the tried and tested, best of the best, true blue authentic Chinese restaurants. It could probably be due to the pandemic where most Cantonese chefs decided to head home or it can also be the affected F&B industry where we saw a number of really good restaurants bade us goodbye.  Therefore, should you come across a really good restaurant, let's give our all-out support and dine there as often as we can. A few months ago, we discovered Crystal Dragon  upon an invite from my cousin-in-law M. He's such a certified foodie whose recommendations I fully trust. He has been frequenting Crystal Dragon at Nuwa Hotel and after enjoying our first meal there, I instantly knew why M loves it so much.  First of all, the service is top notch. Servers were so attentive and they're ve...

"Change is always good." This is what my Mom would always tell stubborn little me as I used to be really resistant to change when I was much younger. I guess it's the OC-side in me that I just like things done in a routine and in a definite process that a little change in that can really throw me off-track. Little by little, I learned to adapt, to bend, to be more flexible. Not physically but emotionally and mentally. I've learned to embrace the change and see that sometime's even when one thing is not broken, there are still more ways to improve. Such is the case for our well-loved Gloria Maris Seafood Restaurant . This restaurant has been a permanent fixture in the Greenhills Shopping Center and has played a huge role in my life growing up in this area. It's the place where we would go for our Mother-Daughter dim sum date, the place where my in laws would go for their hotpot , the place where my sister held her beautiful wedding reception and engagemen...

It's been a while since our last visit to Lung Hin but I can still vividly remembered how delicious everything was and the ambiance also added to the over-all wonderful dining experience that we had. It just made perfect sense to go back to Lung Hin during our anniversary weekend stay at Marco Polo Ortigas Manila . I know it's more customary to go for a nice romantic steak dinner to celebrate an anniversary but hey, who ever said you can't have Chinese food on a dinner date too? Our dinner began with our personal choice of soup. Spinach Seafood Soup  (Php. 330) for me and Hot and Sour Seafood Soup  (Php. 295) for Paul. We love starting our meal with a bowl of soup to warm our tummies and prepare it for the feast ahead. My Spinach Seafood Soup  was so packed with a lot of ingredients! Minced seafood, tofu and what I suspect could be egg white. It was so filling and yummy!

17 October 2015.  This date, I believe, will definitely go down in my personal history as the day when my foodie dreams came true. You see, it was when I joined a group of food bloggers for lunch at Shang Palace where we sampled the newest dimsum offering by Chef Li Shou Tan. In addition to that, our said lunch coincided with the start of the great Hairy Crab festival so we were also able to try some of the dishes being offered for that. What amazing luck!  You see, Paul and I have been wanting to try that much-talked-about hairy crab after seeing multiple posts from our friend Jin on a yearly basis. Year on year, we would promise ourselves that we will go try it out but as always, our schedules would always get so hectic that before we know it, the hairy crab has bade us goodbye. "Let's try again next year," we would say as we console each other for yet another failed attempt. Finally, 2015 was the year when I had my first taste of the hairy crab. Will I lik...

Metro Manila is roughly 600km² big but with the crazy traffic jam that happens everywhere in the metro, every single day, it somehow makes going from one point to another feel like an out of town drive. Since I spent most of my days with Kongkong and Ama in Quezon City, you'll noticed that most of the places that I've visited for this trip is just within this vicinity. Not a big problem there as Quezon City is one of the biggest cities and there sure are a LOT of dining options to choose from. Let me start with my latest find -- Tien Ma's Taiwanese Cuisine . I've actually heard of this restaurant from Mommy who even called me when I was here in Singapore to tell me about their latest food discovery. It must be that good that Mommy couldn't wait to tell me in person, right? Located along the busy intersection of N.S. Amoranto and D. Tuazon, parking may be a bit of a challenge but luckily, we went there for late lunch so it was easy to spot an empty slot. The me...

Just a few days ago, I got into a conversation with a colleague. She asked me how many siblings I have and when I told her I just have Pan, my younger sister; she suddenly goes.. "ohhh no wonder! you're the eldest." There have been studies actually that people share similar personalities and behavior with someone of the same birth order. I actually do believe in this. For instance, most of my friends and relatives who are the eldest in the family tend to be natural decision-makers. We think and decide fast, this probably comes with the many years of leading the brood (well I just have one tagging along me all the time heehee) that we are used to being the leader. Most of the youngest in the family, on the other hand, are more carefree and fun-loving. This is not saying that we first borns are boring but it's just that by the time they're growing up, most parents are more lenient and would just let them do their thing. I may be wrong but that's all based on...

Remember the bit about Paul telling my sister that if there's one meal that he will miss in Manila then it will definitely be the yummy dimsum dishes from Makati Shangri-la Hotel's Shang Palace ? Well, that day, we ate all the dimsum that our tummy could hold knowing that it will be months before we will be able to dine there again... ....or so we thought?  I guess fate really has its way of letting things fall into place. Not long after, here we are having lunch at Shang Palace . Somehow, being inside Shang Palace reminds us of all the good and delicious memories that we've had back home and it indeed felt so good.  In true Shang Palace fashion, our meal began with this bowl of complimentary starters. I don't know what it is with Shang Palace but everything that comes out from their kitchen is really the best. Take this appetizer for instance, truth to be told, it's a simple tofu snack that's mixed with some chopped up chili. However, it was r...

The Chinese New Year celebration goes on and on here in Singapore. It's pretty much similar to how us, Filipinos, celebrate Christmas! People would take time out from work to go on long vacation leaves, others would go home to their hometown, others would just stay in town and spend time with their family. However, what we notice is that in most of the Chinese restaurants here, even in small neighborhood eateries, families would gather around the table to toss shredded vegetables and seafood as they shout out their wishes for the coming year. This is called Loi Hei (in Cantonese), Yu Sheng (in Mandarin) or Prosperity Toss (in English). This is a practice commonly done in Singapore and in some parts of Malaysia. Last Monday, I had the chance to experience my first loi hei with my new colleagues. We headed to a Chinese restaurant in Clarke Quay and were presented with a plate filled with colorful vegetables like carrots, radish, red peppers and a lot more. The highlight of the Y...

Resorts World Manila (RWM) is quickly becoming Manila's go-to place when it comes to offering top-notch entertainment . Having one of the biggest casinos in town, a number of casino players all over the country would fly in to visit RWM. It's also a venue for friends and family to enjoy a good meal . Resorts World Manila has three hotels within the vicinity -- the 4-Star Remington Hotel , the 5-Star Marriott Hotel and the 6-Star Maxims Tower . It actually reminds me of City of Dreams in Macau where its adjacent to the Hard Rock Hotel, Crown Towers and Grand Hyatt Macau. Of course, there's also the Newport Mall where you can watch a movie in one of their Lazyboy theaters or to do some shopping too. For us though, we focus more on the food ! One evening, Paul and I had dinner with his cousins at Passion -- a famous Chinese Restaurant located at the Maxims Tower . We've dined here a number of times already as my in-laws seem to love it. Top favorites include the Hai...

Growing up, I remember Papa telling me that what makes the Chinese cuisine different and special is its endless variety of dishes. He told me about this age-old practice that for one to be considered a good Chinese chef, he/she should be able to find 100 ways to cook an egg . This may or may not be true but what it really means is that the Chinese cuisine continues to evolve and innovate itself thus making it a popular cuisine all over the world. I just had such an unforgettable dinner last Monday at Hai Kang Seafood Restaurant along Wilson street . This has been around for 12 years already and I've had fond memories of spending almost everyone's birthdays and a number of Chinese New Years with my family here. Aside from it being really close to our home, we have grown fond and addicted to a number of Hai Kang's specialties too. However, we have been around town trying a number of new restaurants thus it has been a while since we've dined at Hai Kang . This is t...