Frannywanny

"Can you handle the heat?" It has been 8 long years since my last visit to Bangkok . If you ask me, I think it's about time to go back for a return visit given that Singapore is slightly closer to Bangkok as compared to flying out from Manila. Not only that, I'm sure there have been a lot of changes since our last trip and by that I'm pertaining to more restaurant and food places to discover. Here's making a mental note to plan for a quick weekend getaway to Bangkok sometime next year. Well, since I can't go to Bangkok just yet... let Bangkok come to me for now. A few weeks ago, I got to visit the newly opened Yentafo Kruengsonge  at Cathay Cineleisure in Orchard. I got a bit disoriented trying to locate the restaurant as it apparently took the place of Shokudo at the 2nd level of the cinema building. Yentafo Kruengsonge  is actually a very popular noodle house in Bangkok that specializes in yen ta fo noodle bowls which is a Thai noodle dish filled...

It has been raining on and off for the past few days bringing down Singapore's temperature and making it feel cool and breezy for a change. If you ask me, days like these is the perfect time to just snuggle in bed and stay indoors all day long. It's also the time when I would crave mostly for a bowl of congee or soup. Luckily, there are a lot of options when it comes to satisfying our craving for soups and congee. A few months ago, Paul and I visited the first ever outlet of Souper Tang  here in Singapore. Souper Tang (汤师父) originated in Malaysia where it has a total of 18 outlets scattered in Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Ipoh and Johor Bahru. Apparently, Souper Tang originated as a TCM medical hall where the owners would sell herbal medicines for all types of illnesses. Then the lady owner would cook put together soup packs which she would give out as gifts to friends. Later on, it got so popular and people would request that she would sell her soups. This was when Souper Tang ...

In a country where restaurants and cafes have been opening left and right, you could say that the competition to survive in this little food mecca is really tough. As fast as they open, we've already bid good bye to quite a lot over the past 3+ years that Paul and I have been here.  It's quite heartbreaking, if you ask me, especially for those that we've grown to love and patronize for the short time that they were around. That said, I really have the highest respect for restaurants that have withstand not only the test of time but in and outgoing trends and people's ever-changing minds as well. Take for example Harry's  which is currently celebrating their 24th anniversary here in Singapore. I guess, one of their secret is their willingness to innovate and to keep up with time. A year ago, they started to renovate their outlets doing away with the dark, very masculine-feel bar to a more trendy, travel-themed resto-bar that caters not only the men but to women an...

It's FRIDAY and I'm in loveeeee! ♥ I know, I know...Valentine's Day has long been over but hey, why not share the love every single day, right? For one thing, Friday always has this effect on me. Waking up feeling extra happy and giddy and despite having to finish off a heavy workload, the thought of being able to enjoy two glorious work-free days after is enough to put a big smile on my face the whole day. Since, it's my (3rd) favorite day of the week, let me share with you one of the highlights of my recent trip back to Manila. For one of our dinners, my family and I decided to check out Crisp on 28th . This has been on my list since last year but since our trips are always so short or packed with our personal errands, it's pretty much impossible to be able to try all the new restaurants starting from the time we temporarily bid Manila goodbye. Truth to be told, I've gave up hoping that I'll be able to catch up with the newly opened restaurants in to...

Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we? Remember the 1st ever entry that I wrote here in Frannywanny.com ? It's about Angel's Kitchen, one of my favorite restaurants in Manila. Look how different my blog entry was then. Pure text and no photos. It even has a link to my now defunct Multiply account, the place where I really began food writing. No matter how "old school" this entry may feel, I really like it! Every time we get to visit Manila, sure we would try to visit as much new restaurants as we could. However, we also make it a point to re-visit some of our favorites. So, during this recent visit, Paul and I brought the entire family to AK Bistro in One Rockwell. It's the hipper, younger version of our favorite Angel's Kitchen as this caters to a younger market while the former is the go-to place for families. The menu is pretty much the same though which I find to be quite odd. Dining in a familiar place means ordering the same familiar ...

This particular entry marks my 1,192nd blog post here at Frannywanny.com . This means that I've written that much in the span of 6 years! Quite a LOT, isn't it? Out of all the entries, I'd say that 80% are on the different restaurants I've tried locally, 15% are those I was able to visit abroad and the rest are on shopping finds, home ideas, beauty, my occassional musings and a lot more. Therefore, if you do the math, I've visited about 953 local restaurants to date. Now, that explains why I'm still a far cry from having a supermodel body. Haha! Given the numbers I've mentioned above, there are still some restaurants that I'm surprised I haven't gotten around to blogging about. Thus, I'm making it my 2013 resolution to ensure that they make it to this blog site for me to share my favorites with you. One of those is my go-to place whenever the need to have some comfort food comes about. I'm talking about Conti's Bakeshop & Restaurant...

Who would have thought that you can actually find really good food at the 2nd floor of a business hotel that's located right at the heart of the Ortigas Central Business District (CBD)? That was one of our realizations after having such a yummy lunch at Mesclun in Linden Suites last January. Last January, Paul and I have been eating out non-stop with friends and family who were so sweet to spend some quality time with us. I actually wasn't planning to say yes to dining invitations anymore given the state of our social schedule. However, the girls behind Mesclun were just so sweet (and persistent hehe) that we just have to say YES to their email/Twitter/Facebook invite (beat that!) . Well, I honestly am glad I did.  We have been to Linden Suites before to attend a work-related event as well as to be surprised by our own friends and my sister as they threw us a joint bridal/stag party in one of their suite rooms a few years ago. What I love about Linden Suites is t...

On our last day in Cebu , the team wanted to spend a few hours in the beach. Since our flight was schedule late in the afternoon, they all woke up early and asked our driver to take them to Maribago Bluewater Resort to avail of their day pass. All of them went..all of them except me and ML. I guess the reason why ML and I get along pretty well is because we both would prefer to stay longer in bed, lazily wake up to have breakfast (I availed of the complimentary buffet breakfast while she ate all sorts of chocolate-covered crackers and cookies that she bought earlier in the room) and to just shop around for more pasalubong. Honestly, I’m not the type who enjoys staying under the sun longer than 5 minutes and I would rather do some laps at the pool than to fight the current and drink a lot of salty water at the beach. Well, that’s me the forever city girl. Driver R had to do some errands so by the time he was able to pick us up it was always past 12 noon, just in time for lunch. Af...

The word solace according to the English dictionary means "to give comfort to in grief or misfortune." In other words, solace can also be seen as that ever-famous "light at the end of the tunnel." It gives one that glimmer of hope that there will be better days ahead. I mentioned in a few entries back that I've been experiencing gloomy days lately due to my hectic routine. Feeling more exhausted than revitalized nowadays, all I want to do is to stay in bed all day and to do nothing... absolutely nothing. I know that plan would probably come after the holidays. Therefore, I am currently finding other ways to get that short moments of relaxation and one of those include going out on dinner dates with Paul. Last Monday, we visited a new restaurant that has just opened along Arnaiz street in Makati. It was my Mom who told me about it and we arrived excited to have a good meal and to unwind. I got to admit, it took me a while to remember the name but after chatti...

Introducing Project Surprise. I admit, I was the accomplice. The goal was to bring happiness through the form of a surprise visit. The target? My fellow food blogger friends. I must admit I'm not good at planning surprises. More often than not, my excitement will reveal what I have been cooking up in my mind. Thus, it took me a while to invite The Food Club out for what looked like a simple dinner at Stella . After all, we, members of The Food Club do not say no to the chance of trying a new restaurant out. Paul and I got to Stella ahead of the others. After a quick hi-hello with the "mastermind", we entered the restaurant with innocent looks on our faces as we waited for the others to arrive. Stella is one of the many new restaurants that opened at the booming new wing of Bonifacio Highstreet . It's right beside its sister restaurant bar called Rocket Room , Stella has a cozy vibe quite similar to another sister restaurant -- Chelsea Market and Cafe . W...

There are just some things that I don't think I'll ever get tired of eating... ever -- nachos, cheese, pasta, sushi and buffalo wings. These are my comfort food of choice that I just love to indulge on after a crazy day at work. While there are a lot of restaurants that specializes in buffalo wings, only a few has really made the cut and in my book, this includes Sunrise Buckets . I've previously mentioned how I first learned about and was able to try Sunrise Buckets up until the time wherein they finally opened their first store in Madison Square which prompted Paul and I to pay them a visit a few months after. Fast forward to 2012, we were invited to their second branch at Rockwell's newest development in Pasig called The Grove . It's located right across Tiendesitas and is along C5. hmm.. a bucket for my sister? Together with friends Richard and Irene , we got to The Grove ready to chow down buckets after buckets of Buffalo Wings! Since there were four ...

There are times when you just want to let your guard down and to just be able to relax, have fun with friends and most importantly, have a good and truly satisfying meal. My first encounter with Uncle Cheffy was last year when my sister-in-law chose to celebrate her birthday at their Burgos Circle branch. I helped her order our lunch and I was really happy with the two choices of thin-crust panizza and the seafood dishes that we got for the family to share. There were just so many restaurants and so little time that it has been 5 months since our last visit. I can't believe it took us this long to be able to go back to Uncle Cheffy again..what a terrible "nephew" and "niece" we were! So there we were, one weeknight at Uncle Cheffy in Ortigas Center with dear friends Richard and Irene . It was a fun double date and we were there ready to feast on Uncle Cheffy 's house specialties. Dinner began with the Uncle Cheffy Salad (Php. 175/230). I love eatin...

A few months ago, Paul and I had one of our impromptu lunch dates again and this time we had it at the Shangri-la Mall . Going around the mall while thinking of where to eat, we were faced with a big dilemma as there were quite a lot of options to choose from. The best way was to do it through the process of elimination. Since we both don't eat beef then all steak and burger places were immediately removed from the list. Paul wasn't in the mood to splurge so there goes the high-priced restaurants as well. However, I was feeling hungry (a.k.a. I want rice) so we skipped all sandwich bars and cafes in the mall. Finally, as we got to the 5th level and I spotted an old favorite -- Recipes by Cafe Metro . I first tried this more than 5 years ago and it has been my go-to place for comfort food done the Filipino way. Believe me, you'll never go wrong with their Gising Gising, Crispy Tilapia and their famous General's Chicken. We got there earlier than the lunch crowd thus ...

When I got an invite to visit H Cuisine by Chef Hannah Herrera, I suddenly remembered the time when I visited the Corinthian Hills Weekend Market 3 years ago where I first learned about H Cuisine and was able to try a couple of their dishes. Sadly, my memory is pretty terrible that I couldn't really remember exactly what dishes I was able to try but I figured that it must be good as I do not have any bad memories about it. Together with Richard and Irene , Ro and Peter , Jane , Abet and Joan , Paul and I had an intimate dinner at H Cuisine hosted by none other but Chef Hannah herself. We were led up to the second floor where two round tables were prepared just for us. At one side is a buffet spread featuring several dishes that H Cuisine specializes in. To start the evening, Chef Hannah conducted a simple cooking demo showing us how to cook her best-selling Angus Beef Belly and the many variations of it such as the Angus Fried Rice and the Angus Beef Panini. Sadly, al...

As I entered the corporate world, I got to realize how much my mom and I tend to be so alike. The way we think, how we push ourselves to do our best, how we strive to achieve perfection...thus it's no secret that she has been my idol despite the many times we tend to argue and disagree. Someday I dream to be just like her. A successful and well-loved professional in her continuously growing career and a doting mom who has always been there for us 24/7. What a super woman, huh? Despite my mom's hectic schedule, she still makes time to bond with us once in a while. Take last week for example, while waiting for my sister to get off work, Mommy invited me to have merienda with her at Venice Piazza in McKinley Hill . I was excited because there's actually a couple more restaurants there that I've been wanting to check out and this includes Sweet Pea . I've seen photos from fellow bloggers about the cute country-like interiors and knowing that this is the brainchild...

I am pretty blessed to have friends who share my passion and love for food. We all get excited over new food finds and our radars get stronger as we discover newly opened restaurants all over town together. After enjoying our first ever meet-up over delicious President's Steak *drool* at Myron's Place , it was time for another dinner out with my two favorite food bloggers Jin and Leslie and this time, it's Jin's treat. I first heard about Tourne from fellow blogger Richard who dined there a few days before our visit when he went with his talented and lovely wife Irene and Sister-in-Law. Richard has been raving about the Southern Airline Chicken saying that it is so delicious, in fact it's "the best tasting chicken breast he has ever had" . As much as I was curious to try this amazing chicken dish, what held me back was the fact that it was served with cornbread stuffing. Sadly, I am not allowed to eat corn except when it's mashed or cooked pol...

Through the years as Paul and I have visited thousands of restaurants here and abroad, we have opened our eyes to the different themes and styles imaginable. Normally, restaurants would just have the fun, casual vibe that matches their food. It's either that or a more refined, formal setting for fine dining restaurants. Aside from coffee shops that continue to grow in every corner of the metro, I secretly wish that there would be a little restaurant that would be inviting enough for you to stay and daydream the afternoon away. I'm talking about a restaurant with pretty interiors matched with classy trinkets decorated here and there. Perhaps they can throw in a nice reading nook where I can keep myself engrossed in my favorite chic lit novel while enjoying a piping hot plate of pasta. This is probably the kind of restaurant I'd have someday...the kind that girls like me can stay for hours on end as they catch up with their friends or spend that much-needed me-time. It s...

What's your comfort food? I've asked this question a number of times and for me my comfort food is simply a plate of Farfalle alla Genovese from Cibo . I can have this at any given time of the day and it never fails to put a smile on my face. After working our hearts out at the recently concluded Yummy Eats , my boss treated us to lunch to celebrate our victory and to unwind. His choice was perfect -- 2nd's . A restaurant that aims to feature comfort food with a twist. I trust my boss for his taste in food that I easily rely on him to give amazing restaurant suggestions and dishes to try. We arrived at Bonifacio Highstreet just in time to beat the lunch crowd and I initially wasn't able to spot 2nd's right away as there was nothing but a simple signage by the building's facade. To easily guide you, 2nd's is located across Cav Wine Bar currently occupying the space where Mag:Net used to be. We took the elevator up and followed the signage tellin...

Mien-San Noodle House has been around since I was still in Grade School. I remember spending Friday afternoons there with my parents as we enjoy their delicious noodle soup and dumplings. They have been a permanent fixture along Granada Avenue that their bright yellow signage just makes up the over-all look of this semi-commercial/residential area. Not so long ago, I blogged about Mien-San being our go-to place whenever hungry strikes late in the evening . It has been a regular hang-out for guys after a basketball game and families who are craving for some warm noodles before they head to bed. Recently, Mien-San had a little face lift where the little yellow signage was replaced by a bright red store facade signage that spells out M-I-E-N S-A-N which can easily be read meters away. The size of the store doubled as compared to its old located and they have added more dishes to their menu. It's a good thing though, our favorite choices were all still available. For Paul...

After listening to my endless raves about MoMo right after that delicious lunch that I had with a long-time friend , Paul has been dropping not-so-subtle hints of us dining there soon. Finally, a trip to Robinsons Midtown in Manila gave me the opportunity to introduced him to MoMo and I was really hoping that he'd liked it just as much as I do. Knowing that I've went through MoMo 's menu a dozen times before this particular visit, Paul allowed me to surprise him with my dinner choices. MoMo's delicious complimentary garlic bread with Country Spread It was pretty obvious I knew exactly what to do, knowing that MoMo's dishes are pretty big, I decided to just get two main entress for us to share. First was a repeat of the Sweet and Smokey Hickory BBQ Rib-lets (Php. 350). While the meat remains fork-tender , I noticed that this one was a bit drier as compared to the one that I first had at their Eastwood Mall branch. In fact, Paul had to request for extra BBQ sauce ...