Frannywanny

In food, there's one thing that I strongly believe in. "You don't need to offer a long list of dishes but simply just highlight on that one or two items that you're extremely good at and you're sure to succeed." I guess this belief can easily be applied to any aspect in life but let's stick to food for now. Take for example, Harmony Cantonese Kitchen . It's a very new home food business that specializes on one thing -- their delicious glutinous Guangdong-style Zongzi . Here in Manila, this is more commonly known as machang . Steamed glutinous rice packed with an assortment of meat, nuts and spices and wrapped in bamboo/lotus leaves.

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...

I'm pretty sure we all have heard of Crystal Jade . A popular chain of Chinese restaurants with branches all over the world. What many may not know is that Crystal Jade originated here in Singapore with a history dating back in 1991. Today, it has more than 100 outlets worldwide and a wide variety of concepts all over Singapore alone. It's my first time to come across a Crystal Jade that specializes in steamboat , another in casual dining dimsum fare, a bakery outlet and a couple of fine dining ones. This coming weekend is a big and exciting one for everyone here in the Lion City as we will be celebrating the country's 50th birthday! A lot of preparations are being done for this year's National Day Parade, streets, homes and offices are all sporting nice shade of reds and whites all around and of course, in the food scene, restaurants are ready to offer special SG50 promotions not only for the coming weekend but mostly for the entire month of August. Crystal Jade ha...

Over lunch one day, my colleagues AH and IW suddenly asked me what are my favorite restaurants here in Singapore . I haven't been here long enough to try a lot of restaurants but this question somehow left me stumped me for a minute or so. As I was putting together my usual bowl of salad, I made use of the extra minute to think. Then I began telling them about my usual go-to places such as Poulet for good casual French food, Keisuke Ramen , Kamal's for the best Fried Chicken Briyani in town and Din Tai Fung whenever I'd crave for xiao long bao. Now, it was my turn to ask. AH quickly named a couple of her favorites which were a mix of local and Chinese food spots and IW followed suit naming her go-to places as well. They have their own unique choices but I noticed that both of them named Swee Choon Tim Sum as their #1 favorite restaurant in Singapore. Add to the fact that D also went there recently and came back with non-stop raves about how yummy and affordable the ...

For locals here in Singapore, Crystal Jade has been a household name since 1991. Today, it's the leading Chinese dining concept with more than 120 outlets all over the world. In fact, my first taste of Crystal Jade was in Manila when it opened a couple of years ago. I could still remember the long queue that would form almost all throughout the day in the V-Mall branch. That's also where my love for Dan Dan Mian began. Often times, I would say that dimsum is one of my top 3 favorite food in the world and having steamboat or what we commonly call hotpot / shabu-shabu  for dinner is always something that I look forward to. Never mind that my kitchen diva skills are not Master Chef level yet but at least, I get the opportunity to cook even if it means tossing everything into the boiling pot with the confidence that everything will still be so delicious. So, when Paul and I were invited to have dinner at Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen in Plaza Singapura, this was one of th...

Whenever I'm asked what my favorite food is, I would always have to stop and think really hard. You see, the problem here is that I don't only have one but in fact, I have 3 favorite types of food that I love very very much! That would be sushi , dimsum and pasta . Give me any of these and I can eat it for days on end. I'm lucky that Singapore is such an awesome food mecca that there's pretty much a very wide array of food choices available all the time. Take dimsum for example. Yes, I do admit that Hong Kong still reigns as the dimsum capital of world but when it comes to Xiao Long Baos , then Singapore is pretty much ahead of the pack. What are  Xiao Long Baos ? It's a delicate, hand-created dumpling that is filled with pork and a small amount of soup. Steamed to perfection, the beauty of xiao long baos is that the soup stays intact even upon serving. So, there's one way to eat this -- carefully lift a piece using your chopsticks making sure that you d...

Knowing that I only have 24 hours to spend in Hong Kong, I quickly made a list of the things that I HAVE to eat and do. Actually I only had 3 things on my list: - eat dimsum! - Eat Dimsum!! - EAT DIMSUM!!! Kidding aside, I actually have added in buying hoarding my favorite candy and to check out the Hong Kong Kiehl's shop too. I've successfully done all three and with that I'm giving myself a pat on the back. When you're in Hong Kong, there are just some things that you can't miss out on. One of those is to have dimsum . No matter where you have it, be it at a swanky fine dining restaurant or at some hole in the wall, chinese-speaking-only dimsum shop, you'll definitely enjoy these hand-created masterpieces which have been perfected through time. As soon as we landed in Hong Kong, S and I quickly headed to Tim Ho Wan which is located right at the Airport Express station. Sadly we got there a minute too late as they close at 8:30PM and we were there at 8:31...

I'd say, living in Manila, we were spoilt with a wide array of choices when it comes to Hong Kong / Cantonese - influenced dishes. Dimsum, for one, is abundant and almost all Chinese restaurants offers this. In fact, we can get siopao and siomai even from our neighborhood convenience store! With all these choices, then comes the inevitable questions -- where's the best dimsum in Manila ? Once again, I'll start by saying that taste is subjective so for Frannywanny, it just got to be Shang Palace at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel .  I love it so much that every visit I make always should include having lunch at Shang Palace just to enjoy their dimsum! We've been here so many times and yet there's no sign of us getting tired of it soon..maybe not ever in this lifetime! Luckily, our family loves it too making it such a breeze to round up the gang for some dimsum feast. It makes it so much better whenever we're given the function room allowing us more priv...

"I'm craving for bola-bola siopao with no salted egg." This was what I suddenly told my friend I in the middle of our Facebook chat. Of course, I's natural reaction was "huh?"  While Singapore has a very strong Chinese influence, sadly dimsum is quite hard to find still in this part of the world. Thus, whenever the craving for a delicious bowl of congee or some steamed dimsums comes about, it normally would take me days before I can finally find a place that will answer to these cravings. Where oh where are all the delicious dimsums in town? This is also the reason why I was literally jumping with joy when I found out that Hong Kong's famous Tim Ho Wan finally opened in Singapore . Now, we finally have real good Hong Kong-style dimsum and it's just a few minutes away from my office! Well, that is if I have the patience to line up and wait everytime. Tim Ho Wan opened it's first branch in Plaza Singapura early this year and yet everyday...

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...

For as long as I can remember, Christmas Eve has always been spent with Mommy's side of the family. We always get together for dinner normally in a Chinese restaurant, then we all head to church to hear the Misa de Gallo mass as a family. Thus, even after getting married, Paul and I immediately agreed that December 24 is dedicated to my side of the family while the 25th is to be celebrated with his. This year though, we took a break from the usual Chinese lauriat dinner and decided to try Buffet 101 . It's cool that lately the family has been game to try various restaurants whenever we celebrate someone's special day. I guess most of us are starting to get tired of the usual Chinese dishes already. It's no secret that we, Filipinos, love to avail of eat-all-you-can promos. Take a look at the rising popularity of Yakimix and Sambokojin where you can grill and eat all you can! Taking inspiration from the posh hotel buffets, Buffet 101 gives you hotel-like ambiance...

I love Chinese food!  Yes, you read that right. Despite the fact that we always have Chinese food at home and most, if not all, of our family gatherings are held in Chinese restaurants, I tend to choose a basket of dimsum over a slice of pizza anyday. It's then no surprise that I immediately said yes when my friend and fellow blogger Spanky invited me to have dimsum lunch with him at Hyatt Hotel's signature Chinese restaurant -- LiLi . It was actually not my first time to dine here. A couple of years ago, I had the privilege to accompany my former boss on one of his monthly restaurant reviews and it just so happen that he invited me to join him at LiLi ! I can't remember exactly which dishes we had but all I remembered was they were all delicious and I had a marvelous time admiring Lili's beautiful modern Chinese interiors. Our meal began with the traditional Gongfu tea ceremony . In China, this is being done to show guests how welcomed they are in a friend...

When I first met Paul 9 years ago, all I remembered was that he's the guy in a blue shirt and who was wearing a gray cap. He barely spoke a word the entire evening and just sat quietly beside his friend N who invited him to our group's dinner that day. I was busy catching up with my girl friends and was obviously oblivious to the fact that there, at one corner of the room, the same quiet guy was staring at me...or so he claims he was. *blush* Fast forward months after that, we began exchanging messages online and via SMS. Later on, as we found out that we live so close to each other, we began meeting up for afternoon merienda or after dinner coffee chats once in a while. One of the first things that I liked about Paul was the fact that he makes a great eating partner. Having met guys who have a million and one conditions when it comes to food (read: no veggies, no spicy food, no exotic dishes, etc etc etc) , I was elated to find out that Paul was really game to try anything a...

If today's my last day on earth and I am allowed to feast on only three of my favorite food items it would be: a plate of pasta, sushi/sashimi and dimsum . Who cares about carbs when it's your last day to live right? :) I am definitely indulging myself on these three delicious food items that never fails to brighten up my day. Shang Palace's Dimsum Plus Last Saturday, Paul and I joined our friends Jane and Chris, Richard and Irene, Grace and Peter for lunch at Shang Palace of Makati Shangri-la Hotel . They have availed of the Dimsum Plus promo before and have been raving about it since. Unfortunately, as most of our Saturdays were spent manning our booth at Mercato Centrale, Paul and I haven't had the chance to try it till that very day. From the moment we arrived, we were both handed a menu where it lists all available dimsum specialties, a few choices of soups, 8 types of Main Course (where we can choose one each) and a lot more! First things first, we orde...

Lately, I've been missing a number of my childhood favorites -- there's that delicious kakanin and chicken pie from La Chesca , Baked Mac from Petit Four , salad bar and steak from San Francisco Steak House and to-die-for Korean BBQ dinners at Arirang . *sigh* For my family, these are some of the best restaurants/cafes in town and we're extremely sad that they're no longer around anymore. *sniffle* Why oh why?!?! Luckily, there's one restaurant that we also love that is still around and I believe will continue to live on for more and more decades to go! Hooray! Ha Yuan is a popular Chinese go-to place when you're craving for a delicious bowl of Maki Mi or perhaps for a piece of Fresh Amoy Lumpia. I remember my Mom would even bring our stainless steel container to the store for them to just put the Maki Mi there and she would just re-heat this for dinner at home. One Sunday afternoon, Paul and I found ourselves at the Mother Ignacia branch of Ha Yuan...

The first time I heard about Din Tai Fung was from my mom who, after coming home from her Singapore trip, couldn't stop raving about this restaurant that serves the best tasting Xiao Long Bao that she has ever tasted in her life. She and my aunt loved it so much that at some point my aunt even considered bringing this amazing brand to Manila. It didn't took that long for me to also try Din Tai Fung myself. Ten months ago, when Paul and I went to Singapore for our Honeymoon, we set a dinner date with his cousin J for a fun Xiao Long Bao dinner at ...where else?!... Din Tai Fung ! We were fortunate that there was a branch located at the mall adjacent to our hotel. We had a great time! I love their Xiao Long Bao and Pork Chop Fried Rice . Needless to say, Paul and I have officially added Din Tai Fung into our list of favorite restaurants. Read more about our DTF Singapore here. Fast forward to our Taipei trip, of course Din Tai Fung was in our list of must-visits as th...

I'd consider myself a loyal diner. After having a wonderful dining experience with delicious food and impeccable service rendered, expect that I will definitely be back again and again bringing in friends and relatives who are eager to try after hearing my non-stop raves. That's how passionate I am about restaurants that I love. Not only will I blog about it here, I'd definitely keep on talking about it as well. Such is the case with Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao , the newest addition to my list of favorite restaurants in the Metro. The buzz about Crystal Jade coming to Manila began spreading like wildfire late last year. Initially, just like Happy Lemon, people were not sure which foreign restaurant is coming in. Guesses where thrown here and there and finally, last September, Crystal Jade opened its door to a long long long line of waiting customers. I've been wanting to try Crystal Jade since it first opened but after a couple of failed attempts, I...