Frannywanny

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...

Look what I found! While driving along J. Abad Santos on our way to grab some milk tea, Paul and I chanced upon this new specialty shop that took the former location of Ristras . Seeing that they got jars of cookie butter and other interesting looking spread, we decided to check it out first before satisfying our milk tea craving. Welcome to Spice Island Trader . A nice catchy name, I must say.  Inside, you can see a mix of imported and local food finds that will surely make every foodie squeal with happiness. Well, it had that effect on me! Paul literally had to pull me out of the store as I just want to stay there all afternoon and to go through each and every product.  Here are some of my finds:

They say, first love never dies . This rings true for my love for milk tea. More than 4 years ago, I first learned about Serenitea during one of our monthly publishers meetings. Our big boss told us that she tried a milk tea place in San Juan and it was pretty good. Being bonafide foodies, we wasted no time and in less than a week we were all able to try Serenitea . Back then, milk tea wasn't still part of one's food vocabulary. Sure, it has been around for decades...even centuries but it's normally found in Chinese tea houses or in Chowking as it's called Nai-Cha for instance. Who would have thought that one day, milk tea would rule Manila and Serenitea was the one leading the pack. In time for the new year, Serenitea has launched 6 new drinks that I'm sure you'll all love as much as your old time Serenitea faves -- be it Hokkaido or Okinawa. A couple of food bloggers and I were lucky to be given a sneak peek on these yummy drinks a couple of weeks ago....

Just when I thought we're tried ALL the restaurants in our neighborhood, we were surprised to see more tiny cafes and eateries opening in what-used-to-be-a-fully-residential-area which has now turned into a semi commercialized district. Yay for me! This just means more dining options without the need to go far. After Chow Fun , there are a couple more new restaurants to try and I'll be sharing my reviews on them pretty soon. First off is Tori Box . We decided to try this after seeing that it's finally open after one of my regular mani/pedi sessions at Nail Loft . Slightly hidden from the busy J. Abad Santos route, Tori Box is a two storey cozy-looking cafe that is literally bursting with cuteness! It somehow reminds me of those artsy Korean coffee shops that we visited back in April . From the moment you enter, you'll immediately notice the K-Pop/J-Pop decors with pretty statements on frames, lightbulbs on bird cages, books and plants on the table as decor. I coul...

I'm saying Chow Fun's because we're an "us". There's a history and histories don't happen overnight. In Mesopotamia or Ancient Troy or somewhere back there, there were cities built on top of other cities, but I don't want to build another city. I like this city....I mean I guess what I'm trying to say is - I'm saying Chow Fun's because I love you. - Katie (Michelle Pfeiffer), The Story of Us I'm so happy that another new restaurant has recently opened in our neighborhood! Really, I'm never leaving this part of town as it's really becoming a foodie mecca! Love love love ♥ Everyday on my way to and from work, I saw how this restaurant has turned from a vacant space into a pretty modern establishment. I love the bright colored assorted chairs, the cute hanging lamps and the fact that it gives a very modern Chinese vibe. No red table clothes, no Chinese music playing in the background, the menu is simple yet every items sounds m...

I'm nursing a nasty cold right now...it's the type that permanently clogs my nose making me unable to breathe properly. It's also the type of cold that's giving me a very nasal voice and is currently making me feel very very very....drowsy. Times like this I truly can't wait to curl up in bed under my thick, comfy comforters and to sleep the night away. Before that of course, I have to attend to my growling stomach. If chicken soup may be the comfort food for the soul, then mine would be that Plain Noodle Soup from Kanzhu Hand-Pulled Noodles. My first time to try Kanzhu Hand-Pulled Noodles was last Friday with some members of The Foodie Club , as we were invited to try some of their dishes. I've been passing by this restaurant since it opened taking the place of the Club's first meeting place -- Beijing Hand-Pulled Noodles . I'm happy to note that Kanzhu has a lot more varieties and Paul and I loved the quality of their noodles more. Let me sh...

Friends who live in Quezon City has been telling me about this neighborhood store that sells delicious fried chicken wings and drumsticks. It's a pretty small store that they normally would just drop by on their way home from work to take away a box of freshly cooked chicken for their family to enjoy. Since then, I always have Chicken Charlie on my list of restaurants to try. We got extremely busy and with the 30 minutes drive needed to get to Quezon City, it has been months since our friend's recommendation and we still have not visited Chicken Charlie. Guess what?! Chicken Charlie came to us instead! I was so excited when I saw a bright red board-up in front of what used to be a grillery along J. Abad Santos street here in San Juan one morning. It has the logo of Chicken Charlie and a huge sign that says "Coming Soon". Not long after, Chicken Charlie opened its second branch here in San Juan and I made sure to be one of the first customers to welcome them t...

This is one reason why Paul and I love San Juan . As years go by, more and more interesting food spots would come out making it very accessible for us to grab a quick bite. Whether we're in the mood for Chinese, Mexican or some Taiwanese Milk Tea , we can easily satisfy our craving with just a short drive around the neighborhood. Recently, a new restaurant opened at the corner of J. Abad Santos and Mons streets. This time it specializes in Eastern European Home Cooking. At first glance, I had zero idea what dishes are from the eastern European side. My first guess is that it has a lot of sausages as Europe is known for this delicious deli meat. Finally, after finding ourselves in the mood for some late night snacks, we decided to visit Balkan Express to educate ourselves about this particular type of cuisine. I like the bright yellow interiors that showcases photos of some of their best-sellers. The system is for you to order and pay before heading to your table to wait f...

After spending the entire evening bonding with Paul's high school friends, we dropped by Ristras for some late night snacks! We decided to share a Burrito (Php. 340) with our own customized fillings! Paul's side has chorizo red rice with refried beans, pork carnitas, and lots of veggies! My side, on the other hand, has cilantro rice, black beans with lengua and lots of veggies too! Ristras' burrito is HUGE! Thus sharing makes each serving just right. We love our burritos with lots of salsa and garlic cream sauce! Yum! Calling all burrito fans, why not take the challenge as Ristras has an ongoing Man vs. Burrito Challenge . The mechanics is simple, order a Godzilla Burrito (which is 2.5 kg heavy or equivalent to 3 regular-sized burritos) and try to finish it in less than an hour and a half (90 minutes). Successful challengers will get a cool T-shirt, lots of bragging rights and their name on the board! Plus, they do not have to pay for their Godzilla Burrito t...

Just a couple of months ago, I wrote an article sharing how San Juan is rapidly turning into the next Chinatown . With its numerous Chinese restaurants opening here and there, it is truly a perfect place to live in for a Chinese food lover like myself. After welcoming a well-loved Binondo chicken house , a Taiwanese-inspired tea store and a Taiwanese restaurant ; we witnessed the arrival of yet another Chinese food stop, this time specializing in hand-pulled noodles and dumplings -- Beijing Hand-Pulled Noodles ! So what makes eating hand-pulled noodles so special as opposed to the machine-made ones? For one thing, hand-pulled noodles are made right after you place your order. The noodle dough are made in advance then stored under a certain temperature. Upon receiving your order, the noodle master , who came all the way from China, will then begin the entire process of pulling and cutting the dough using his bare hands in order to create long strands of fresh noodles. We ordered the B...

What is a lazy Sunday? It's when one wakes up just in time for lunch followed by a good thirty minutes of aimlessly wandering around the house and later on, finding herself heading back to bed for nap time. After a series of weekends with very tight schedules, I woke up today with no agenda or plans in mind. So far, what I've done today was to read the sunday paper, read up on more information about our upcoming trip and laze around the house as I watch my sister and mom leave for the mall. I love Lazy Sundays though. This is when we get to enjoy Mom's cooking which is normally her own version of well-loved Chinese dishes. On Lazy Sundays, we get to eat crabs, prawns and all of those fresh catch from the market. However, whenever mom gets too lazy to cook on this day, we rely on this particular neighborhood restaurant to serve us their best-sellers. A couple of years back, Paul and I would have to travel all the way to Binondo whenever we crave for Duck Misua (for him) and ...

My birthday is coming up and it has been a tradition eversince that I would start celebrating it a week in advance and this will go on up until a after week my actual birth date. The same practice was done again this year but it was made extra special because I was successfully able to combine good food to be shared a wonderful group of friends. Pizza with the Boys (and the Girls) It's no secret that I love Paul very very very much and I'm thankful that he has a great set of friends who eventually became my friends as well. Ü To kick off my 2008 birthday celebration, I treated the group to a simple pizza party complete with a couple of beer and loads of laughter. Of course, as a foodie, I shall not settle for just any type of pizza other than one that is unique and delicious. Thus, prompted my search for the best pizza in town . Browsing through the pages of fellow bloggers, I was able to get quite a lot of suggestions from the ever famous Brooklyn Pizza to the classy gourmet p...