Frannywanny

One thing that I love about k-dramas is when I get to have a glimpse of the food trends and scene in Korea. From local coffee shops to famous restaurants in and around Seoul, I can't help but wish that I can visit South Korea soon to fully experience the k-vibe and eat to my heart's delight. * Can I just teleport myself in just a snap of a finger? * Thanks to my cousin-in-law B, who has always been my main source for food stops in Pampanga, as he recommended Premium Cafe Retro 525  which is just located along Friendship Highway. We went there for lunch with my university friends after we took our little ones to Dinosaur Island. Feeling famish and in the mood of anything cold as the weather was so warm, we were greeted by the beautiful and spacious interiors of Retro 525 . I tell you, I don't think we have cafes this big here in Metro Manila. It has a center section with a wide array of breads on display. There's an ample amount of tables available at the ground floor b...

If there's one distinct trait that the #AngTwins took after us, it would be our love for staycations. They really get so excited whenever we'd tell them that we're staying a night or two at a hotel. Well, I totally can understand why. Sometimes, it is just good to take a break and to have a change in environment, right?  A few months back, Paul's aunt L called us to ask us if we're willing to stay the weekend at  Nüwa and of course, we told her YES! Even if we have no definitely plans lined up and would probably just stay in the hotel or go to the malls nearby, I know that the #AngTwins would be with this. We also love  Nüwa because there's just a lot of food options available and parking is free. It's part of the entire City of Dreams compound too so it's connected to two other hotels namely -- Nobu Hotel and Hyatt Regency Manila.  For families staying in any of these hotels, I highly recommend that you check out Dreamplay . We took the twins there d...

Happy Easter!  I hope that you were all able to have a good and peaceful Holy Week. After all, it was the perfect time to reflect, to repent and to have hope for He has risen again. As for me, I spent it with my family and gave my kids my undivided attention.  Given that the past week was all about family, let me share with you one of my family's favorite restaurants. With all our varying tastes, it honestly is difficult to agree on a restaurant because what may be good for me, may not be something my parents would be keen on trying or returning to and so on. Cibo is a place where we're all happy to dine in and it's simply for these 3 reasons:  #1 Quality is always top notch. We can always expect their pasta noodles to be al dente and tasty, their pizza perfected baked and they have a good selection of hot and cold beverages too.  #2 Service is always consistent. No matter which Cibo branch we go to, we are always well taken cared of by their staff.  #3 They ...

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...

It's no big secret how much I love Japanese food. I just can't live without my sashimi and sushi. In fact, I dined and celebrated my 40th birthday at a Japanese restaurant TWICE this year. I think, it's one of those cuisines that I'll never get tired off. Well, the choices are endless as there are just a lot of ways to enjoy your Japanese food. You can have it done in various ways -- teppanyaki, yakitori, teriyaki, deep-fried, raw, with broth, mixed into your noodles or rice and the list goes on and on.  One of our family's favorite Japanese restaurants in the neighborhood is Tomo Japanese Dining . We love this restaurant so much for it's extensive menu options and they also have a coffee shop called Verse Cafe  that's adjacent to it that serves superb coffee and tea drinks. Here's actually a compilation of dishes that we have enjoyed throughout the multiple visits that we have made to these two establishments. The good thing is, you can order from Tomo ...

During my early days of blogging, I used to keep a running list of restaurants that I wanted to try. In fact, it was a dream of mine to dine in all of the new restaurants in town. It sounded possible then albeit rather idealistic but I kept that list for more than decade or so. I even have a Singapore version of the same list when we relocated to the Lion City almost 10 years ago. Was I able to cross off all the restaurants in my list? Almost. It was an expensive activity but Paul and I had fun discovering new restaurants and treating our taste buds to a wide variety of flavors. Majority of these restaurants you can read about in this blog.  Now that I'm now a mom though, not only am I not able to go out as much anymore, my priorities have began to shift. Our family's budget focuses more on our needs vs. our wants and the things that would be for the kids vs. ours. Dining out or ordering food is still something that we love to do but we would focus more on family-friendly estab...

With a number of restaurants offering fusion cuisine or those that aims to inject more creativity into their dishes, rarely do we get to find one nowadays that offers dishes that stay as true and authentic as possible to the original version. After a tearful check out from  Somerset Millennium Makati , we decided to still stay in the area for lunch and that's how we got to discover  Tatatito.   You may wonder why were there tears upon checking out. Well, the twins enjoyed their overnight staycation at  Somerset Millennium Makati   so much that they refused to check out and bid the hotel goodbye. We then had to lure them that we're not heading home yet and we will be checking a new restaurant out in the area instead. That somehow stopped the tears from falling. Oh my staycation-loving babies.  Tatatito was just located a stone's throw away from the hotel. Since we went to dine on a Monday, parking was a bit challenging since the streets were all lined with...

We have this habit of making the most out of our staycation so instead of dining out while having our staycation at a hotel, we normally try to check out the restaurants inside the hotel. This is staycation tip #1 when travelling with toddlers. We just wanted to do away from any logistical nightmare of having to travel far, waiting in line and ending up with two restless and super hangry kids. The best way is to make a reservation at any of the hotel's food establishments and you can just go down just in time for your meal. Our recent stay at Somerset Millennium Makati  was no different. We had our dinner at Abuela's  the only restaurant establishment available in the hotel but while it may be the only in-house dining option, we had no idea that we were in for a delightful FEAST!  Come to think of it, there's a bar available in the hotel but for families like us, you will most likely focus more on Abuela's . Don't be fooled by the name. I initially thought it was...

Trivia Time!  Did you know that majority of the Filipino-Chinese in the Philippines all came from just one province in China called Fujian. This is found at the southern part of China that's closest to Taiwan and since it is located near a big body of water, a lot of traders lived here. Eventually, people in Fujian migrated to neighboring countries such as Taiwan, the Philippines and Singapore to name a few. Interesting though that Hokkien, the dialect spoken in Fujian, has several versions/intonations depending on the person's current location. Case in point, I have a very different sounding Hokkien accent vs. my cousin who has a similar Hokkien lineage residing in Taiwan.  Anyway, let's talk about Hokkien/Fujian cuisine! Since Fujian is near the water, majority of the famous Hokkien food consists of seafood. One of the most popular Fujian specialties is the soup called Buddha Jumps Over the Wall ( putiaojiu ), it's a very premium soup that's filled with all of the...

This is the story of when healthy food can be happy food too! It's been a while since we're visited the Greenhills Shopping Center . Yes, despite it's proximity to home, we rarely get to go out during the pandemic so after two years, while I took the chance to run some errands at Greenhills, I was so surprise to see that what used to be just a steel parking building now has F&B outlets at the ground floor already. Cool!  The first store that caught my eye was Koomi . I was so happy I've been wanting to try Koomi after hearing raves from friends that it's the best yogurt drink in town. Beside Koomi are two very new names that I'm not familiar with -- ZIG and Oh My Greek . These are all from the same company so today, let me tell you more about ZIG.  The concept of ZIG is simple -- they specialize in healthy dishes using the freshest ingredients. This is perfect for those who are watching their weight, their health and basically their food intake. Gone are t...

I often joke that the most used word in the house is "Mommy." I tell you, whenever I'm home and within sight, my twins would be calling out for me at 10 to 15 minutes interval. "Mommy, I'm hungry", "Mommy I need to go potty", "Mommy where's my (fill in with missing toy)", "Mommy?? Mommy??? Mommy!!!"  Don't get me wrong though, I treasure moments like this because I know that in a few years, these calls for Mommy won't be as often and random anymore. If only time can slow down a bit in order for me to savor each moment with them.  I'm also lucky because we live with my parents and that means being able to see Mommy and Papa on a daily basis. Just as how my twins would call for me, I am thankful that I can easily go to my Mom for anything. She's here to always give me the best advice whenever I need to make an important decision. She is also one of the first to know about our family's milestones and achiev...

With restrictions easing up and cases staying steadily low, we're starting to gain more confidence to go out and relive our lives once again. So what was my life before the pandemic? It was a mix of work during the weekdays, giving my undivided attention to my kids and family during the weekends and meeting up with friends somewhere in between. We sure have spent a lot of time dining out and that's one of the things that I missed the most for the past two years. Luckily, we were able to discover a number of home businesses that quickly became our favorites and we have also rekindled our love for cooking too.  As soon as our government lowered the restrictions, Paul and I met up with his cousin and later with some of my high school friends at Jones All Day . This is one of the newest restaurants by the Raintree Hospitality Group  and if you're wondering how come the name sounds so familiar, they're the management team behind some of the biggest names in the F&B indus...

 43 years of love.  That's exactly what my parents have for each other for more than 4 decades. As with any love story, it wasn't purely a sweet walk in the park. There were sacrifices that had to be made, there were triumphs and celebrations, there were tears shed. Despite it all, my parents showed me that while they may not be the most cheezy, visibly lovey-dovey couple in this part of the world, they made that choice to stay together and be there for one another through sickness and health, for richer or poor and for the rest of their lives. That, I believe, beats any romantic novel that has ever been written.  To celebrate their wedding anniversary last December, I made an impulsive decision to book a table at Loggia at Palacio de Memoria in Parañaque City. I discovered this place via Instagram and I got so excited upon seeing that there is a real life plane inside the compound. How awesome is that! I know for a fact that J would love to see this and since my parent...

"The great gift of Easter is hope." – Basil Hume Happy Easter, everyone! Time is zooming by so fast and as the number of COVID19 cases continue to rise, my only wish is that we get to end this fight against the virus soon. Let's all do our part, shall we? Stay home, practice social distancing, sanitize sanitize sanitize and go and get the vaccine when you can .  I'd also like to add one more tip too -- let's continue to support local businesses as believe me, our economy has been hit so badly and it is just too painful to see one restaurant/retail outlet/business close down after the other. Along with its closure means people losing money, jobs and a livelihood.  With that, allow me to share with you one of my favorite home food business whom I have been supporting since late last year -- Salmon HQ . I first tried their fresh salmon sashimi and sushi bake sometime in December when I prepared my sister's going-away lunch. I know that they will most probabl...

This was indeed a big big surprise. It started when I was chatting with my cousin and he casually mentioned Vito's BBQ  as we were talking about Chicken Rice dishes. I didn't thought much about it until I went online and saw a couple of friends from my high school posting about the same thing. "Hmm.. what is this  Vito's BBQ ?", I thought to myself. I was definitely so curious now and I quickly went to their Instagram page to check them out. Oh my! I'll warn you now. Do NOT go to their page at the middle of the night or you'll surely end up hungry and craving for Chicken BBQ. Trust me, I learned this the hard, hungry way.  Apparently, Vito's BBQ is named after the owners' 4 year old and he's so adorable! They started in Libis and recently, they opened their pick-up station in... *drumroll* Ronac Art Center along Ortigas Avenue and is even closer to home! Yahoooo!  Anyway, we celebrated Grandparent's Day last last week and I decided that...

I just had one of the yummiest breakfasts a few days ago. It was in the form of these interesting looking bread that's generously filled with cream cheese and herbs. What makes it so good is the slightly sweet buttery crust that it has. I discovered Lola Ester's Bread and Pastries  through my friend L who shared with me this family secret of hers. Apparently, Lola Ester has been baking empanadas and breads for years and finally, they're allowing the public to have a taste of her specialties. The delicious bread that I was talking about is Lola Ester's Herb Cream Cheese Pull Apart  (Php. 250 for 2 pieces) which took inspiration from the famous Korean Cream Cheese Garlic Bread  which I've never came across with in our neighborhood Korean bakery. Anyway, I'm glad that Lola Ester introduced me to it as it's soooo good! Even my twins loved it that I literally had to put on my Mama Bear cap and willingly share this with them (even if I know I just want more mo...

I got to admit that if you make me choose between sweet or savory, I'd choose savory in a heartbeat. I have a very sensitive taste buds that what could be just a hint of sweet, sour, spicy or salty flavor notes for others, is already incredibly heightened for me. This is also probably because I grew up accustomed to having rather clean tasting or mildly flavored dishes here at home. My Mom, as you may know by now, is very conscious with the food that we eat. She ensures that we stay away from anything too salty, too fatty, too oily, too sweet and more due to genetic and medical reasons. How ironic right that I still end up loving food so much. That said, you can really count with your hands the type of dessert that I personally love in my life. I've always been an ice cream person in particular fruit flavored ice cream. We also love fresh fruits and there has never been a day in my life that we do not end our meal with fresh fruits. My sister and Papa are choco lovers and P...

Ever since we discovered China Mommy more than two years ago, our basis for "what makes a good Chinese lumpia" has improved and increased significantly. For us, the best Chinese lumpia is what China Mommy makes -- fresh ingredients, clean taste and easy to prepare. It's been two years since and so far, I haven't came across a brand or restaurant that comes close to China Mommy 's amazing lumpia. This is also why we find ways (and reasons) to celebrate with China Mommy's dishes as the main highlight of the meal. From Chinese New Years to our birthdays and even recently, Father's Day, there's just a hundred and one reason why we just have to have some good Chinese lumpia and more. Related post: China Mommy : Authentic Chinese Home-Cooking Delivery Have a Festive CNY with China Mommy This year, I celebrated my birthday during the quarantine, it was actually the day when the enhanced community quarantine was lifted but we weren't taking any...

It's been 6 months since the first news about the virus has been released. Since then, we have been staying home to lessen any exposure and to keep everyone safe. Given that the entire metro has been in quarantine since March this year, I'd say that I've also have discovered a number of delicious food finds along the way. This is because we no longer go out to buy bread or to do our groceries in fear that staying out for long will bring more harm than convenience or good to us. Luckily, technology has been helping us have easy access to food and basically all the essential goods that we may need. We're also seeing the rise of online money transfers and payments nowadays. Indeed, going cashless is the way to go now and to just do things with just a few taps here and there. One of my favorite discoveries was Twin Beans Kitchen  which was created by my dear twin mommy, D. D and I have been mommy buddies since our twins were barely a month old and it's funny how we al...

How are you, my dear readers? If there's one thing I love about being a Filipino is how we can be very resilient. No matter what the circumstance may be, wherever the wind takes us, we are probably one of the most flexible individuals in the region, to quickly adapt to changes and to seek the positivity in all things. It's no wonder that the Philippines was once voted as one of the happiest place on earth . Take the current situation that the entire world is facing, we were once put on Enhanced Community Quarantine which has led to business closures except for those offering essential goods like supermarkets and drugstores. With just a handful of restaurants offering take out services and public transportation not available, quickly people took to social media and messaging platforms to offer their products. Suddenly, there was a barrage of marketplaces being set-up in almost all communities imaginable. For years, you've never bothered to know your next door neighbor...