Frannywanny

If Jollibee is to Manila and In-n-Out is to California, all around Hong Kong you'll see Cafe de Coral or what the locals refer to as CDC . Cafe de Coral is our go to place when we want to enjoy affordable rice toppings. We love it that they change their menu from month to month adding new dishes while retaining the best-selling ones. After killing our legs from all the walking that we did that day and nursing our tired back with the heavy shopping bags that we were lugging around, we decided to have our dinner at Cafe de Coral . This is one of Hong Kong 's popular fast food where you have to choose your order from the menu board, head over to the cashier to order and pay, look for a table and wait for your food to be served at the counter where you have to carry the tray back to the table yourself. Despite being a self-service restaurant, I'm amazed at how organized the process was and people still manage to keep the tables clean and the utensils dispenser sti...

Early this year, when I was creating my list of restaurants that I would like to try for 2011, Paul gave me a great idea -- why don't I challenge myself in finding budget-friendly places that will be able to give me a complete meal for P180 or less ? I guess he noticed that majority of our savings really do go to food and it's really time to spend wisely. I was definitely up for the challenge. Thus, I officially launch a new series here at Frannywanny.com called Budget Eats ! Today, I start with Binalot, a popular food chain that I've been forever curious to try. For the past years, I've been seeing a lot of my colleagues having their lunch wrapped in banana leaf -- it's our Pinoy-version rice toppings with a generous serving of rice and their choice of meat served with salted egg and tomatoes. Binalot has been known for their rice meals and how successful they have been with their menu line-up can be seen with the numerous branches that have been growing li...