Frannywanny

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:

Do you believe in giving second chances?  Well before you answer that, let me tell you a little story. *puts on her lola glasses and sits on the rocking chair* *ahem ahem* Once upon a time, there was this girl whom we shall call FW. She went out with her best buds one evening for some delicious sushi and wagyu beef. Over their favorite Japanese choices, girly chit-chats and stories were exchanged back and forth. Dinner came to an end and not wanting to call it a night, FW suggested that they go get some ice cream. Feeling all grown up, the three girls decided to have some gelato instead. Off they went to Cafe Publico which was just a few steps away from their original place. It was raining hard that evening and they found a certain calmness inside the store. The rustic Italian garden interiors felt old yet comforting. The chess table in one corner looked really interesting. The place boasts of serving good gelato and so the girls made their choice. FW went for a sco...

Allow me to make another bold foodie prediction for the year . The last time I did this was a few months ago when I predicted that ramen will be the next BIG thing here in Manila. After I said this, then came in more ramen franchises from all over the world. So far I've tried 3 of them and loved them all equally. You can read about it here and here . I heard from foodie friends that there will be about 2 to 3 more ramen shops that will open their doors here in Manila this 2013. What a fun year for ramen lovers out there! Aside from ramen, there's one brand that has been spreading around the foodie world like wildfire. From the moment I arrived in Manila, friends have been messaging and texting me about it. The name is BONO . Initially, I thought it has something to do with the Irish singer of the band U2. Probing further, I was told that it's a local gelato brand that's located in SM Makati . The way friends talk about Bono was enough to convince me that I sho...

Manila has seriously turned into a foodie mecca. Gone are the days wherein people are contented with the limited choices of restaurants and they would visit the same ones week in and out. Today, food trends are flying in and around the city, a good number of foodies would roam the streets in search for the latest find and one would go beyond the 7,107 islands of the country in order to satisfy his/her tummy with the yummiest thing out there. We're a rice eating country but lately people are starting to buy more bread and to bring a sandwich to work is the next in thing. Why is that? If you ask me, I'm pointing to these two bottles as the main culprits -- meet Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter and Lotus Biscoff Spread . Trader Joe's Speculooos Crunchy Cookie Butter (Left) + Lotus Biscoff Spread (Right) It all happened so fast, one day Peanut Butter and Jelly ruled the land and the next day it was these two spreads fighting for the limelight on the sandwich ...