Frannywanny

To continue with my ninja-mode visit a couple of months ago where only a handle of friends knew that I was in town and they totally understood that I couldn't do meet-ups as all my time was solely dedicated to family. That's why I love them and that's why they're my truest and bestest friends. So, after my lunch date with Mommy dear at Oedo , the following day was spent with Pan. We had to do a couple of errands in the morning and since we were driving a coding car, we decided to just head to SM Megamall where we can stay for the time being. It's really amazing to see how the mall has quickly expanded within a year's time. Together with its expansion, there was also a boom in the number of restaurants that have opened and these are all on my list, waiting for me to try. One of those was Fireside . It was really silly of me to think that Fireside belonged to another restaurant group and it was only when I was reading the menu that I realized that it's ac...

This is a classic story of when a foodie dream came true.♥   Exactly 3 years ago in (almost always) sunny Manila, The Cheese Steak Shop opened its doors to the hungry public of the Philippines. That was the time when my taste buds were elevated to higher standards of cheese steak sandwich appreciation. "This is the REAL thing" my mind has been telling me. I've later found my favorites such as the Breakfast Cheese Steak  paired with a cup of crunchy onion rings .  I knew that when we left Manila, this will be one of those restaurants that I'll miss terribly. Oh for two years, I continued to long for that delicious piece of cheese steak sandwich that's packed with thinly-sliced tender beef and a generous serving of veggies. How I wish they'd come to Singapore. Just like that, my wish was granted! A month ago, Paul, O and I went to Kallang Wave Mall to check out the newly opened Cheese Steak Shop . O hasn't tried the one in Manila but hearing how Pau...

On days when Paul had to work late, I would normally try to make it home earlier than usual to be able to prepare our dinner. So far, I've mastered the art of cooking rice and reheating a wide-array of viands too. When I'm feeling a bit more creative, I would cook a new dish and would surprise not only Paul but myself as well with the (thankfully) positive outcome. I have to admit though that we do most of the cooking during weekends where we have the luxury of time. Weeknights are normally meant for reheating our food as we basically have an hour to prepare everything to have dinner right away. One night, I went home late after paying a quick visit to the gym. Worried that we will end up eating really really late, I told Paul that I'll do something about it. As soon as he said "okay",  I quickly opened the ever reliable Food Panda app. The steps are really simple. First, I keyed in our postal code to be able to generate a list of restaurants that can ser...

More than a month before our January visit home, I've been hearing friends and fellow food lovers talking about this new restaurant called Kettle  that recently opened at Manila's newest hangout spot, where else but in the East Wing  of  Shangril-La Plaza . This new structure of the mall houses a number of interesting food concepts from Chef Rob Goco's Green Pastures to another addition in the ramen competition, Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen  to name a few. Since I don't get to go home that often, I have a long list of restaurants to try and one of those is Kettle . I am very lucky to be blessed with really supportive high school friends. As we were planning for our dinner out, they allowed me to choose where I want to eat as they are very much aware of my long running list. We all agreed to dine at Kettle and to ensure that we have a table ready for us as we're dining on a busy Friday night, a reservation has been made. We were a loooong table of 12 so it can be quite...

One of the most common question that I would get from people who knows that I'm a food blogger is: " What's your favorite restaurant? " I tell you, this always leaves me quiet for a while as I ponder hard on how to best answer this simple yet also difficult question. Let me explain why, it's no secret that I love to eat out most especially whenever I'm back home in Manila or when I'm traveling. It just so happen that Paul and I are trying to live a more domesticated life here in the Lion City that our eating out frequency has been lessened drastically from what used to be an every other day routine in Manila down to a weekend habit. So, if you do the math, we eat out 2-4 times a week assuming we have both lunch and dinner outside. That would be at a minimum 8 restaurants a month and 416 in a year! This doesn't include the occasional lunch out that I have with friends and colleagues. Normally, we don't repeat restaurants except if these are really...

Just like that ladies and gentlemen, my search for the best tasting American buffalo wings in Singapore has finally came to an end. Yahoooooo!! *throws confetti in the air* Moving to another country made me realize how strong the American and Spanish influences have been to the Philippines. Actually, it was more on the food for me. Once in a while, I'd crave for a delicious llanera of Paella Negra or for some good juicy burgers and wings. Singapore is a truly a food mecca but I got to admit that having all these numerous choices around makes it harder to choose and look for the best. When it comes to wings though, nothing beans enjoying crispy deep-fried chicken and coated with a wide array for flavors. Yesterday, Paul and I traveled across the country to check out the newly opened Bedok Mall . I've never been to this part of town and I was really excited to see what yummy food gems one can find in here. Well, I just have to say that I was amazed that Bedok Mall has a n...

It's Friday and it's definitely TGIF! I know it's still a work day but somehow, waking up on a Friday gives me that happy feeling that the weekend is less than 24 hours away. Don't get me wrong, I love the weekdays too but to be able to have two full days where I can wake up later than usual, to lounge by our pool in hopes that I'd finally get a tan, to eat out and to catch the latest movie... who wouldn't look forward to the weekend?  Today, let me talk about one of my all-time favorites when it comes to fun, casual American dining experience -- TGI Friday's . T.G.I.F., as my mom would call it, is the perfect place for groups to come together. Every time I dine there, I see families, colleagues or friends enjoying a big platter of nachos, sharing the pasta or burger and others would cap the night off with some drinks. I can still remember how fascinated I was with the button pins that adorns the uniforms of the server that at some point, I really wa...

Who doesn't love pizza? Growing up, this has been our staple during group meetings in someone's home, during a class party or even one's birthday party. Nothing beats the bonding experience as you share a box of pizza with your closest friends. At home, Pan and I would always have pizza for our afternoon merienda back when we were studying for our quarterly final exams. Mommy would leave additional allowance for us to be able to have a box of pizza delivered and this is something we both always look forward to quarter after quarter. To me, pizza is a comfort food. Someday, I'll be a cool mom and have pizza nights with my family. Haha! However, when it comes to pizza flavors, I like the basic ones. The simpler, the better. This has been my motto ever since. Call it fate that Paul actually believes in the same thing. He has been loyal towards Hawaiian flavored pizza which is also one of my favorite pizza flavors equally same with the all cheese or seafood flavored pizz...

I've heard about Hooters , a popular American resto bar, that opened in Manila a few years back. Of course, I heard this from Paul who has been planning to check out their local branch since then. I really didn't get the fuss over it as I initially thought it was pretty much similar to our favorite Chili's or TGI Friday's. It was after reading reviews about it that I found out the little extra USP (unique selling proposition) that this restaurant has -- it's very sexy and overly voluptuous lady servers making this a go-to place for all men out there. Aha! No wonder... tsk tsk tsk. Unfortunately, Hooters hasn't expanded since it opened at the San Miguel by the Bay area near the SM Mall of Asia and since we rarely frequent that place, my dear husband hasn't been to Hooters Manila till this day. Well, imagine his shock when I came home one evening and told him that I had lunch at Hooters with a couple of girl colleagues as we had a presentation nearby...

The Food Club went on another out of town trip and this time we all headed to Paul's hometown in Angeles, Pampanga ; where we stayed the night in Fontana Leisure Park . ( Read Rowena's blog entry about it here ) We got there around 11 in the morning and The Club decided to go Duty Free shopping first. After which, lunch was next on the itinerary and being the ones who frequent Pampanga a lot, I asked the group if they're game to have ribs for lunch. After all, I had my favorite restaurant in mind. I first encountered AC Rumpa a few years ago when Paul and I first watched the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Clark. As always, I went prepared ready with a list of restaurants to try after doing my research online and AC Rumpa got the most number of votes from our Hot Air Balloon group. AC Rumpa stands for Angeles City Retired US Military Personnel Association. I'm not really sure if the owner is an American or a Filipino but one thing I'm really sure of is that they ...

A much-awaited meet-up with my dear friend Sab brought us to Papa John's Pizza one late afternoon. Papa John's Pizza has been around since last year and I actually saw a couple of branches in California during my visit last February. In fact, one of my cousins once worked for Papa John's when he was still residing in the US. Paul and I arrived a few minutes before Sab did and I ordered the Waffle Fries (Php. 90) to ensure that we have something to munch on as there's lots to catch up on the moment Sab arrives. It came piping hot and crunchy. I enjoyed dipping it into their special marinara sauce which gave the fries a totally different taste versus the usual shoestring kind with tomato catsup. Sab, the ever demure friend of mine, carefully pick one piece up after the other as she updated us about her busy life as a hands-on Mommy to our cute flower girl Sophie and our handsome godson Brandon on top of running a growing business with her husband Brian. Amazing huh...

My sister and I live under the same roof yet in these past few weeks, I hardly had the chance to chat with her. She has been very busy with work that she would come home late at night while I've been feeling extremely tired lately that I was already in bed as early as 10PM (sign of early aging? I hope not!) . I guess she misses me so much already (haha!) that she sent me an SMS last Friday inviting me to an afternoon bonding session before heading home. I immediately said yes and I was so excited that I hardly could sit through all my meetings that day. Finally at around 530PM, I left the office to head to Podium for our much-awaited bonding session. We agreed to meet at Borough , a restaurant that I've been wanting to try out. I'm glad my sister was game enough to take that longer walk to Podium from her office instead of just hopping over to SM Megamall. See, she misses me THAT much! :) I bought a P495 coupon from Deal Grocer a month ago. It's a set consisting...

Johnny Rockets may have been around since they first opened at the Eastwood Mall two years ago but it was my first time there after checking out Robinsons Galleria 's newest wing called the Veranda , two weeks ago. Why I love the Veranda . It has it's own parking space! Note though that for those who are planning to shop after dining at any of the outlets here, the rate may be a bit higher as compared to parking in their basement parking lot. However, it gives you direct access to the numerous restaurants available and this is perfect especially when you're very hungry just like how I was when my sister and I visited that day.  As we were deciding on where to eat, we noticed that there was loud music coming from one particular restaurants and the servers where all outside dancing. Yes, they were dancing and clapping and cheering. What a happy sight! We scanned the menu and later on decided to give Johnny Rockets a try. We were told that their serving is quite big ...

It was an exciting lunch as I was back at my favorite American diner ... Mr. Jones ! Just a month ago, I first tried Mr. Jones with the Yummy team and now I'm back for a food tasting in preparation for an exciting event for work! Thanks to Raintree Restaurant's super accommodating and friendly Marketing Manager, Belle ; I found myself enjoying a wide array of Mr Jones' specialties earlier was these will be served to our special guests in a couple of weeks. Here's what we had for lunch... We've tried The Threeesome during our first visit to Mr. Jones, I love the Egg Salad with Truffle Oil and Black Caviar! Each bite is h-e-a-v-e-n-l-y. The other two are the Prawn Coleslaw and the Macaroni Salad. Must enjoy these yummy salad together with their delicious butter toast. Make a wild guess how many milkshake we all had this afternoon. :) One? nah.. Two? Nope! Threeee? Maybe... Four? CORRECT!! Yep! We all had a taste of four of their best-selling milkshakes a...

The Green Siren did it again! what's in the box? Bringing in another, what I feel will be, winning product for all Starbucks fans to enjoy. Presenting, America's very own, Top Pot Doughnuts ! This delicious, hand-forged doughnuts will be select Starbucks Coffee stores from April 12 onwards. By saying these are hand-forged, these precious yummy snacks were created making very little use of machines. Just like a cup of Starbucks coffee that's hand-crafted to suit your taste. There will be three flavors to choose from: Glazed Old Fashioned Doughnut , Chocolate Old Fashioned Doughnut and my personal favorite, the Top Pot Apple Fritter ! Best to serve these warm, you'll enjoy the melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon-sweet taste in every bite! I also love it that the sugar glaze leaves a favorable crunch on the outside too. The good news is that all Top Pot doughnuts have zero grams of Trans Fat! Yahoo! Watch out for these coming in your favorite Starbucks Coffee...

I'm pretty sure I will be dreaming of a plate filled with US Beef Tapa with Garlic Rice tonight...and it all because of Mr. Jones It was our traditional birthday lunch treat with Yummy team and as I mentioned it before, the group surely has the nose and the right taste for good food! Lunch was at Mr. Jones . Since it was my first time to visit this and it has been part of my restaurants-to-visit list for quite a while now, I was really so excited to try that much-talked about Beef Tapa, the Truffled Mac and Cheese and a lot more! My excitement grew as the team began talking about what they will be ordering for lunch and looks like majority was really eyeing on the Tapa. We were told that the place can easily be filled up in minutes so for extra safety measures, Liz made reservations to secure us a table. Mr. Jones' ambiance is like a modern American diner complete with a mini jukebox by the corner, servers in crisp white with red stripes tops and a menu that will make you go W...

Tagaytay has always been and remains to be my family's not-so-secret weekend getaway. Take this month for instance, I have been to Tagaytay twice already and we're going back this weekend to celebrate my birthday! Yep, we love it that much ! My second visit was quick though, it lasted for only half a day because I went there for work. Before heading to our target destination, my colleague Iza and I decided to grab lunch first. Iza, I then found out, is also a food lover. Throughout the ride down South, we were comparing notes on the different food places that we have dined in Tagaytay. While our list didn't vary much, Iza offered to take me to this place that has become her newest Tagaytay favorite called Army Navy . Army Navy is located inside the Yellow Cab property along Aguinaldo Highway. I got so amused when I saw the counter. It is located at the left side of the Yellow Cab building with tables scattered outside. Dining here is done Al Fresco style. The structure ...