Frannywanny

If there's one thing that I've learned throughout my 17 years of dating Paul, I realized that a romantic date doesn't always have to be expensive. After all the fireworks and sparks have died down, the real test of one's relationship is how you can truly be there for one another. It's how you can still manage to hold on to one another despite all the heartaches, the hardships and sacrifices that love entails. It's when you're just simply contented with his/her company even with the absence of a nice candlelit centerpiece, instrumental music playing in the background or food served on fine chinaware. In fact, Paul and I have never been huge fans of degustation meals, tasting menus or fancy restaurants. Going on casual dinner dates brings back so much nice memories of when we started dating. You see, Paul was my boyfriend since we were both in college and this means he has been paying our meals out of his school allowance. That said, our dates normally consi...

You know when you suddenly have a craving so bad that you just can't stop thinking about it for days? That's what happened to me recently when I started craving for anything cheezy and all I can think of were those delicious baked rice dishes at Tori Chizu . I can't believe it took me this long to actually write about it. I swear, the 1st year of motherhood just went by like a blur that I hardly had time to do anything but to take good care of my babies. No regrets though and here I am making up for lost time by telling you about my food discoveries. So anyway, back in July (I know!), Paul and I chanced upon Tori Chizu  at Eastwood City Walk. We used to frequent this part of town a long time ago and it was only when we agreed to meet up with some friends that we found ourselves in this familiar part of town turned not-so-familiar as there sure were a lot of changes from our last visit which was half a decade ago. Tori Chizu  is from the same company handling Bonchon C...

I first heard about Tenya back in 2016 from my good friend D as she was helping me put together my Tokyo itinerary. My friends in Singapore love going to Japan that I can probably name 10 friends who knows Tokyo so well that they can give the best recommendations even with their eyes closed. Thanks to them, Paul and I had spent one marvelous week eating our way around Japan and mind you, we managed to dine at some of the best hole in the wall places thanks to the tips that we got from these friends. I have yet to share with you stories from that trip and I promise to do it really soon. Meanwhile, back in Manila, Paul and I stumbled upon Tenya as we were going around the Bonifacio Global City one evening looking for a place to grab a quick early dinner before heading home. A quick search on our phone led us to Tenya  at the BGC Stopover complex. Okay, I have to admit that I never knew this place existed and boy was I impressed. We're talking about 3 storeys filled with a good mi...

Having been back in Manila for more than a month now and being able to discover not-so-new and new food places in the Metro, I somehow have this feeling like I've been living under a rock. It's true what they say that being away from home for some time can make you feel like a tourist in your own country. Slowly, Paul and I are starting to re-acquaint ourselves back into Manila's bustling food scene and we got out families and friends to thank for. Recently, I went out for an impromptu, but long delayed lunch date with my sister Pan. It's so cool that we're both working very closely now allowing us to have lunch every single day and that means nonstop catching up to make up for all those years that I've been away. During one of our errands to Quezon City, we decided to stop by Maginhawa Street in Teacher's Village. This place has been known to have a line of interesting restaurants, cafes, bars and recently, food parks. Since this isn't really that c...

Lately I've been craving for fried chicken. Deep-fried, crispy chicken with rice! It doesn't matter if it's the kind that comes in a bucket or the one that's served on a plate, de-boned and ready to eat. The worst thing about it is my cravings come at the middle of the night keeping me wide awake as I nurse my growling tummy. Gah! Then, I suddenly I remembered that dinner that we had at Wisma Atria's Food Republic where Paul and I got to try RedRing Treasures . It was upon an invitation from Roy and his father David to try their specialty -- deep-fried chicken cutlet served with your choice of noodles or rice. If there's one thing that everyone should know about food courts, be prepared to stumble upon great and yummy things in there. Roy is based in the US as he's finishing his studies there, so we got to sit down and chat with Mr. David who told us the story of how RedRing Treasures  came to be. Apparently, they started in Holland Drive where Mr Davi...

I know the traditional romantic will probably strangle me for saying this but falling in love with food is pretty much like falling in love with that special someone. It's that moment when you had an amazing meal and you can't stop thinking about it. You find yourself talking about it to anyone who'll listen and you can't wait for the next visit to finally happen. A few weeks ago, I just had one of the best meals of 2016. That's quite a bold statement, I know given that the year is coming to a close. Add to the fact that I was down with a bad 3-week-long cough, I clearly wasn't in the best physical condition but wanting to check the restaurant out, I still pushed through and luckily, every single dish made the tiny struggle so worth it. Basil Thai Kitchen  opened it's flagship outlet at the basement of Paragon Shopping Centre. I have to admit that while I've visited this mall a number of times, it was my first time to explore the basement and boy I...

Who can relate to this? "You have to work late at night and with barely enough cash in your wallet, you wander around your office area looking for something to eat. Not in the mood for fast food as you just want something more comforting, a bit more healthy yet quick to consume and one that won't hurt your budget. Where do you go?"  I can probably say that just like you and me, 80% would probably head to the convenience store. It has a wide array for food and snack options and you can definitely get hot dishes that doesn't necessarily mean having to ingest deep-fried food. Personally, 7-Eleven has been my go to place ever since I started working here in Singapore. It's where I can find good and reasonably priced siu mai, a delicious bar of Magnum (where I don't have to buy the entire box if the craving strikes) or the place where we bought our first ever SIM card upon landing in the Lion City. It has basically everything and almost everything that you...

The cold weather is really making me crave for soup, congee, noodles.. basically anything that's hot and comforting to match the rainy day. Unlike Paul, I'm not really a big soup fan but if I were to have soup, I would rather have it steamboat-style. I really enjoy being able to cook my own meal and filling my soup with the ingredients of my choice. Luckily, Singapore has a lot of steamboat options. From the traditional Chinese steamboat to the interesting Thai Mookata, then there's  GoroGoro  which specializes in Steamboat and Korean Buffet all in one. What sets GoroGoro  apart is that they have not one, not two but seven different soup bases which you can choose from! There's ginseng chicken, collagen, mala, tom yum, tomato, bah kut teh  and vegetarian . Normally, steamboat restaurants would allow you to choose two soup stocks but at GoroGoro you can have THREE different soup flavors to enjoy. After all, the more the merrier, right? 

It has been 6 months since ... our amazing trip to Tokyo and boy do I miss eating Japanese food every day for a week and the whole  kawaii vibe. I have a feeling that Paul feels the same way too as he would still talk about our trip every now and then. Luckily, Singapore has a lot of good Japanese restaurants should we suddenly have the craving for ramen, gyoza, katsudon and more. Recently, we traveled all the way to Serangoon Gardens to check out Hajime Tonkatsu & Ramen , a new Japanese restaurant that's said to serve really good tonkatsu and  ramen. Was it really worth our trip? Let me tell you more about it below. Hajime Tonkatsu & Ramen  is a casual eatery that promises to serve you authentic Japanese dishes at really reasonable price. Let's face it, Japanese food is really delicious but eating it repeatedly can definitely cause a dent on your budget. That wouldn't be the case at Hajime  as I was surprised to see that most of the dishes ar...

"Oh to be young and free!"  That was really the first thing that entered my mind when Paul and I visited Kokomama Market Place  a few weeks back. The set-up is like a school cafeteria but instead of having to queue up to get your food, you can simply order and wait for it to get served to your table.  Can't decide what to eat? The menu is so diverse that it can perfectly answer the BIG question : "What to order?" One look at their menu line-up and you can choose from a couple of Italian pasta dishes, Korean baked rice and ramen, Japanese rice bowls, Singaporean soup bread bowls and the ever-popular Bingsu! They also got a wide selection of bread and pastries which you can quickly grab when you're in a rush.  Since everyone just love anything and everything with salted egg , Kokomama has created a couple of salted egg infused dishes in order to satisfy that craving be it if you want it for breakfast, lunch, snack or dinner!  Start your m...

Many times, people would ask me how long have I been blogging and whenever they would hear the answer, their eyes would widen and the next thing they'd say is " wow! that's a pretty long time. " Well, they're right. Personally, I am also amazed myself that Frannywanny.com has been around for 8 years already and still counting! It just feels surreal. It has been a fun ride and I know it will continue to be. I can still remember that day when I first decided to open this blog after months of writing about my foodie stories in Multiply for just my friends to read about. A year or so, I started meeting fellow bloggers whom eventually became my good friends too. Oh, and how can I forget those moments when I get to see my blogging idols in the flesh. Believe it or not, I still get all giddy and starstrucked whenever I get the opportunity to be around the guys and gals whom I've been stalking following online pretty much on a daily basis. Wonder who they are? Jus...

I just love the feeling of satisfaction that I would get whenever we get to discovery a delicious hole-in-the-wall restaurant. The criteria is that is has to be reasonably priced and the food quality is superb. More often than not, cheap food does not really go hand in hand with good taste so this can be quite challenging. So when we get to find one, we know that it's a keeper. Take for example Nakhon Kitchen  located along Pasir Panjang. Our friend B has been telling us about it and we even attempted to try it out for dinner a few months back only to find out that they're close every Wednesdays and we went exactly on ... yes, a Wednesday. So, on my second attempt, I made sure of the following: 1) it wasn't a Wednesday and 2) I gave the restaurant a call to double check. This time, we were successful!  Thai food is one cuisine that both Paul and I love! Except for Pandan Chicken, which Paul somehow dislikes, we would try to be adventurous and would experiment in t...

Mommy and Pan came to visit me and Paul a month ago and I tell you, those were the best and most fun days that I've had here in the Lion City. I really love it when family comes to visit. As much as I also love being back home in Manila, it's nice to be able to share bits and pieces of my life here with the people I love the most. Of course, that includes taking them to some of my favorite restaurants, my favorite shopping malls and more. So, first on the agenda was to take them bargain shopping at Bugis . As we were shopping at Bugis+, we chanced upon Genki Sushi . This is a casual sushi restaurant with a really cute concept. We've known sushi restaurants to have the traditional conveyor belt where you can just pull out plates after plates of sushi. What makes Genki Sushi unique is that each other is prepared minutes after you place the order. Given that, you're assured of having fresh sushi all the time.

This year we celebrate the 50th year of Singapore so in line with all the SG50 celebrations that have been happening around, let me share with you some of my favorite Singapore dishes one at a time. Today, I will talk about the glorious Nasi Lemak . My first encounter with Nasi Lemak dates all the way back in 2010. It was during our one-week-long honeymoon here in Singapore where I had my first taste of that fragrant coconut rice with ikan bilis (dilis), lots of garlic peanuts, egg and fried chicken. I fell madly in love with Nasi Lemak that I would order it every chance I get here in Singapore and when we continued with our trip to Kuala Lumpur. Fast forward to today, I've lost count of the number of Nasi Lemaks that I've already had. To me, it's one of my favorite comfort food where I can always be sure of it's consistent delicious flavor and the viands that come with it are pretty straight-forward, simple yet always satisfyingly good. So, for one of our food tr...

Most balikbayans / OFWs will surely agree with this statement: "No matter how long your trip back to the Philippines is, it will never be long enough."  In other words, it will always feel like you just have so many things to do with so little time. The best solution for this? Multi-task . Believe it or not, I have begun creating day-to-day itinerary whenever we fly back to Manila. Every minute is precious and can never be wasted not doing anything. Of course, we have to make sure that we have set aside ample time to bond with our families too. For this particular trip, Paul had to go to LTO to have his driver's license renewed. Since we went right on the last work day before Christmas Day, we were greeted with a shockingly long queue and what used to just be an hour-long processing time took us almost half a day. Not wanting to rant that we have just wasted half a day waiting in line, it was a good thing that the LTO office was just right across Tiendesitas where t...

It's no secret that I love food and friends can testify how I can just go on and on for hours talking about it. So, it is also not a big surprise whenever acquaintances would ask me what my favorite food is or where do I normally go to when I want a surefire delicious meal. The funny thing is, I would sometimes end up a bit stumped on what the right answer should be. I guess it's because I've dined at more a thousand restaurants all over the region and this encompasses a wide range of cuisines too. One time, I really took a few minutes to think about it and the answer simple. I love pasta. There, I said it. If there's one thing that I love to eat in this world, it would definitely be a plate of pasta preferably cooked in an oil-based sauce with mushrooms, cheese, a simple choice of meat and spices. At the end of the day, I realized, nothing beats going back to basic . Pasta, to me, is the kind of dish that I would have whenever I had a long day at work. It's a p...

One thing why I love traveling with the NKids is because we all love to EAT! No kidding. During our trip to Cambodia , our bags were all filled with chips, snacks, drinks and even chocolates to ensure that no one goes hungry at any point in time. We try to make the most of each meal by researching well on the different restaurants to try both in Phnom Penh and in Siem Reap . I will be sharing with you where we went to eat during our trip but let me jump to our very last meal in Phnom Penh . Since we took the late afternoon flight, we had the chance to leisurely have a good lunch before heading to the airport. Our hotel is surrounded by a number of interesting cafes and restaurants that the challenge actually was to choose only two from close to ten options. Since we've been having local Khmer food for the past days, we decided to deviate from it for our last meal. The choice was to try Cocina Cartel , said to be one of the best Mexican restaurants not only in Cambodia but in A...

I'm pretty sure everyone knows that feeling that one would get when you discover something and it turns out way better than you expected it to be. As a foodie, these are those moments when you try a new restaurant and it turns out to be really good. I personally get that natural high when I get to take friends out for a good meal and even more when we can really say that it was worth every penny too. After all, I am a believer that good food doesn't have to be over-the-top expensive too. So, when my long time friends J and C came to the Lion City to celebrate their 1st wedding anniversary, I researched hard to ensure that we're taking them to a place that is perfectly suited for such a wonderful occasion. I've been hearing about Savuer from fellow food-loving friends telling me that this is a restaurant worth trying. A quick browse at their online menu and I felt that this could be the one. Luckily J and C easily found the restaurant despite the fact that it wa...

Over lunch one day, my colleagues AH and IW suddenly asked me what are my favorite restaurants here in Singapore . I haven't been here long enough to try a lot of restaurants but this question somehow left me stumped me for a minute or so. As I was putting together my usual bowl of salad, I made use of the extra minute to think. Then I began telling them about my usual go-to places such as Poulet for good casual French food, Keisuke Ramen , Kamal's for the best Fried Chicken Briyani in town and Din Tai Fung whenever I'd crave for xiao long bao. Now, it was my turn to ask. AH quickly named a couple of her favorites which were a mix of local and Chinese food spots and IW followed suit naming her go-to places as well. They have their own unique choices but I noticed that both of them named Swee Choon Tim Sum as their #1 favorite restaurant in Singapore. Add to the fact that D also went there recently and came back with non-stop raves about how yummy and affordable the ...

My birthday is just a few days away and just like before, the celebration starts days before the actual day and it can go on and on weeks after that. This year, it began exactly a week in advance and I'm seeing that I'll still be celebrating my birthday up until the end of June. A month-long celebration, I like the sound of that. :) I'm really excited to celebrate my birthday this year because not only my family is coming over but even my dear MIL and FIL are flying in too! I'm so excited for our family dinner and the days that I'll be able to spend with them. Given that I'll be busy this coming weekend, I decided to have an early birthday lunch with the NKids at La Petite Cuisine last Sunday. This restaurant has been on my list for a few months now after my French colleague I told me about it. Well, a French restaurant recommended by a French lady, that says a whole lot about its authenticity, doesn't it? La Petite Cuisine is located a few blocks aw...