Frannywanny

One of my favorite time of the year is here and we only got 2 weeks to enjoy it! It's time for Melt Cafe 's annual Flavours of India  promotion and if there's any buffet theme that I love the most about Melt then this would probably be it. You see, Melt Cafe offers a wide range of dishes from a good selection of fresh seafood to an interesting line-up of salads, roasted meats, desserts, cheese, Western and Asian dishes but did you know that they also serve one of the yummiest Indian dishes in town? For instance, always make sure to try their freshly made prata (I love the garlic and cheese variants) as well as their curries and tandooris too. I was fortunate to try last year's Flavours of India  where we had an interesting wine pairing dinner which was actually my first time to have wine with Indian food. Normally, I'd go for some Mango Lassi to balance out the possible spiciness of some of the dishes. This time around, Chef Santosh Kumar outdid himself aga...

If there's something that I find so amazing about the Indian cuisine, these must be its rich aroma, the creative combinations of herbs and spices and interesting stories that goes behind each dish. Needless to say, I've always been a fan of Indian food. Friends know all about my addiction towards papadum, paneer and mutton briyani to name a few. So, when I found out that one of my favourite hotel buffets in Singapore, MELT , is having its annual Flavours of India promotion, I knew that its something that I shouldn't miss out on. For our tasting dinner, we had a preview of some of the dishes that patrons can expect to enjoy during the 15-day period. To make it more special, they will have an exclusive wine-pairing dinner on 28 October 2015 for only S$98 . I've never had wine with Indian food before as I would always get my staple Mango Lassi so this one was really new to me. I got to MELT right on time and having had to walk quite a distance from the bus station, I ...

Life is truly funny at times. Just when you thought you got some things all figured out, you then encounter one thing that's totally new that will make you doubt what you already know. Can you relate to this? For years, Pan and I used to be  loyal patrons of several Indian restaurants in Manila . We would feast over plates of basmati rice, paneer, butter chicken, curries and of course, our all-time must-have, papadum. For us, Indian food is all about curry and spices. We thought we know the Indian cuisine inside and out...well not until last night. I was invited to try the newly-launched heritage menu at Muthu's Curry . A popular and rather upscale Indian restaurant here in Singapore. Muthu's Curry has been around since 1969! This means the restaurant is 46 years old -- 4 years shy from the country's year of independence. Nonetheless, being able to be around for this long is an accomplishment already given that not a lot of restaurant can have the same luck to ev...

This is the story of a boy named Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) who grew up in Mumbai, India. It talked about his love affair with food and how he grew up to appreciate the different flavours and being able to master his craft in the kitchen. Fast forward to the present, Hassan and his family arrived at the South of France and bought a property which they intend to build a restaurant on. The challenge? It's a hundred-feet opposite the famous Michelin starred restaurant owned by Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren). Will they be able to succeed? For one thing, this is a movie that you shouldn't watch with an empty stomach or without any snack on hand. Trust me. On the first 10 minutes of the movie, I felt my mouth water as soon as Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon) came out on screen with a huge board topped with cheese and bread. Luckily, I went prepared with my Egg Mayo with Honey Mustard and Sweet Onion Vinaigrette Wrap to munch on.

In my opinion, when it comes to Indian food, there are just two types of people -- one who loves it to bits and one who don't. Rarely have I encountered anyone who's in-between. What's being in-between, after all?! I consider myself lucky as the people whom I regularly eat out with all share the same love for Indian food as I do so it's not difficult to convince them where to go whenever the craving for prata, butter chicken masala, paneer or papadum comes about. Back in Manila, Pan has been my constant Indian lunch date as we both love to order the same things -- see here and here . So, whenever I would have some Indian cuisine here, I can't help but reminisce about our fun lunch dates making me miss her even more. Khansama Tandoori Village is a popular Indian restaurant located in Science Park . Surrounded by office buildings, Science Park is a bustling place during the weekdays and a very quiet community at night and during the weekends. Who would have th...

Once again, Paul and I visited the west side of Singapore one weekend. Back at Clementi where we planned to do our weekly grocery shopping and hopefully to grab some Baskin Robbins ice cream on our way home. We were hoping to meet up with our friends N and T but sadly they had other plans. Of course, they're such sweet friends that they still sent us a couple of restaurant recommendations for us to try. One of those is Prata Planet . How funny that ever since we moved to the Lion City, Paul and I do enjoy the local Indian fare most especially the 3 Ps : paneer, papadum and prata. O also joined us that day and with the address on one hand and our Singapore Map app on the other, we went out to search for the restaurant. Prata Planet is located a block away from the Clementi MRT station. It's actually at the ground floor of one of the housing estates in the area. It was quite easy spotting the restaurant as it's facing the street. As soon as we settled into our tabl...

I hope my blog entry title got your attention. :) Rarely do I boldly call one to be the best...unless they really are the best . I got to say that one reason why I truly enjoy going to work everyday (yes, I'm a nerd that way hihi) is aside from the fact that I love what I'm doing at the moment, I also look forward to lunch breaks. You see, my office is within Singapore's Central Business District and this just means it's literally surrounded by close to a hundred food options! Not even counting Amoy Food Centre which is just a few skips and hops away, our office neighborhood has a good mix of restaurants to satisfy whatever we may be craving for at the moment. From Indian to Italian, we even have a nice French bakery and a delicious Korean bbq restaurant too. The choices are truly endless! One restaurant that I love is Kamal . It's an Indian restaurant that's famous for their Fried Chicken Briyani (around S$5.5-6). I've tried all sorts of briyanis b...

How our honeymoon trip began was pretty unusual... as early as the night before, rain continues to pour endlessly and the night wind was so strong we can actually here the roof banging. We were uncertain whether or not our flight will push thru. We were scheduled to fly out of Manila at exactly 645AM. Following the standard airport rule, we had to be at the airport at least 3 hours before our flight. At 3AM, Paul and I woke up and found out that there was no electricity. The wind was still very strong and the rain somehow made me feel a bit anxious about flying. After a series of calls made to Cebu Pacific, we were told that there was still no advice if our flight will push thru or not, nonetheless, we have to be at the airport in 45 minutes. We prayed and quickly did some last minute packing with just our cellphone's flashlight shining our way around the room and within 15 minutes we were finally on our way to the airport. I continued to pray that the weather will improve allowi...