Frannywanny

Cucina  is the all-day International dining restaurant of Marco Polo Ortigas Manila  and is one of my favorite hotel buffet restaurants in the metro too. While it may not have the widest array of dishes to choose from, I love how each dish is well-curated making it go very well with the rest of the line-up. I also love how they make it a point to change the themes every so often so I don't feel like I'm having the same old, same old in every visit. One visit, I had Italian , the next I had Thai, in another visit I enjoyed the best Filipino dishes and so on. There was even that one lunch wherein we had the most authentic British fare too . Despite the regular thematic changes, the top favorites are there to stay. I also love breakfast at Cucina ! I'll never forget that one memorable breakfast during our babymoon staycation at the hotel and I woke up so early because I was starving. I tell you, pregnancy hormones can sometimes just get so crazy. So there I was, part of th...

Let's take a short trip down memory lane. Well, sometime in 2017, Paul and I had one of the best babymoons at the Marco Polo Ortigas Manila  where we also celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary . I remembered even writing about it and I quote, "After all, this will be the last wedding anniversary where it's just the two of us. Next year, we will be joined by our beautiful twins so looks like it will be a family getaway from then on." Three years after that memorable staycation, we found ourselves back at our favorite hotel in the city and yes, this time we have our twins in tow. Often times, we'd toy with the idea of take a quick couple-only trip and to leave our twins in the able hands of my parents and Yaya M. However, #momguilt never fail to take over and so I've chickened out so many times as I can't bear the thought of me being away from my twins for more than 24hours. I guess I'm just not ready for that. Any moms out there who can relate with ...

"We don't call them fries, it's chips! We call it chips!" "You don't boil sausages, you grill them! Who boils or steams sausages?" I'll never forget these comments given by my former boss during one of our office chats about food. Oh how I missed him and our old team! It began when we started talking about the famous British Fish and Chips and one of us asked him why don't they have it with rice, of course, for us Asians..#riceislife! He then explained that they have their deep-fried beer-battered fish with chips and mind you, they don't call it fries. Living in the Lion City, Paul and I had the privilege to know more about the English language such as saying holiday instead of vacation , lift instead of elevator and nappies and prams instead of diapers and strollers . I love listening to the English accent and how formal it sounds. When it comes to food, Singapore also has a strong British influence as the Philippines is to the A...

During our amazing Anniversary weekend staycation at Marco Polo Ortigas Manila , Paul and I were lucky to be upgraded to a Superior Suite which allowed us to have access to their Continental Club Lounge . This really made us so happy as we both love hanging out at the lounge most especially during cocktail hour! The Continental Club Lounge is located at the 44th floor of the hotel which gives you an unobstructed view of the city. I just love sitting by the window while enjoying our drinks and snacks. The Ortigas skyline, after all, is very beautiful. The lounge itself is very spacious with ample areas for one to hold meetings or to have quiet discussions. Dress code is strictly observed here as with any hotel lounges. We also love how attentive the staff are here as they would willingly ask if you need a refill of your drinks, if you'd like some coffee or tea or when I was looking for a bowl of nuts, they quickly served some to us.

Rise and Shine, Manila!  Breakfast has always been my favorite meal especially when I'm on a vacation. Lately though, I would always find myself up and about at 6am with a growling tummy. I guess, I got two hungry babies calling my attention so early in the morning! Luckily though, Cucina starts their breakfast service really early too and so I joined a handful of hotel guests a little past 6am on a Sunday morning. I've always been a fan of Cucina 's as I love the well-curated dishes available in their buffet spread. Their breakfast offering didn't fail to impress as well. Let me take you on a quick tour around the breakfast buffet line: Start off with something healthy in the morning! They have a good variety of muesli, yogurt and oatmeal for you to choose from.

It's been a while since our last visit to Lung Hin but I can still vividly remembered how delicious everything was and the ambiance also added to the over-all wonderful dining experience that we had. It just made perfect sense to go back to Lung Hin during our anniversary weekend stay at Marco Polo Ortigas Manila . I know it's more customary to go for a nice romantic steak dinner to celebrate an anniversary but hey, who ever said you can't have Chinese food on a dinner date too? Our dinner began with our personal choice of soup. Spinach Seafood Soup  (Php. 330) for me and Hot and Sour Seafood Soup  (Php. 295) for Paul. We love starting our meal with a bowl of soup to warm our tummies and prepare it for the feast ahead. My Spinach Seafood Soup  was so packed with a lot of ingredients! Minced seafood, tofu and what I suspect could be egg white. It was so filling and yummy!

It's no secret how much I love going for Afternoon Tea. There's something about unwinding while enjoying a selection of sweet and savory bite-sized pasties delicately displayed on  a tall multi-tier rack. Since Paul had work on Saturdays back when we were in Singapore, I'd spend those free time with my girl friends as we would try the different hotel high teas around the city. Since high tea is traditionally very British, I'm happy though that this practice is picking up pace here in the Philippines where the American influence is relatively strong. After checking in and settling in our room at Marco Polo Ortigas Manila , Paul and I headed back to the 24th floor where Connect Lounge is located. They have an ongoing high tea promotion for only Php. 788 per pair and we were excited to give it a try. Similar to all dining establishments in the hotel, Connect Lounge also boasts of an amazing view overlooking the Ortigas and Antipolo area. Within minutes, our three ...

Every year, Paul and I would make it a point to celebrate our wedding anniversary. On some years we went out for a nice dinner date but more often than not, we'd take the weekend off for a nice R&R at a hotel of our choice. This year, we decided to check out Marco Polo Ortigas Manila  for one full weekend of non-stop eating and relaxation. After all, this will be the last wedding anniversary where it's just the two of us. Next year, we will be joined by our beautiful twins so looks like it will be a family getaway from then on. Marco Polo Ortigas Manila opened just a few years ago when we were already in Singapore making us even more excited to check this hotel out. Personally, I'm a fan of the Marco Polo group as my family and I used to frequent their hotel in Hong Kong many many years ago. One thing that I'll always remember about Marco Polo is its spacious room. The one in Hong Kong is also adjacent to one of our favorite malls -- Harbour City, making it so co...

I'm aliveeeeeeeee!!! This is probably the fist time in 10 years that my blog has been this quiet but I got a couple of good excuses reasons why. First of all, Paul and I have been busy the past few months as we have decided to finally relocate back to Manila. Yes, you read that right. We're finally back home and we haven't been happier. Don't get me wrong, our life in Singapore was nothing but a dream come true but every good chapter should have an equally good ending and so we have decided to close that chapter just at the perfect time as we await to start a new one. Secondly, speaking of opening a new chapter. I'm so excited to share with you all that another dream of ours is about to unfold in the next few months, Paul and I will be welcoming our bundles of joy. That wasn't a grammatical error. We prayed so hard for almost a year and God answered our prayers by not only blessing us with one but with two beautiful babies whom we're both so excited to me...

For a country, like the Philippines, who loves to eat, it's then expected to have such a booming food industry and boy, competition can be very very fierce! There's basically a lot of options to eat from such as the basic carinderias , to the growing number of food parks, then there's a wide array for restaurants specializing in all sorts of cuisines and cooking techniques then we have our hotels. Within one hotel, you can expect to have more than 3 F&B outlets such as a traditional Chinese or Japanese restaurant, a coffee shop and our favorite -- an all-day dining restaurant which offers its culinary masterpieces buffet-style. Now, it's not really a big surprise how come Paul and I would always pack on so much weight after spending a couple of days back in Manila. Most of the time, we just eat, eat and eat! During our recent visit home, we checked out Cucina  at Marco Polo Ortigas Manila . We've loved this hotel after dining at Lung Hin and we told ourselv...

I really love it whenever I get to catch up with my dear friends Jin and Leslie . If you haven't visited their blogs yet, I highly recommend that you do so after reading this entry as, for me, they are the best and most reliable food bloggers in town. ♥ I trust Jin and Leslie's taste when it comes to food so whenever we dine out, it's one of those rare moments where I'd rather keep quiet and allow my two friends to take the lead. Take for example our recent lunch out at Lung Hin , I know they've been there so many times but knowing that I'm dying to try this when I visited Manila last month, they were game enough to go back just to have lunch with me and Paul. Aren't they the sweetest? It took us a while to locate the hotel so we were actually the last to arrive. Leslie, the ever prompt one, took charge of pre-ordering the Roast Duck (Php. 1,600/half) as she knows that it will take a while for this to be ready. True enough, our glorious plate of du...