Frannywanny

Among the numerous malls along Orchard Road, one of my favorites is the 3 adjacent malls near the Somerset MRT Stations. These are -- Orchard Central, Orchard Gateway and 313 Somerset . All three malls exudes this very fun, casual and youthful vibe plus the fact that there are a lot of interesting food options and some of which have quickly became my favorites. Enter Som Tam , a 6-month old restaurant that specializes in modern Thai fusion cuisine. It's located at the 8th floor of Orchard Central  which can easily be accessed be one of the elevators in the mall. I'm totally loving the white, clean, minimalistic look and feel of the restaurant. Price points are very reasonable as most of the menu items are below S$15 and the serving was good for sharing making it a good choice for couples or group dinner outs. Our meal started with a salad called Som Tam  (S$6.80), the restaurant's namesake. This is their house specialty and it's hard not to see why. It's th...

Okay kids, listen closely. When it comes to choosing the right man for you, make sure..he spoils you like crazy! Hehehehe :)  Kidding aside, I do believe that the right man should only have two queens in his life -- his mom and you. That's it. In fact, how a guy treats his mom is actually a good indication of how he will be treating you. Luckily, Paul loves and adores my MIL unconditionally so that pretty much mirrors how he has been showering me with the same amount of love and affection too. :) So, on my birthday, Paul took me out on a special date. This may sound cheesy but even after being together for 12 (!) happy years, I still get that giddy, "kilig" feeling whenever we go out on a date. What made this date extra special was the fact that Paul took charge of choosing the restaurant and making a reservation too! It has been a while since we've had Korean bbq so he chose K.Cook Korean BBQ Buffet to be our lunch date venue that day. Boy, was I excited!

"A party without cake is just a meeting." - Julia Child Who loves dessert? I do! I do! I dooooo! ♥ So, to continue our lunch food trail in Orchard Central , our next stop after enjoying our healthy salad bowls at Green Rabbit were two must-try dessert places that you all shouldn't miss. First stop was at I Wanna , a pretty and very feminine cake shop that specializes in mini cupcakes! We all know that Singapore is literally bursting with so much dessert places much more those selling cupcakes. However, what makes I Wanna  different is its Lychee Red Velvet Cupcake  (S$1.80/piece) which really blewed me away! It has this sweet lychee flavor that gave a really interesting angle to the moist, chocolate-y red velvet mix.

We all know that Orchard Road is the place to go when you want to shop here in Singapore. To borrow a famous tagline, Orchard pretty much got it all for you ! From satisfying your retail needs down to treating your taste buds to a wide-array of yummy choices, this is one place every tourist should not miss out on and for locals and residents here, it's the perfect place to meet up with friends or to do some retail therapy when stress sets in. If you ask me, my favorite part of Orchard Road is within the Somerset district. For some reason, I really enjoy shopping in the malls within this particular area because all of the brands that I love can be found here. Recently, I was invited to a lunch food trail at the Basement 2 of Orchard Central a.k.a. OC where we got to visit three of the newest food establishments there. Our first stop was at  Green Rabbit Crepe and Salad Gastrobar .

I have to hand it to my parents for teaching me and Pan to appreciate eating vegetables at a young age. I remember that back then, there's never a day that would pass that there won't be any kind of vegetable dish in our meal. Of course, as kids, we were still picky then. Choosing the leafy ones such as spinach, lettuce, broccoli over the gooey and slimy ones (eg: eggplant, okra and bittergourd). As we grew up, that's when our taste buds began to appreciate more flavors and today, I can proudly say that I'm just down to not liking peas, carrots and okra which I don't think will ever be well-suited to my taste...ever. So, when I received an invite to visit Joie by Dozo and to try its 7-course meatless dinner, I was pretty much excited for it. After all, I've been trying to eat more greens since I moved to the Lion City and this invite was simply perfect timing. The restaurant is located at the rooftop garden of Orchard Central giving it an all-zen vibe. J...

After having dinner one Saturday night, Paul, our friend O and I decided to have some ice cream before heading home. I don't know what it is with having ice cream but I guess, with the forever warm temperature we have here in Singapore , enjoying a cone, bowl or even an entire tub of ice cream always seems to be a good idea. The same is true in Manila only I'd always go for a tall glass of halo-halo (with a scoop of ice cream) whenever I get the chance to. So, there we were walking along Orchard Road when we were greeted by a long queue in front of Cold Stone Creamery outside Orchard Central . I personally do not like queuing up and having to wait forever till I can finally eat. However, the boys were pretty keen on having their ice cream that evening and assured me that the wait won't be long. Okay, I give in! What makes Cold Stone Creamery different from the other ice cream parlor is that they mix in various dry ingredients into your choice of ice cream. I really l...