When Tim Ho Wan opened its doors in the Philippines, people have been lining up at the “world’s cheapest Michelin-star restaurant” day in and day out. You can’t reserve a table so you have to devote some time in waiting. Since it opened its first branch in our country in 2014, I haven’t got the chance to taste their widely-popular dim sums.

Luckily, we stayed very near 112 Katong Mall in Singapore and at early in the afternoon on a weekday, there wasn’t any queue at Tim Ho Wan. Excited to get blown away with “Hong Kong’s Most Famous Dim Sum”, I dragged my husband inside the Katong branch.

Coming back to Geylang reminded me of those two weeks we spent in Singapore last year. While the place is known to be a red light district (not the types we have here in the Philippines or in Amsterdam), Geylang is filled with numerous food selections including stalls of fruits, a strip of hawkers (no pun intended), and affordable dim sum places to boot.

One dim sum place we’ve been coming back to is 126 Dim Sum Wen Dao Shi, tucked in the main street of Sims Avenue in the heart of Geylang. It’s funny because we discovered this while I was craving for siomai (shu mai) one time and this place happened to be just a few steps away from our accommodation in Lorong 15. We didn’t know it was this popular in Singapore!

Let me begin this post by mentioning the elephant in the room. See, I took photos of Matam-Ih back in December and haven’t reviewed yet one of my favorite Filipino restaurants in the Philippines. So pardon the delay and let’s begin!

If you haven’t heard of Matam-Ih yet, it’s a restaurant serving authentic Kapampangan cuisine, located at Clark Freeport Zone. “Matam-Ih” in the Aeta dialect means delicious, and I can guarantee their claim is accurate. But what makes this unique from other Filipino restaurants we already have?

Osaka Takoyaki is one of the newest Japanese restaurant chains in the Philippines. Having only started in January 2015, Osaka Takoyaki now has more than 40 branches nationwide. What makes their menu different from other Japanese restaurants is that their food offerings are specifically served in Osaka prefecture. Osaka is known to be a place where sumptuous dishes are made, thus it is a well-known location to enjoy street food.

Trying Osaka Takoyaki for the first time, I visited their newly-opened branch at SM City Cabanatuan last month. Together with my husband and mother-in-law, we tried some of their dishes, including the famous Takoyaki.

Angeles City is a melting pot of various lifestyle, flashy entertainment, and mouth-watering cuisines. As we frequent Clark on weekends, my husband and I like to discover different food establishments found in Clark and in the heart of Angeles City, Pampanga. One weekend, we stumbled upon a Korean restaurant called Kimchi and we’ve been regular customers since 2016.

I’ll be honest with you – Kimchi isn’t an upmarket restaurant and they’re not the best place for Samgyeopsal, BUT they serve authentic Korean cuisine at very affordable prices. Owned by two Koreans, this restaurant is located right in Angeles City’s Red Light District. While the customers come from various walks of life, nationalities, jobs, and ages, the only common thing customers share is their appetite for Korean food.

I’m currently at Pallete Cafe, typing away my thoughts as I wait for my order of Pesto Pasta and Iced Tea. I’m having my super late lunch at 4:00 PM and I thought this would be the perfect place to dine and relax while the bulk of customers hasn’t arrived yet.

Pallete Cafe is a relatively new restaurant in Better Living Subdivision, Parañaque. If you’re coming from Moonwalk and Multinational Village going to Bicutan, you’ve probably seen this several times as it’s just beside Chateau Elysee Condominium. If you like a little change of scenery from your usual coffee shop, this place is an alternative.

The first time I went to Genroku Sushi was with my husband during our trip to Osaka last April. Also known as Genrokuzushi, this is the first ever kaitenzushi in the world – which means conveyor belt sushi restaurant. We already have several of these sushi train restaurants back home, but I waited to try the first and genuine kaitenzushi in Japan.

We stepped into Genroku Sushi Sennichimae branch at 2:45 PM for our (very) late lunch. At that time, we had no idea whatsoever that this was Osaka’s most popular conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Thankfully, the Sennichimae branch had available seats for us, although I wished we were seated in front of the itamae (sushi chefs) so we can see how they skillfully make sushi.