Food Panda: Your food delivery buddy in Brunei

Foodpanda is one of the fastest growing delivery service in the world, spanning millions of downloads and delivering food in more than 40 countries in the world. The formula to their success is their innovative app which gathers restaurants within the countries and making it easy for users to order for food delivery even for restaurants who do not have their own delivery services.

 

Foodpanda opened in Brunei last July and  is growing month by month. It started with a  few orders in a day in July till the 150+ orders in a day last week! Quite a good achievement for them!

 

To be fair, when Foodpanda first started out in Brunei, many were skeptical whether such an app would work in Brunei as I thought most would prefer to dine in or just cook at home instead of ordering deliveries. Initially when they started, there weren’t that many restaurants and they did not cover as many areas as they did but now they’ve gathered more than 50 quality restaurants and covering more locations, more recently even Kuala Belait! Foodpanda is now the most popular food delivery app in Brunei!

 

The idea is simple – just download the Foodpanda app from Apple App Store or Google Play, register an account, select area, choose and order your food from your favourite restaurant, then Foodpanda will do the ordering, collecting and delivering for you! You continue with your busy schedule and the food should arrive within 1hr to 1hr 30 minutes.

 

Initially, when the app was launched, I was disappointed that where I live wasn’t covered but good news ~~ they finally covered Bengkurong, Sengkurong and Jerudong areas – much to my delight! My Belait district friends are also happy that they now deliver for Belait district restaurants to selected areas in Belait now – even to Lumut!

 

As I opened this app on a Friday afternoon, it shows the available restaurants that are actually open. Let me guide you on how easy it is to use Foodpanda app to order delivery. Notice that all restaurants have a minimum order and some charge delivery while some don’t.

 

As you can see – you are spoiled for choice as they have quite a good selection of restaurants with different types of cuisines for you to order from. The good news is that quite a lot of these restaurants don’t have their own delivery services and could be quite a hassle to go to, due to traffic jams and difficulties in finding parking. You can now order, sit back and relax comfortably while relaxing or doing your work.

 

Now let’s take a look at Excapade restaurant’s menu ~~ The restaurants will work together with Foodpanda to list out which available items are available for delivery. Excapade provides quite an extensive menu for you to choose from. Let’s select some sushi sets ~~

 

Quite a few good sets to choose from ~~ you can click on the food items to have a clearer view of the picture and to place your order.

 

Here’s the ordering screen ~ select your quantity and add to basket – another cool trick you can do here is to zoom in to the food by dragging out using your touchscreen.

 

After selecting your set. you can proceed to check out and you will see if there’s any delivery fee. Since Excapade does not charge a delivery fee, it is listed as Free. You do have to pay a 15 percent service fee to Foodpanda for doing all the hard work for you. The ordering, the collecting and delivering (in whatever weather) to you ~~

 

Now you can just choose the address that you typed in when you registered your account (make sure you fill in your address when you register or you can edit it afterwards – this will make your ordering easier and faster) or you can select the current address you are in ~ be it at your office, friend’s or relatives place ~~

 

The best part of Foodpanda is that you only pay when food is delivered to you. After placing your order, you will receive an sms and email to confirm that order has been received. If there are any complications or possible delays, Foodpanda will give you a call to clarify.

 

When I ordered my sushi party set, Foodpanda gave me a call to clarify if it’s okay that it would take more time as the restaurant needs a much longer time to prepare party sets. Since I ordered about 2 hours before my big family reunion dinner, I was okay with it.

 

Foodpanda can be a lifesaver whether you’re a busy person who needs to finish work at the office, or you’re too occupied with catching up TV series at home and got sudden food cravings ~~ just pick up your phone, open the app, choose restaurant and make your orders. Here – I had a craving for Korean Fried Chicken and Seafood Pancakes while I was on one of my Korean drama series marathon, and decided to order from Kimchi Restaurant using the Foodpanda app. I didn’t even have to leave my house and that saved me a lot of time driving to Kiulap, braving all the traffic jam or even picking up the phone to call the restaurant. CONVENIENT!

 

At the moment, Foodpanda Brunei is having a SNAP and Share competition where you can order from Foodpanda, snap and share your deliveries for a chance to win big prizes such as GoPro 4and OKI printers! Snap the food with the brochure or flyer, then post it on your Instagram. Don’t forget to follow and tag @foodpandabrunei and hashtags #FPsnapandshare #(restaurant’s name) – in my case it’s #excapade. Above is a picture of my family reunion dinner, where I decided to spice up our dinner with a Sushi Party Set. It saved me a lot of time as I needed to focus on cooking other dishes and I don’t like to trouble others to pick up for me.

 

Can you imagine having football night ~~ and order food delivery for you and your football buddies? Awesome! How about some Kimchi’s Korean Fried Chicken, Sugarbun Fish Fillets or some gorgeous juicy burgers from Burger King ~~ the selection can give you a big headache ~~ but a good kind of headache!

 

So while you are reading this post and getting hungry, why not just download the app on Apple App Store or Android Google Play and make your first order?  Search for Foodpanda to download. or use the buttons below to download from your phone.

Brunei Restaurant Review: Paddington House of Pancakes Gadong Branch

Paddington House of Pancakes has recently opened up their second branch in Gadong – located next to McDonalds. It is currently in it’s soft opening stage – and I had the chance to check out the delicious dishes from their soft opening launch menu. I must say – it’s almost a new menu – quite different from their first branch. So if you’re expecting a copy of the first branch, you’re in for a surprise!

Imagine my excitement when I first saw these ~~ first let’s take a look at the restaurant look and feel ~~

 

Located just next to McDonald’s Gadong and facing the Mall, it is indeed a great location not only for the locals but will definitely attract quite a lot of tourists.

 

While the new Gadong branch is not as spacious as the first branch in Berakas – it does have a cosy feel and lovely ambiance.

 

Gotta love the cute cartoons on the walls ~~~

 

One of their new signature drinks are these ice cube drinks ~~ here’s the coffee iced cubes, in which you pour the milk and let the ice cubes melt to flavour your drink. One of the most annoying things about iced drinks is that when the ice melts, they tend to dilute your drink ~~ so you tend to drink it quicker ~~ not these drinks though ~~ as your ice melts ~~ it flavours the drink even more! You can request for syrup to adjust your sweetness ~~

 

Oooo yes ~~~ the coffee ice cubes will melt and flavour your drink ~~ instead of diluting it! They have tea ice cubes too for Iced Milk Teas!

 

A beautiful berry ice cube drink! Strawberries and blueberries iced tea!

 

I find this drink quite refreshing because the tea is not sweetened. You can always request for syrup to sweeten it but I’m happy just letting the ice melt to flavour my tea ~~ hu hu hu ~~

 

Here’s orange ice cubes version too! Man~~ thirst quenching goodness!

 

At the moment, the Gadong branch will not be serving your favourite savoury pancakes but the good news is that you will see their new additions: Waffles waffles waffles!

 

Waffles are a wonderful addition to their menu and it’s only currently available at the Gadong branch. They have a range of savoury and sweet selections to choose from ~~

 

Love chicken and waffles? Try their fried chicken waffle sandwich! Crispy fried chicken with cheesy sauce served with waffles ~~ and a side of their PHOP chips drizzled with honey and chili flakes! #chickenandwaffles

 

If you like a healthier version – they have grilled chicken with waffles, served with avocado pesto! What’s special about this one is that the waffles are stuffed with bits of cream cheese and cranberries! I must say it works really well with the chicken and pesto! The Cranberry Waffles Sandwich!

 

I must admit I am quite fond of their Wasabi Tuna Mayo Waffle Sandwich ~~ I’m a bit bias because I like a bit of kick from the wasabi ~~ oooh my ~~ #lovewasabi

 

Have you ever wondered if you can have a gorgeous waffle bun burger? Your prayers have been answered! PHOP Gadong Branch serves chicken, beef or lamb burgers sandwiched by waffles ~~ served with a side salad and cheesy fries! #waffleburger #omg

 

If you love salmon and eggs for breakfast – then you must look out for their waffles with smoked salmon with special chipotle sauce, sunny side up egg and alfalfa sprouts! A great combination I dare say and it’s a comforting breakfast/brunch! #welovesalmon #eggporn #woohoowaffles

 

Yes – you can still have your favourite Egg Carbonara Pasta from PHOP in this branch but there’s other new pastas you should try!

 

Behold! The Chipotle creamy pasta that’s served with chicken katsu and shitake mushrooms with a shredded nori seaweed. Quite a unique combination and I dare say – it might overtake the carbonara as my favourite PHOP pasta dish! #fusionpasta

 

Mussels and calamari with pesto sauce ~~ for those who love the strong flavour of herbs and garlic ~~

 

Chicken and Asparagus pasta looks quite tempting don’t you think? #healthymeal #postworkoutmeal

 

They also have galettes, which are savoury crepes. This is smoked salmon with mashed avocados, alfalfa sprouts, cheese and sunny side up egg, served with greens and apple salad ~~ served with buckwheat galettes ~~ hmmm ~~ healthy goodness I must say ~~ a feel good guilt free meal

 

Pannekoek, or some call Dutch pancakes that are thinner ~ usually served with savoury ingredients ~~ this is the Porto ~~ I noticed a lot of people eating the Pannekoek like they are eating a pizza or slicing and tearing it bit by bit ~~ there’s actually a proper way to eat this ~~

 

You usually roll them up like this and then slice them to share ~~ this way ~~ you get a good mix of the ingredients together with the pancake ~~ yum ~~ #foodtips

 

Last but not least – the sweet dessert waffles! Now I must say this – YOU MUST try their dessert waffles. The original one here is good with just maple syrup ~~ crispy on the outside while light and fluffy! One of the best waffles I’ve tasted in Brunei #waffleporn #simplymusteat

 

Of course ~ you can also have chocolate chip stuffed waffles with bananas and ice cream ~~

 

or have their blueberry stuffed waffles served with strawberries ~~ oooh la la ~~~ now that’s a good Instagram picture! #foodporn #dessertporn

 

Some more dessert porn~~ here’s the tiramisu waffle ~~~ a combination of original waffles and chocolate waffles ~~

 

oh my black forest waffles! Chocolate waffles with sour cherries and ice cream ~~~

 

They also have sweet galettes, crepes and pancakes on the house if you’re loyal to your love for pancakes and crepes!

 

The Gadong branch currently doesn’t have as much choice as the Berakas branch yet as they are currently in their soft opening stage – if you miss any of your favourite PHOP items, you can still have them at the Berakas Branch where they have a kids section.

 

 

• Paddington House of Pancakes Gadong Branch

• Unit 9, Block H, Ground Floor, Abdul Razak Complex, Gadong, Brunei Darussalam

• Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei