Brunei Restaurant Review: Renyi Filipino Restaurant with directions.

I have my first taste of Filipino cuisine when I was in Brisbane, Australia. It was a delicious roasted suckling pig dish called Lechon – the crispy skin plus gelatinous fat and flavoursome pork was to die for! In fact, even the great Anthony Bourdain himself claimed that the Filipinos made the most delicious pork he had ever tasted!

When I was in Sabah KK, I got to eat in Tambayan Filipino Restaurant and I was in love. Who could say no to rich fatty sinful dishes, especially at 3am in the morning after a long epic partying session. Needless to say, I was very impressed with Filipino food ~~ and always craving for Tambayan whenever I visit KK.

Needless to say, when I heard there’s a restaurant in Brunei serving Filipino cuisine, I simply must check out the restaurant. Introducing Renyi Filipino restaurant in Menglait!

Oh yes! Bring on the foood!! Thanks Royston, Karen and Alex (Michelle and Amy whose not in the picture) for joining this yummy trip~~ You usually order your food like economy rice style. They will serve different Filipino dishes daily – so you just choose from what’s available.

 

How can one not like SISIG?! Chopped up bits of different parts of the pig and fried till crispy. This is the MUST order dish for Renyi – they run out pretty fast! Request for a hot sizzling one IF they have any – or else just take any leftover plates of sisig!

Beef Kare Kare – chunks of tender beef stewed in a rich peanut sauce and usually served with some Filipino styled salty shrimp paste.

They also have Filipino style beef stew in flour, laurel leaves and carrots. Tender and melt in your mouth goodness!

Minced pork spare parts with a spicy kick (insert Filipino name – I am unsure of the name of this dish)

Filipino style Minced pork spiced pancakes

This dark matter sauce like thing is interesting. It’s basically fried or cooked pork parts simmered in a pig’s blood sauce. It’s called Dinuguan. Have the courage to try this – you will not be disappointed… *smacks lips*

When I posted this photo on instagram – many apparently had tried this eggplant omelette dish. It’s basically grilled eggplants – skin off and smashed flat – soaked with eggs and garlic – then pan fried. There’s a certain smokiness and richness to this omelette.

Filipino Style Pork Satay ~~ hmmm …..

The Filipino version of Sweet and Sour Pork is another must try ~~ more on the sweet side – taste a bit like Bah Kwa (Dried pork jerky) but more tender and juicy.

Words cannot express how beautifully delicious the crispy crackling skin of the fried pork is! Oh MY PORK!

I must say I am a fan of their fried tanghoon (glass noodles) – very very good with crispy pork bits – very flavoursome ~~ very yumness!

Yeah – they do have vegetable dishes if you have fussy friends who simply must have some fibre in their diet – or to cut your guilt of eating such a rich meal.

They also have Filipino style springrolls called Lumphia! Drizzled with gravy ~~ hmmm…

If you want to buy some crispy pork crackling ~ they sell these too ~~ Hu hu hu ~~

Now your biggest question would be – how to get there? Which part of Menglait? Here are some pics to help guide you.

Do you recognise this road? If you turn left – you will drive to Menglait Shell Station and Post Office – on the right side of the road – you would have just drove past NBT. Keep going straight ~~

You see the place where the red car turned out and you notice the big SUBARU showroom sign? Turn left into this entrance and you will see a mini roundabout. Note: If you go straight – you will drive past Riverview Hotel and get out of Gadong)

Turn left on the mini roundabout and you will see Spg 28 – this is the entrance to Renyi.

Tadaa!! You’ve reached your destination! It’s right next to PURELAND Vegetarian restaurant.

Note: The best time to visit this restaurant is between 11:30 am till 1:30 pm. This is because despite the closing times of the restaurant – the restaurant seemed more focused on readily cooked dishes served economy rice style. I have some followers on Instagram who tried coming here for dinner but found that most food had ran out and the chef does not wish to cook extra. So do visit here during lunch time to avoid disappointment.

Reasons to come here?

A wide variety of Filipino dishes – served pretty fast as you just order economy rice style – and they have different menus daily.

PORK PORK PORK!

You can order balut here – a very unique Filipino dish – google that to find out ~~ be amazed

Brunei Foodie Event! Wingin Bakin Shakin Singin !

An overwhelming response flooded a local foodie event! Throngs of people came for the delicious wings, ribs, cakes, brownies and cookies! There were also guest performances from local talents ~~~ It was really my pleasure to join fellow bloggers Ranoaddidas and Maurina to cover this delicious event.

Wingin' with Wing-it? Bakin' with Muffins Paradise, Pvintaj cupcakes, Sweet as Sara and Wondermama? Singin' with Aziz Harun and Damai Heroes? Be sure to also take pictures at the photobooth by Cakes & Crafts! That was their slogan for the event!

Directions on how to get to the place~~ Loving the design of the poster! House no. 33, Spg 35 (right after shell station Mabohai), Kg Mabohai!

Not surprisingly~~ the response was very good and the queue lines were long as hungry foodies line up to purchase the goodies!

The goodies run out pretty fast ~~ Sweet As Sara sold out her 600 cupcakes within two hours!

The Wing-it saucy chicken wings sold out pretty fast as well!! They got a variety of interesting flavours – ranging from Spicy hot to cheesy to sweet flavours ~ and served with a portion of french fries ~~ follow them @wingitbrunei on instagram. 

 

Besides selling Wings ~~ they also sell good saucy ribs ~~ which they called Rib-it ~~

Close up shot showing the good amount of tender meat and fat ~~ oh my RIBS ~~~ *slurps*

Fellow popular Foodie Maurina sneaks into the kitchen of Wing-it to pose with their delicious ribs ~~ hmmm ~~~

Oh would you look at those beautiful rustic looking cupcakes from Sweet As Sara !!

Oh Drooolss~~~

Sweet As Sara has regular sized and also mini sized cupcakes ~~ Would you believe – 600 cupcakes sold within two hours on the first day!? Follow Sweet As Sara on Instagram @sweet_as_sara

Pvintaj Cupcakes offers many cute mini sized cupcakes for sale ~~

There’s just something about mini Red Velvet Cupcakes ~~ hmmm…

Ohhhh wowzers ~~~ nyum nyum ~~~ Follow Pvintaj on Instagram @pvintajcupcakes

WonderMama offers a great selection of  brownies such as Crack Brownies ~ Red Velvet Brownies (oh swoons) and one of my fav cookies such as the Reese Peanut Butter Cup Cookies (oh my gawd!)

Follow Wondermama on Instagram @wondermamabn for information on her yummy baked morsels!

Last but not least is Muffins Paradise! A muffin behemoth in the Brunei baking scene with a wide variety of choices! I’ve only managed to snap a tiny morsel of her range of muffins and cupcakes!

Not to mention her various yummy brownies ~~ this is her Nutella Brownie ~~ How can you say no to Nutella ….. on a BROWNIE! CANNOT!! TIDAK BOLEH! BEH TANG!! BU KE NEN!! MOU HO NANG!!!

Follow Muffins Paradise on Instagram @muffinsparadisebrunei 

Be sure to check out the booth by Cakes and Craft to take photos!

Entertaining singing and shakin performances by local talent Aziz Harun and the Damai Heroes~~

A very cheerful and chilling jam session ~~~ be sure to join in the Singin and Shakin!

It’s great to see fellow foodies follow their passion and turning it into a business! Go Local Entrepreneurs! A good inspiration for the youth! Mothers who have professional careers while running a home business! Respect! You have to admit it’s an enormous achievement!

Brunei Restaurant Review: MadBites Cafe

Last year, three young men started baking macarons and formed the Madbites team. Madbites Macarons made the scene into the Brunei Foodie scene and they were very successful. This year – they' build on their macaron success and most recently opened MadBites Cafe in the Peugeot Showroom. Needless to say, their grand opening was a smashing success and received rave reviews. Quite a number of people had asked me for directions for the Madbites Cafe – as they didn’t know how to get to the Peugeot showroom. Here are some easy directions to follow.

HOW TO GET TO MADBITES CAFE ~~ STEP BY STEP ~~

This is the crossroads along Jalan Pengiran Babu Raja – if you go straight – you will go to Beribi Shell Station and also a roundabout -– turn right and you will enter Kiarong – so you should turn right here.

You will be faced with red humps like these because it’s a school area. Keep driving straight ~~~ DO NOT turn into the Kiarung Area where Baiduri bank and Kaizen Sushi is located. Just keep going straight ….

Until you see this mini roundabout – turn left … go straight in and you should see Peugeot Showroom – go in and you will see MadBites Cafe.

Welcome to Madbites Cafe ~~ this place would be very good for a romantic date, a business tea meeting with clients, or just chilling with friends. For some – they come here just to tapow (takeaway) desserts.

Say hello to their famous Macarons ~ my personal fav – their Salted Caramel Macarons – they should be made illegal~~ “Do they even have a license for that?” Quote Anak Brunei ~~ dangerously addictive!

Oooo look at those assortment of desserts ~~~ they say you eat with your eyes (or instagram) first ~~ presentation is very pleasing to ones appetite ~~

Hmmm ~~~ fruit custard tart ~~~ *slurps*

Layers of goodness ~~ almond sponge, chocolate gateau and coffee buttercream ~~oooh la la ~

Just simply – chocolate tart with Belgian Chocolate ~~ oooooh choco heaven!

This is my fav dessert – their Hansel and Gretel – a surprise awaits ~~ I won’t go too much into the description and spoil the surprise ~ just order one and sink your teeth into it ~~ lovely ~~

They have a good selection of drinks to choose from: Hot or Cold – Good Coffees and Tea as well – to match their rich desserts.

Their Grapetizer is simply pretty and eating the grapes and then sipping the soda is a charming touch.

Their Mango Tango is another unique smoothie, which uses mangoes and pomelo to mimic that popular Hong Kong Mango dessert. They also have the ultimate protein shake for Gym Junkies!

Tea, Coffee or Me? No ~~? You rather have Macarons ~?

Nah ~~~ here’s your macarons ~ (NOM NOM)

The Madbites team welcomes you! For updated information : Follow @madbites on instagram!