[F.T] Diamond Kitchen 钻石小厨 - It's In a Condo?

Located in the old condo estate along Marine Parade's Laguna Park Condo, Diamond Kitchen is here offering you the comfort of our local zi-char fare at a place you would not have imagined.

But why in a spot like Laguna Park Condo rather than a prime spot in town areas you ask. Young Entrepreneurs Josh Chou & Lambert Chen wanted to avoid the high cost of rental so that they could present affordable food for us, but still, no one is actually sure how great this will turn out since it's only customer base might only be the condo residents. But after trying them out, I'm sure there are more to just the residents.

The Bee Hoon is cooked in a thick superior stock and has the added sweetness from the generous helping of fresh clams and wolfberries tossed in before serving. The stock was something that we could not stop craving for, and the clams are intact with each shell, which made no disappointment.

Superior Stock Clam Bee Hoon ($12/ $18/ $24)

The Special Sauna Prawns is an alternative to the favourite Drunken Prawns. Love Tiger Prawns are set atop a layer of hot stones in a bamboo basket and the herbal stock which is cooked with Chinese Wine, Wolfberries and Dang Gui is poured over the prawns and the lid goes right after to keep the steam in to cook the prawns in a sauna bath. In my personal view, Prawns were fresh but it lacks the herbal taste or to say the flavour of the stock.

Sauna Prawns ($24/ $36 / $48)

Homemade beancurd fried to beautiful golden colour, then swimming in a pool of rich & sweet pumpkin puree which has bits of prawn and crabmeat in it. Tender Tofu paired with the delectable sauce, I woul love this on my rice anytime!

Pumpkin Beancurd ($12/ $18/ $24)

My Favourite of the night would be this champagne pork ribs, Tender pieces of pork strips evenly coated with the sauce which wasn't too sweet or too bland, perfect even for kids, I can't find a reason not to love it.

Champagne Pork Ribs ($12/ $18/ $24)

Salted Egg Sotong ($12/ $18/ $24)

Usually we get our cereal with prawns but Diamond Kitchen has decided to mix it with fried chicken cubes, Not as great as when paired with prawns, chicken cubes & cereal were not well executed together in my opinion.

Golden Cereal Chicken ($12/ $18/ $24)

Gan Xiang Fried Rice ($8/ $12/ $16)

Sri Lankan Crabs are used in this Gan Xiang Crab and I prefer it to the former. The Gan Xiang Flavour is prepared by deep-frying Hae Bee Hiam(spicy dried shrimp), Curry Powder, Lemongrass, Dried Chilli, Taucheo(fermented soy bean paste) and other secret ingredients. But it is not too over powering and not too spicy when paired with the fresh and sweet crab meat which made everyone at the table going for seconds!

Gan Xiang Crab (est $55/KG)

Smooth Yam Paste is not overly sweet like how some places serve, pumpkin & ginko nuts were soft and complemented the yam paste well. Of course there are other dessert options on the menu like Lemongrass jelly ($4.50/pax) or for an extravagant ending, opt for the Hashima($12/pax) or Bird's Nest($20/pax).

Pumpkin & Ginko Yam Paste ($12/ $24)

Diamond Kitchen

5000F Marine Parade Road #01-22/23 

Laguna Park Condo Singapore 449289

Tel: 6448 0629

Website: diamondkitchen.com.sg

OPS: Daily 1100 - 1430, 1730 - 2300

Parking: Visitor Carpark is available at Laguna Park

I would love to come back to Diamond Kitchen for a meal soon!

With Love, M♥

[F.T] fRoZ Bakery - Quality in the Heartlands

It's always great to see young entrepreneurs coming out to start their own business or to continue their family's business. It is a rare sight to see a whole family dealing with a business all together and I find it exceptionally heart warming to watch them work together. This little Bakery is a hot spot for everyone around the neighbourhood and they even have customers from the other side of the country coming just to get their muffins!

Located at Blk 476 Tampines Street 44, fRoZ Bakery choose to use Butter over Margarine & Real Fruit Flavour instead of using essence makes it a much more healthy option. No wonder it is a favourite among their customers. They also offer a wide variety of beverages from Teas to Coffees, flavours such as chocolate to Himalayan Tea to Iced Yuzu, I would be spoilt for choices if I were you!

The flavours range from Chocolatey Goodness to Natural fruits flavour. I especially liked the Banana Walnut Muffin, Recommended to be eaten warm. The owner said that they only use Del-monte Bananas for this and they would not compromise for any other bananas, If Del-monte Bananas are not available, they would not produce this muffin at all! Talk about quality control!

fRoZ Bakery offers Cheesecakes & Brownies too! The Cheesecakes are all the same just with different toppings which I was a little disappointed. I would love it if they could infuse maybe their fruit flavours or infuse the flavours of their toppings Into the cheesecake itself instead! The cheesecake itself is pretty sweet in my opinion and with the additional Hershey Chocolate Chips, it might get too sweet for anyone.

The Brownies on the other hand are less sweet and they have the common flavours like nuts & mint brownies which I feel that are a little better than the cheesecakes, I recommend the mint brownie if you like mint, the flavour of mint with the chocolatey brownie is good.

fRoZ Bakery offers so many flavours that you will be spoilt for choices! From Triple Chocolate, Chocolate Hazelnut, Apple Lemon with Cinnamon, Banana Walnut, Wild Blueberry Muffins and many more!

Cheesecake options such as New York Miniature, Double Cookies & Cream, Strawberry 'n White Chocolate Miniature cheesecake etc, Prepare your sweet tooth for a journey here.

Some Deals that you must not miss when you have stepped upon fRoZ Bakery..

     

With Pricing ranging from $1.30 - $1.70 for muffins and $3.50 - $3.80 for Cheesecakes and $1.70 - $1.90 for Brownies, I would say this is pretty much an affordable fare for the neighbourhood. Only downside would be that some of the muffins are too dry for my liking and the owner stands firm that using Margarine over butter is the right choice which is also why the muffins are dryer. Oh well, we can't question the baker's opinions on his creations can we? :)

fRoZ Bakery

Blk 476 Tampines Street 44

#01-175B Singapore 520476

Tel: 9427 7594

Website: www.frozbakery.com

With Love, M♥

[F.T] Ramen Kagetsu Arashi - Bringing in the Top Selling Ramen to our shores.

You might have seen this Ramen Shop in Singapore for some time already but I'm here to share with you that they have a New Outlet at The Cathay! And this time, they have something impressive to bring to you from Japan!

Established in 1992, The year I was born *coughs*, Ramen Kagetsu Arashi is one of the largest Ramen Chain in Japan with over 290 worldwide! Now that they have opened their new outlet in The Cathay, they have introduced 2 new items. The Ginjiro Ramen ($13.90) and the Itameshi Dry Curry Rice ($12.90) both were equally exciting and I couldn't wait to dig in.

Ramen Kagetsu Arashi offers not only the usual chives, chilli powder and shoyu to add flavour, they offer a wider variety of japanese condiments and even Freshly pressed garlic to add that oomph into the already delectable broth. Of course, I would recommend you to try the broth on its own first. The Tonkotsu-based Broth (made by simmering pork bones over long hours to extract the natural sweetness) is fortified with the addition of umami-rich ingredients, Dried Bonito (Katsuoboshi) and Kelp (Kombu). And you noticed that they served the Ginjiro Ramen with a Hard Boiled Egg, reason being that they think that it would benefit the broth more, I have no complains to that.

Another Hot Sizzling New Item is the Itameshi Dry Curry Rice ($12.90). Fragrant japanese rice resting on top a bed of beautiful fluffy egg, topped with a slice of butter, sliced sausages & Scallion, the staff will pour the sauce over the rice and will mix everything together, reminding me of the Korean Bibimbap. The fragrant of the final product is wonderful, with hints of the curry and yet not too spicy, I'm sure the kids will enjoy it too, just becareful of the heat from the pan!

I could not give a miss to any Gyoza in Japanese Restaurants, I just cant. The Gyoza at Ramen Kagetsu Arashi is just nice with the crispy base accompanied with the soft chewy skin on top due to the skin being specially imported from Japan. The fillings are a well mixture of meat & vegetables, dip it in our special concoction, Vinegar, Layu & Shoyu.

My Recommendation: Try this range of fruit juice from MoutainFresh, all are pretty interesting and delicious.

Ramen Kagetsu Arashi

The Cathay

2 Handy Road #B1-01/02/03

Singapore 229223

Tel: +65 673630

With Love, M♥