Diamond Kitchen @ Laguna Park Condo

Two young entrepreneurs and cousins, Josh 30 and Lambert 27 have embark on their first F&B venture and opened up a restaurant at the Laguna Park Condominium. Since the place has reasonable rent, they are pricing their food at Zhi Char prices.

I had dinner there recently and it is packed and heard that it is now booked for dinner till April. For lunch time, it's still ok. You might have to wait if it's too busy. As it's quite packed, it was a bit slow, but the food that came out was worth the wait.



If you like a slightly soupy Bee Hoon dish when you have Zhi Char dishes, you might want to try this Superior Stock Clam Bee Hoon. They were generous with the clams and it is a very comforting homey dish. We were saying it would be best eaten on a wet rainy day. To me, and those who loves a nice Bee Hoon in some thick superior stock.

Prices: $12/$18/$24



Prawns having Sauna? They have a dish called Sauna Prawns and it's quite interesting how they do it. They have lava rocks heated on fire till they are red hot, then thrown into a container in a bamboo basket. They then throw live tiger prawns in and then herbal stock into it and cover.

It's so hot and such great steam, the prawns will be cooked in 12 seconds. As the dish is carried to your table, it's probably 12 -30 seconds and the prawns are perfectly cooked. Sounds good? Wait till you taste it!

Prices: $24/$36/$48



Champagne Pork Ribs. Many people love ribs because they get to eat like a caveman with their hands holding the ribs. If you think you are too refined to be a caveman, order their pork ribs here. They have deboned the pork ribs, so it's only strips of meat left. It's then marinated overnight and they also added Sparkling wine or what people usually call Champagne to it to tenderise it. It's very tasty and I suspect most people would be able to eat the whole serving themselves.

Prices: $12/$18/$24



Pumpkin Beancurd. Many Zhi Char places have their version of signboard worthy beancurd. The ones here are called Pumpkin Beancurd and it's beancurd made by the chef daily at the restaurant. It's then quickly deep fried to give it a nice skin and then pumpkin puree broth poured over it. It's sweetish because of the natural sweetness of the pumpkin.

Prices: $12/$18/$24



If you like anything with salted egg yolk, they have done nicely this Salted Egg Sotong that we had.It was nicely done, still had a nice bite and it was slightly crispy outside and had the addictive Salted Egg paste.

Prices: $12/$18/$24



Golden Cereal Chicken. Sounds different already? You can order cereal chicken here other than the usual cereal prawns popular with many zhi char places. It's something different.

I am bias but I have always been thinking of the Cereal Crayfish that we used to eat at a Zhi Char stall in Ghim Moh which is no longer around.

Prices: $12/$18/$24




If you have more time or going for dinner, then go for the Gan Xiang Crabs. The price of the crabs are around $55/kg. Gan Xiang is dry spice mix that most respectable Chinese chefs will have. It's their guarded secret, so we don't know the exact quantity and ingredients that's been added into it.

The dry mix is then used with other sauce to create a very delicious Gan Xiang crabs. It's a dry version and spicy and finger licking good!



I liked the spiciness of the Gan Xiang mix and these crabs turned out very nice. Worth digging your fingers into it. I must bring my wife and sis here to let them try. They love crabs and love all kinds of crabs. I am quite sure they will like this version.

Prices: $55/kg or rather Market Prices.



Gan Xiang Fried Rice here is made using the Gan Xiang spice mix by the chef. It's a nice spicy fried rice and also because it has a nice aroma, you will keep eating it non stop. If you also happen to order the cereal chicken above, save the cereal for this dish. Pour it over and it gives this rice a nice crunch too!

Prices: $8/$12/$24



I know many people love Pumpkin & Gingko Yam Paste.  It's not my favourite dessert, so I shall not comment too much on it. I was told it's been one of those that are unhealthily delicious because of the lard that has gone into it. Fellow diners who love it were raving about it. LOL, just not me. I want my sweet dessert.
Price: $12/$24

This place deco has a lot of 'blings'. There's a reason it's called Diamond Kitchen. It's also related to the background of the two entrepreneurs. It's a nice restaurant with air-conditioning to enjoy zhi char dishes. The weather nowadays are turning warm again and you do want to dine at an air-con place. The prices are also reasonable. Have a try if you are in the area!

Got to thank Veronica and Jeannette from Sixth Sense who asked me along for the meal!

Diamond Kitchen
5000F Marine Parade Road,
#01-22/23 Laguna Park Condominium,
Singapore 449289

Tel: +65 6448 0629

Web: Diamondkitchen.com.sg

Lunar New Year Feasting @ Xin Cuisine, Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium

Xin Cuisine at Holiday Inn Atrium Singapore has been around for a long time. It has survived the different hotel name change and it's still consistently good. To be around for some time, they have been doing many things right. Come taste and see.



We were recently at Xin Cuisine to sample their Lunar New Year dishes and it was quite an eye opener.



The first thing that 'wow'-ed us was the huge Horse designed, Xin's Superior Seafood Yusheng.
Just take a look at that, doesn't it look so beautiful?

If you have it as a-la-carte, it is $488. If you order some of the Auspicious Blossoms Set menu, it is part of the set.



The other ingredients that goes into the Yusheng includes the Gold Leaf Australian Lobster.



There's also Salmon, Tuna, Japanese Sweet Prawns, Geoduck Clam and Ikan Parang.
It does sound tempting doesn't it? It's still within the 15 days of CNY, and if you want to go for something really extravagant, maybe you can nudge your boss and colleagues to go.



The well wishes being uttered and everyone 'shou tao' (received) the wishes.
The sauces they had was in a correct combination and when we ate it, it was just nice.



Off we go tossing! There's too much precious and delicious ingredients to waste it all on the table!
Carefully and yet happily tossing away!



After the delicious Yusheng, we had another treat ready for us.
It's a double-boiled dumpling soup with seafood and truffle.

It costs $10 per person and I think it's quite a good deal for such a luxurious soup.



Yes, black truffles in a Chinese Soup really makes it taste really good.
If you are into truffles, you probably would want to come here and try this soup.
I really like the bits of dried scallops, mushroom and pork in it.



The next dish we had was the Lobster and Fish Roe with Scrambled Egg.

Probably the most delicious scrambled eggs I have tried in recent times. They use only egg whites and the egg whites are so light and soft. Even without the lobster, I can eat a huge bowl of this egg whites.

Available in Small $48, Medium $72 and Large $96.




Next was a Poached Garoupa with Fresh Mushroom in Superior Soup.
Someone said, the fiercer the look of the fish, the tastier it is, do you think so?



If you are a Chinese Soup person, this is something you would probably enjoy.
The creamy stock was just so lovely. Something that any Cantonese mother-in-law will approve!



Inside this earthen claypot is a treasure trove. All the delicious food that Chinese loves from the sea, land or even mountains are inside this dish. When it's opened up, everyone just 'wah!'.

The Traditional Pencai here is not expensive too, compared to others that our family had ordered and paid for. The Large is $368 and the Small is $268.



The thing that caught my eye were the cubes of Roast Porks in the middle of the pot!
This was the large and we really enjoyed this dish. It was served to us by layers by the service staff.



The first layer of the Pen Cai being served to us. After this, we were too busy eating, no more photos of the other layers.

I am sure some of you some of you have small families and find it difficult to order Pencai. Just order a Pencai and eat only that! That's what we recently did.



'Home-style' Roast Duck with Tea Leaves. It's $68 for a whole duck.

This is an award winning duck! There's something called Chaine Des Rotisseurs in the world and they have awarded Xin a silver award for this dish!

The duck was quite fragrant and it has a nice crisp skin as well. Well seasoned and I probably can come here with my mum and mother in law. The 3 of us love roast duck and the 3 of us can just order a duck and enjoy ourselves!



For desserts, there's the traditional, the Fried Nian Gao. ($9 for 3 pieces) and the modern, deep-fried soursop with Bailey's Chocolate. (also $9 for 3 pieces).

I personally prefer the traditional dessert. I think soursop and alcoholic chocolate is a bit too exquisite for me.

A big thanks to the Holiday Inn Atrium team for hosting the group of us. We really had a good time.

The chef helming the kitchen are:
- Chinese Executive Chef Eric Chan Lap Hing who is a master in Cantonese cuisine. He has worked in kitchens in Hong Kong and also Crystal Jade Group, Resorts World Sentosa and also the Imperial Treasure Group.
- Chef Cheung Kin Nam, who has distinguish himself in the art of delicate and innovate Dim Sum and Pastries. He has more than 30 years of experience in kitchens in China and Hong Kong.

Xin CuisineHoliday Inn Singapore Atrium
Level 4
317 Outram Road
Singapore 169075

Tel: +65 6733 0188
Web: http://www.holidayinn.com/sinatrium

Lunar New Year Feasting @ Yan Ting, St Regis Singapore

Many people now have many 'reunion' dinner this month. We have family dinners, colleague dinners, friend dinners and every of these meals, you have it at different places. Many have already had multiple yu sheng and there are more to come!

If you are still in the midst of planning where to have one of those many 'reunion' dinners, this dishes at Yan Ting might tempt you and pick up the phone and book. It's available from now till 14 February 2014.

Executive Chinese Chef Mak Kip Fu joined Yan Ting in the last quarter of 2013. He is one of the few master chefs in Hong Kong that originally handled the woks at Fook Lam Moon, considered one of the best Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong. The same kitchen that produced many of Hong Kong's top Cantonese master chefs.


Prosperity Yu Sheng with Norwegian Salmon – $88 (Large) and $48 (Medium)

There's no fanciful or elaborate design but a more traditional decided by the Chef Mak and his team. I have gone back to Yan Ting again on my own to have the Yu Sheng with my family because my MIL wanted to have one that is good.

The combination has something that we normally don't see which is fresh enoki. It also had micro herbs that we usually see in western fine dining plating. The version above had sliced abalones as special additional add-ons.


Braised Superior Bird’s Nest Broth with Crab Meat – $78 per portion

It's a huge nest in my serving and a generous amount of crab meat too. Bring your lady here and she will thank you for ordering this for her. All right, guys love it too.


Braised Whole 5-Head African Abalone with Seasonal Greens – $52 per portion

Another dish that was very delicate and well prepared dish. The abalone was braised just nice and it was still tender and you could easily slice it with your knife. The sauce that is served goes well with the abalone, mushroom and greens.


Hong Kong-Style Steamed Coral Trout – part of a set menu, no ala carte pricing available

The coral trout was so beautiful in many ways. Served in a bamboo steamer dim sum style, it looked so beautiful. The texture of trout was tender-firm. A cut of ginger made sure even the pickiest fish eater won't complain it is fishy.

Steamed Hong Kong style, it happens to be one of my favourite way to cooking fish.


Prosperity Oyster with Moss and Conpoy – $42 per portion

A dish sounds very auspicious. I am just happy it is delicious too!
When I was a kid, I totally do not like dried oysters. I have learn to enjoy them and this was nicely done. Oh, the oysters and the scallops. It was just divine.



Baked Rack of Lamb with Chef’s Signature Coffee Glaze – part of a set menu, no ala carte pricing available

One of chef's signature dish. When I first took a bite, I did not know it was lamb because it had no gamey taste. The coffee glaze over it made it quite irresistible, even for a non-coffee drinker like me. My piece was so tender and it was just so enjoyable having it.


Braised Ee-Fu Noodles with Seafood in XO Sauce – part of a set menu, no ala carte pricing available

I think it had more ingredients than noodles, but who would mind? Ee-Fu noodles is probably the only 'yellow' noodle that I love. It's so comforting for me to slurp it down. This version with enough oommph XO sauce made it quite a pleasure indulging it.

Their Special Recipe XO sauce is available for purchase at $38. Check the hotel's ordering hotline / URL on how to order.

(If you like my mum's recipe of XO sauce, it's here, if you have time to make it at home yourself)


Fragrant Home-Made Almond Tea with Hashima & Glutinous Rice Cake – part of a set menu, no ala carte pricing available

I must confess I don't know how to appreciate almond tea and hashima. I would say it tasted good and I know it's good for our skin. I gladly ate it all up. I should maybe start ordering this in places that sells it and let me compare.

For a whole listing of the various a-la-carte and set menus available for the Lunar New Year, please visit: http://www.yantingrestaurant.com/cny2014


There are quite a few takeaways too, if you are to go bring food for your reunion party. Suckling Pig, Pi Pa Duck sound like things that people will enjoy.


Yan Ting 
St Regis Singapore
29 Tanglin Road,
Singapore 247911

Tel: +65 6506 6866
Hours: 11:45 AM - 3:00 PM; 6:00 PM - 11:00 PM daily.

Jiang-Nan Chun @ Four Seasons Hotel Singapore

This meal was to celebrate my mother in law's birthday and yes, it's to another Cantonese restaurant in Singapore. The wife was tasked to decide on the venue and the rest of us just followed on and indulge. It's like striking two birds with one stone thing. Choose a good Cantonese restaurants and the mother in law will be happy. After trying out new taste and ideas by these great chefs, we can be sure our mother in law will try to replicate the dish at home!
 The wife has already knew what she wanted to try, the "Journey To The West" six-course menu before we arrived. To be respectful, we ask what mum wanted to eat. After flipping the menu over and everyone had a chance to view it, mum asked any ideas? What would be good? Aha, the sentence the wife has been waiting for. Let's try the Journey To The West menu ok?

What's this Journey To The West menu? Ms Lim (she was wearing a name tag) the service staff who was attending to us said that this menu has been in the planning for 9 over months by Chef Alan Chan and the restaurant manager. They tested with various ingredients for the various dishes to come up with their interpretation based on the literary legend "Journey To The West" 西游记 (Xīyóu jì). Each dish has a story. The menu looks like those secret manuals we watch on TV. The hand bound book with the distinct blue cover!

The meal service started with tea served in those cups with covers just like in the ancient drama serials.



The starter was individual portions of pickled wong bok. It's like a Chinese version of Kimchi. Not as spicy and pungent as the Korean ones. It's more subtle in taste and very addictive!

After a while, the first course was served:



东海龙宫奇珍异宝 (Dōnghǎi lónggōng qí zhēn yì bǎo)

The service staff that serves us the dishes will first tell us how the Chef comes out with this dish and how it relates to Journey to the West and they are really enthusiastic in telling you the story. You wish you have read these classics to fully understand them!

It was told to us in Chinese so I can't really catch all of it. It's about Sun Wu Kong (Monkey God) going to some Tong Hai. Tong Hai or the Eastern Sea is where these treasures of the seas is found. This is not the full story, my Chinese is 'half past six'.



The first course is a seafood combination platter with 3 parts. This is the Alaskan Crab. 2-3 pieces of the claws had been peel out nicely. It's beautifully wrapped around in a thinly sliced cucumber and topped with some caviar and gold leaf. Very nice!



The middle of the platter is the Chilled Abalone that has been braised with Japanese wine. It's so nicely prepared and tasty. One of the nicer abalones I had in 2013! It's a 6 head abalone.

The chef has actually sliced the abalone so that you can just pick it up and eat with your chopsticks. They have sliced it so nicely you don't notice it has been sliced until you stare at it!



The 3rd part is slow cooked lobster with passion fruit sauce. So well done, you just put it in your mouth and enjoy. We were wondering what was the green tangy tasting salad below it. Some of us said it tasted like apple and some guava, it's because we ate it all together with the lobster and sauce. Then we confirmed with the service staff. It's a combination of apple and guava that has been thinly sliced! Nice combi!



花果山孙猴泡汤乐 (Huā guǒ shān sūn hóu pàotāng lè)

The story telling continues. We did not catch it all, but we understood it when we were there. A few days later we forgot the story, so I can't retell it here. It was something about monkeys fooling around some Hua Gua Shan.

The dish is a double-boiled monkey head mushroom soup with chicken, fig and sea coconut. The monkey head mushroom has a very nice texture, it's spongy and it suppose to be great in medicinal value. I never had sea coconut in soups before and no it was not sweet like in desserts, this soup doesn't take like thick syrup dessert, but the usual Cantonese Soup.

(We will probably have this combination when we visit our parents for meals soon. )



太上老君的炼丹炉 (Tài shàng lǎo jūn de liàndān lú)

The next dish came in a gourd shape vessel. It had dry ice below it as well, so it was 'smokey' when it was served to the table. A very impressive appearance.

Out of curiosity, we asked if the story telling can be told in English, giving the excuse our Dad doesn't understand it, unless you speak Baba Malay. No problem! This guy that served us told it to us in halting English, but we were so happy we understood it!

The story is about Sun Wu Kong not invited to some Empress party and he got angry and made a big fuss and destroyed the party. I did not take notes, we were just anticipating the food and the taste, so I can't remember exactly the story, but Sun Wu Kong apparently stole some pills that made him immortal.



This was the 'pill'. It was such a delicious pill.

It's a braised seafood ball with carrot broth. It was a mix of prawns, fish and it's like a big Siu Mai but tasted much better and there sweetish carrot broth complements it. It's nice and warm. Don't wait too long to eat it. There's dry ice below the gourd and somehow it cools the bottom and the sauce gets cold. I can eat a few of these pills!




金箍棒怒打牛魔王 (Jīn gū bàng nù dǎ niú mówáng)

It was a story about some Princess, some 'Fan' that she has is able to extinguish some fire. Sun Wu Kong is trying to trick her to give him the fan. The Princess' husband is Niu Mo Wang. The something about Sun Wo Kong hitting Niu Mo Wang with some stick. (OK, I am bad in telling the story)

We just can't wait to tuck into such a beautiful dish. The platter has been painted with gold paint. The ones that they use in pastries. This is sous vide short rib served with Chef's sauce. It's quite a huge piece of beef and we were so happy to poke our folks to the fork tender beef.



If you fancy some gold paint, you can slide your beef along the plate and have gold plated beef!
This is really good. I am still thinking about this now.



金平府的五谷丰登 (Jīnpíng fǔ de wǔgǔ fēngdēng)

I can't remember the story by now. It was a bit too much Chinese Literature over a few hours. We wondered how the service staff can remembered so much details in their story. Our next table ordered something similar and the lady on the next table asked, if they memorized it all? The guy actually said yes! It was easy though for him as he had read them when he was young. OK, we were impressed.



This dish was steamed mixed grain rice with cod and Spanish Chorizo wrapped in bamboo leaf. This was good. The wife just told me as I am typing this, it's really so so fragrant. Every mouth you eat, you want more of it!

It's interesting that Chef uses Chorizo in Cantonese cuisine. It's a spicy rice and one of these days I will try to replicate this without the cod. I have all these ingredients at home. I hand carried some Chorizos back from holidays and it's all kept in the freezer.



盘丝洞的迷情诱惑 (Pán sī dòng de míqíng yòuhuò)

I have totally forgotten the story for this dish. We were just wowed by the presentation of it. It's a warm almond cake with red peach soup and vanilla bread pudding ice cream.

The warm almond cake was fragrant as you bite into it, not too sweet too. The soup if we were not told it's red peach, we would have thought it's raspberry puree. It's cold and it goes nicely with the warm cake. The ice cream was of course nice. I have a weakness for ice cream. I did not eat the sugar hair, but I did finish the gold film on top of it.



We giggled when more things came out. It's a 6 course meal but there was an amuse bouche and petit fours to end. It's like having French fine dining here! It's a piece of osmanthus cake and a pineapple tart.



It was a very entertaining meal! Throughout the meal we had story telling and at the end, there was a present too! The service staff brought out a big huge board and ask us to pick a paper that has been stuck on it. Those paper correspond with these bookmarks you see above.  All handmade by them!

We were quite happy with the meal. The six-course menu is priced at $138 per person. With the tea and other addons, the bill for the night for us was $840 plus.

We took a brochure and it says this promotion starts on 5 Dec 2013 to 5 January 2014. So it's 3 more days to go if you are interested in it. Mother in law was won over by the food and the service here.

It's available Mondays to Saturdays for Lunch (11:30 am to 2:30 pm) and dinner. (6 to 10 pm). On Sundays there's only the dinner service.

Jiang-Nan Chun 
Four Seasons Hotel Singapore
190 Orchard Boulevard
Singapore 248646

Tel: +65 6831 7220
 

Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant @ Carlton Hotel

This was a recent meal with my in-laws. MIL's Cantonese and we like to go around some good Cantonese restaurants to experience some good stuff so that it will trigger the memories of dishes she grew up eating, or experience new ways of how traditional dishes are done by the expert Cantonese Shifu.

We were going to order à la carte but caught a glimpse of the set Special Seafood Set Menu that's $188 for 4 persons that was on the transparent stand on the table. It had almost everything we wanted to order from the menu, so we thought we shall try it out, it turns out more value for money too.


Appetizer

The appetizer was mushrooms, cucumber, jelly fish and fish maw. It had a nice marinate and our folks really liked it, in fact they finished it. (Ya, just as the wife and I were busy instagramming!)


Classic Daily Boiled Soup (Set Menu)

The soup of the day was Papaya and Pork Soup. It was a very delicious soup that was probably boiled for a long time. The soup had the sweetness of the papaya and you can see the viscosity of the soup from the photo above. It got the approval from the MIL. MIL always prepares soup when we go to her place for dinner.


Roast Pork 

You can guess who requested for it...
The skin on top is just c-r-i-s-p-y! Oh, so y-u-m-m-y!



A closer look of the layers of fat and lean meat of the pork belly.
I am sure you can imagine the taste. Goes so well with the horseradish dip. 


Deep Fried Century Eggs

MIL loves century eggs and we thought we would just order this to nibble.

All of us loved it! I usually only eat them in porridge, but this proved to be exceptional.

Crispy outside, it has the usual jelly like part of the egg white. The egg yolk part was all custard like! It has a dribble of shrimp paste sauce over it.


Pan-fried Live Prawns with Soya Sauce (Set Menu)

The beautiful captivating aroma hit us even before we ate it.

A simple dish,  executed with fresh ingredients made it so enjoyable. Prawns are always a finger licking experience. Who doesn't lick the sauce off their fingers? A nice portion too, each of us get to eat 2 relatively big prawns.  

Pardon the pun, but we ate it and we were rather 'haa'-py!


Stewed Garoupa with Beancurd Skin & Garlic (Set Menu)

Another dish that sizzles and the aroma engulf our senses before eating. FIL is a fish person and he loves all kinds of fish and stewed fish dishes are one of the favourites.

Nicely executed. Fish was fresh, sizeable portions too, sauces good, really fragrant and I just love the whole garlic pieces in it! A good portion for 4 too.


Smoked Chicken (Set Menu)

We did not expect much when we saw this on the set menu, but it came out quite good.

Smoked Chicken, but it's like soya sauce chicken that's really addictive. You will want to pop another piece into your mouth right after having one. This was a cold dish.


Poached Chinese Spinach with Ling Zhi Mushrooms in Rich Broth (Set Menu)

The problem with this vegetable is that it is sometimes bitter.
We must have been in heaven's favour, none of the strand of spinach had any hint of bitterness!

Not too salty too that you can drink up the broth. FIL did finish it all up. Haha....


Braised Ee Fu Noodles with Chives (Set Menu)

Reminds us of wedding dinners in many ways. It always served right at the end, and we knew it was almost the end of our meal. Of course, this dish is a wedding dinner favourite.

Can't find any fault with it. Nice, warm, flavourful, enough mushrooms, not too chivy, not too wet, not too dry.


Chilled Sea Coconut, Preserved Apricot and Sweet Basil Seed (Set Menu)

It was a rather interesting dessert. What you see on the spoon is dried apricot that has been hydrated, it taste exactly like dried apricot that we always love chewing. It has the 'tadpoles' covering it too. Beautiful ya?

The set meal was quite good value for money, good sized portions too. The service staff knows it and said it was not a good idea to order any more sides. She was right, but we were still glad we ordered the Century Egg and Roast Pork. Luckily we did not order another of the side dishes after she wanted to stop us. We love service staff that are truthful and honest.

Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant
Carlton Hotel
Level 2
76 Bras Basah Road
Singapore 189558

Tel: +65 6311 8188