Food, Lifestyle, Travel & Photography

The name "Mama Diam" sounds close to any one of us that had been through that era around 1980s to 2000s whereby these small, family-run provision shops are often found under the blocks.

In this case, Mama Diam is speakeasy bar that sells local favourites with a modern twist. 

Mama Diam

Outdoor Seating

Did the mural jog your memory too?

What happens behind the sliding door of Mama Diam was indeed another world. Who will imagine that a vintage and nostalgic facade will bring you into a totally different environment? 

While everyone is still crazy about Bingsu, the korean shaved ice dessert topped with fruits, nuts, sweet syrup, my friend had recommended some sweet stuff to me in Orchard Road.

Sweet Monster

Ever thought of having popcorns together with soft serve ice cream? Now you can have it from Sweet Monster. There are a range of good serve ice cream with toppings like cookie, caramel and wafer to choose from but if you are keen on the new tryout, you can get their Monster popcorn with ice cream. I got myself a cup of ice cream coupled with mixed popcorns, consisting of Strawberry, milk, caramel and chocolate flavor.

Monster Cakes

Ice cream is made fresh daily and is handmade using milk that is HACCP certificated. Soft serve has a strong milk flavour which I like and was not too sweet even with those non-GMO popcorns added.

Monster Popcorns

I always think that having fries with soft serve was a crazy idea (what i used to do during childhood). I guess having popcorns with ice cream had just brought enjoyment of ice-cream to yet another level right now.

Mixed Monster Ice Cream - $6.80

Assorted Popcorns

Rating: 3 /5

Sweet Monster
Location: Plaza Singapura, 68 Orchard Road #B2-49 Singapore 238839
Website

Milkcow sells Korean soft serve Ice Cream and this Ice Cream Parlor has a number outlets in Singapore Since January this year.

Milkcow

Interior was pretty cool. Even though with limited seating, interior was decorated in black and white theme. Upon looking at the cute little mascot of theirs, it reminds me of my symbol too on this website.

Interior

Just like many cafes and ice cream stalls, they are manned by the youngsters who are still studying.

No.1 Choice

With Oraganic Milk & Honey as its recommendation, my order was pretty straight forward and without much thinking I ordered such flavour out of so many choices. Softserve was very creamy, out of my expectation and perhaps being oraganic, their ice cream can be reached out too those health conscious consumers.

Honey on the other hand was sweet and went very well with creamy ice cream. :)

Milky Honey - $5.50

Milky Cube was a combination of the Milky Soft Serve Ice-Cream with a good of honeycomb. Grab some and place into your mouth and be stunned by the sugar rush of milk and honey. I cant be any sweeter during that day!

Milky Cube - $5.90

A scoop of sweetness

Richness of the ice cream was great. With so many Ice Cream and Yogurt brands/stalls coming out recently, Milkcow has just given me another choice to have them again.


Rating: 3.25 / 5

Milkcow
Location: The Cathay, 2 Handy Road #01-03 Singapore 229233

The Assembly Ground is located at the first level of the Cathay suitable, an ideal place for coffee lovers to gather or even those who enjoy gathering over craft beers too.

The Assembly Ground

Interior was industrial themed with wooden tables furnishing giving a classic cafe vibe in  a hippie atmosphere with bicycles hanging on the wall and LED lightings hanging down from the cable tray.

Environment

While waiting for all members of the group to be present on our gathering. We started to chat among ourselves over their appetizers. There were not much choice for appetizers and  Straight Cut Fries were Served with Parmesan and tartar sauce.

Truffle Fries - $12

These bite sized chicken tenders were bigger than what we had in the fast food chains. Crispy and served with spicy mayo.

Popcorn Chicken - $9.50

Having the best of its meat and crispy fish skin salad with Parmesan fries and Wasabi Aioli.

Fish and Chips - $17

Pasta was kind of overdone and soggy. It was served with slices of chicken sausage with bacon, chilli, basil in white wine as well as garlic.

Spicy Sausage & Bacon - $18

One of us termed this as "vegetarian" burger as it was mostly vegetables without meat. Created with U.S Portobello, mushroom jery, mozzarella, cheddar, cheery tomato, chutney and arugula.

Grilled Portobello - $20

Burger View

The staple dish that almost every table ordered was none other than their Brunch set, Assembly Brunch.  The platter was served on a wooden board with scrmbled eggs, wiener sausage, sauteed mushrooms, potato gratin, roasted cherry tomatoes, toast, choice of smoked salmon or bacon.

Assembly Brunch - $19.50

Pizza was the best order of the night, thin crust filled with ingredients like baked ham, sauteed mushrooms & truffle oil. What made this special was the runny egg in the centre.

Ham, Mushrooms & Egg - $19

Overall, the service at Assembly Ground was friendly and efficient. I won't mind being back for gathering again.

Rating: 3 / 5

The Assembly Ground
Location: The Cathay, 2 Handy Road #01-23 Singapore 229233

Having awarded the Michelin star award, Tim Ho Wan has its status made prominent ever since it was first launched in Singapore few months back and this explains why the dim-sum die-hearts are willingly queuing outside the restaurant despite of the long waiting time that could take up to more than 2 hours. Yup, crazy but true!

My second attempt to Tim Ho Wan was successful. My first was simply too long and I had gave up as waiting time is about 3 crazy hours. I had taken extra mile to be as early as 9am (an hour before the operating hours) on a sunday morning and I'm still not the first in queue, there are about 20 pax ahead of me.

The big 4 Heavenly Kings are highly recommended and on top of the dinning menu.

4 Heavenly Kings

A1. Steamed Egg Cake
This sponge like cake was absolutely fluffy with mild sweetness with steamed vapor evaporating.
Normally I dont really fancy cake like this but the bite is really awesome!
Cost: S$3.80
B5-S Prawn Dumplings (4Pcs)
are generally well fare. The springy prawns are encased in a filigree of fine and translucent wrap which goes very well with a dab of their specially made chilli.
Cost: S$5.50
E21 Congee with Lean Pork, Century Egg & Salted Egg
The mixture of eggs together with bits of Lean Pork Cubes are simply a tasty surprise among all Dim Sum Congee that I had tried so far.
Cost: S$4.80
Pork Dumpling with Shrimp (4pcs)
With a eye shape wolf berry on the top of the Siew Mai has enhanced the colors of the presentation. Standard of siew mai are probably on par with the few well known dim sum restaurants in Singapore. However, they do have a slight yellow skin smell which is not in flavor for me.
Costs: S$5.00

Siew Mai

Baked Bun with BBQ Pork (3pcs)
This is the BEST of all and a DEFINITE MUST TRY. Soft crispy crust most probably drizzled with sugary butter gives the exterior a contemporary twist to the BBQ Pork Bun. The humble BBQ Pork was meaty and succulent with the BBQ Pork Sauce giving it depth and richness in flavour.
Dangerously Addictive snack with a winning combination of crispy and sweet! No wonder they limit 3pcs to each pax.
Cost:S$4.50

Pan Fried Carrot Cake (3 Pcs)
A very rich in raddish flavour carrot cake with little flour. Perfectly well steam to its fullness to achieve a meltingly soft radish all within the centre portion, not forgetting that the top pan fried layer are abit hard given off the charred outlook.
Cost: S$4.50
Barley
Plain & almost sugarless. Good thing is that this bland taste will not affect the taste of the dim sums.
Cost: S$2.00 per cup

Barley Drinks