Diamond Bakery
Date Paste Walnut Bar
Black Egg Bun
Yam Bun
Red Bean with 1 Egg Yolk Moon Cake
Raisin Bread Pudding
3 Combo – Red Bean, Taro, Custard
Egg Custard
Portuguese Egg Custard
Located in an International Shopping Center on Spring Mountain, one of those places where one can invest in any number of statues or costumes mass produced overseas while also culling a few ornate originals from actual artisans, it was on the advice of a local restauranteur that a stop was made to Diamond Bakery and although not the cheapest spot in town for traditional Chinese pastry the results far outstripped the majority while service, too, proved far more devout.
Large in size and far less cluttered than most, the pastry case to the left with bagged goods on the right, the selection at Diamond rivals the layout with no less than sixty different options on offer, a notable lack of overlap in ingredients with selections reportedly changing day to day.
Based out of California, but offering several hot items and cakes baked on site, it was after much browsing and several questions that an order was elected and with eight items bagged to enjoy at a table outside the $20.33 tab was comprised almost 1/3 by the ornate moon cake, the dense red bean paste just barely sweetened around the hard cooked egg yolk while two styles of egg tarts were each equally low on sugar, instead opting to let the buttery shell and more savory custard notes shine.
Moving on to bread pudding, a dish that simply cannot be passed up wherever it might be found, suffice it to say that the raisin-studded block was a bit too cool to be enjoyed straight from the cooler, and even when warmed up later neither the texture nor flavor was particularly up to snuff.
Put off by the bitterness of date paste that was unfortunately rendered a bit gritty by too much ground walnut amidst the fruit, the goods once again found footing in a trio of supple breads, the ‘black egg’ version a truly one-of-a-kind flavor marrying sweetness to funkiness and soy sauce while both the yam bun and “3-combo” featured all sorts of fluffiness with a variety of natural flavors packing the core.
THREE AND A AHALF STARS: Certainly not the sort of place channeling America’s Sweet Tooth with its work, Diamond Bakery is the sort of place where an interest in less typical flavors is rewarded, the customer service amongst the best of its kind in town.
RECOMMENDED: Egg Custards, Moon Cakes, 3-Combo.
AVOID: Bread Pudding, Date Paste Walnut Bar.
TIP: Bakery selections vary day-to-day and more popular items are frequent to sell out by noon, particularly on weekends, per staff.
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: 5 World Class, 4 Excellent, 3 Good, 2 Fair, 1 Poor
