Aston’s Specialties (Serangoon Garden)

Been to Aston's at Serangoon Gardens for 3 times and decided to do a review on it after having lunch with a friend on a week day.

Fried Fish / Coleslaw / Onion Rings The fried fish came very crispy and thin. Reminds me of Fish & Chips from Uno beef house. The crispiness is probably the selling point of their fried fish. The coleslaw is very fresh, with adequate amount of sauce used. But the onion rings seemed to be over-fried. Very crispy, too crispy in fact. Could not really taste the onion beneath the batter.

Pork Chops / Mashed potatoes / House salad 2 slab of pork chops that was grilled and topped with their sauce. The meat was exceptionally good near the bones, juicy and tender. The mashed potatoes is average, big portion but the sauce was a little unsufficient. House salad is always my choice of a side dish, we need the greens to complete our meal. Good variety of vegetables used for theirs.

Did not need to wait for seats the first 2 times I went but this time I had to. Perhaps it is getting more popular. Low prices with quality food. A must try.

Aston's specialties, yet another "coffeeshop gourmet" outlet which seems to be all the rage these days. Aston's specializes in steak and has appeared on television programs such as "Pai Pai Zhan, Ca Ca Kan" (Queue and check it out!) recently. The outlet i reviewed is its less glorious outlet at Seragoon Gardens but let it be known that location does not dictate the quality of food. Good food always speaks for itself.

Found in an obscure location along the crossing towards Coffee bean, Friends and Cafe Cartel from the bus stop, this is one of the last places i would imagine a gourmet eating place can be found, and worse, i worked here for 2 years and never tried it till now. The shame oh the shame!

Mushroom Soup ($2.20) - After waiting for about half an hour to get my orders taken and another 15 minutes for the soup to be brought to me, grumpy would be a kind way to describe my feelings at that point. However, the soup managed to ease my nerves a little. Creamy and slightly starchy, the soup tasted full bodied, thick and was surprisingly packed with mushroom bits albeit a little salty. The bread was pleasantly toasted, warm and soft unlike offerings elsewhere.

Grilled Dory Fish with Herbal Sauce ($5.50) - The fish came a few minutes after the soup and was steaming hot. Sides were simple affairs of boiled seasonal vegetables and a potato salad. The seasonal vegetables were broccoli and carrots which were simply boiled. Potato salad was of the crunchy variety however and was nicely mixed with sauce for a strong, pleasant and raw appetizer. The dory fish was slightly charred on the ends but otherwise moist and sweet on the inside. They must have marinated it pretty well because the pepper and herb taste was thoroughly in the meat. I also liked the herb scented sauce on used as a dressing which really brings out the flavor. Point to note was that the fish somehow managed to stay warm throughout our meal which is a big plus.

Aston's Prime Ribeye Steak ($11.90) - A baked potato and caeser's salad accompanied my ribeye steak which is of a pretty generous portion, probably 200-150 grams of meat. The baked potato looked uninviting but tasted good due to it being burning hot and served with a huge dollop of melting salted butter on top. The caeser salad, consisting of lettuce, carrots, radish, blueberries and tomatoes was fresh, crunchy and sweet along with a small dressing of thousand island sauce. The beef was served as i ordered, medium rare and smoking. I could easily taste the beef juices in each succulent, juicy bite. Mushroom dressing was used to further enhance the taste which i honestly can't complain. Apart from the fatty meat along the sides which is usual for this cut of meat, i believe everything else checks out pretty well for this place. Nicely done.

$20 for a simple, fumes induced yet satisfying dinner is what i call value for money.

Finally! A commercial review that deserves merit is few and far between. Though the queues are long and bound to get longer after its recent television outing, you'll be hard pressed to find better value for money for steaks of this caliber. Heartily recommended for a try to judge yourselves. Watch the queues and fumes though.