After dining at Astons Prime once and Astons Express many times, it’s time for me to find out what’s going on inside Astons Specialties.
I’m sure you guys have heard of the famous super long persistent queues outside of Astons Specialties at Katong every night.
Reaching the entrance by about 8pm, we were glad to be greeted by a queue that’s not so long, though we were unimpressed by the waiting time.
There were only about 10 customers in front of us which consist of couples and families but it took over 45 mins to get our butts on the seats inside. If you’re thinking that it was crowded inside then let me tell you that it was only 3/4 full when we got in.
Apparently the queue at Astons Specialties on that night was long because they have a very time consuming modus operandi.
There’s a waiter at the entrance who would show you the menu and take your order before you are shown your seats. Your order is the prerequisite to be allocated a seat inside the Cafe. You need to wait in line for every person infront of you to make their order and be allocated a seat before you get entertained. I’m not sure if the same thing is happening for every night but at least for that night, it’s clear that’s how the queue was formed.
Such a method of taking in customers seems draggy and the waiting time is lengthened unnecessarily, especially when it was only 3/4 full at most times when we were there. The time we spent standing outside was infact for nothing and pretty needless.
We ordered a Prime Ribeye X’tra Cut and Black Pepper Steak. I was informed recently that over at Astons Prime, they’re serving Angus beef while at Specialties and Prime, they serve Prime beef, hence the price difference.
For those who don’t know, the word Angus actually is referring to the Certified Angus Beef(CAB) which is a specification-based, branded-beef program founded by Augus cattle producers in 1978. They’re famous for consistent, high quality beef with supposingly superior taste. However this term is often loosely and commonly misused with other terms like “Angus Beef” or “Black Angus”.
Certified Angus Beef is theoritically a brand and is a cut above grades like Prime, Choice and Select which are grading systems by United States Department of Agriculture(USDA). For any beef to be certified CAB and earn it’s name, it must pass 10 additional specifications. And the fact is, a lot of beef that come from Augus fails to meet the Certified Angus Beef brand’s high standards. Which is to say that while the beef being sold may well have come from the Augus breed, it does not necessarily mean it is ‘Certified Angus Beef’.
Ok anyway it’s Angus beef at Astons Prime and Prime beef at Astons ‘anywhere else’ though I’m not sure whether the Angus here mean ‘came all the way from Angus’ or ‘Certified Angus Beef’ for there was no mentioning of it in the menu.
Ribeye X’tra Cut $16.50
7/10 
That looks good but quite tough…
Black Pepper Steak $11.50
7.5/10 
The Black Pepper Steak arrives and it looked ok. I mean for $11.50(without ++), you can’t really ask for a lot. The peppery flavour was nice though the beef did came a little ‘too well done’. I’ve always asked for well done for my beef at Astons but it’s the first time I’m seeing it really really well done. We had the corn and potato salad with it. The corn was also ok though would be better if it can be that little juicier. The potato salad was as usual, nothing short of fantastic.
Corn 6.5/10
Crispy Chicken Wing
6.5/10
Salad Potato 8/10
My Ribeye X’tra Cut arrives with my fries and mashed potatoes. Surpringly, it was equally VERY well done. It was quite a chore, eating and chewing it all night long. I remember I first dined at Astons at Serangoon Gardens and had it well done. It was well done but tender and juicy. But subsequent meals to other Astons had produced standards that seem to fluctuate a little.
After eating at Express, Prime and Specialties, I know now that Astons seems to come up short on consistency.
My ribeye had good flavour but the texture was not very far off from that of a cardboard. Perhaps the noteworthy is the sauce, which I found to taste nicer, surprisingly much more than at Astons Prime. The fries and mashed potatoes was, well as usual delicious.
We also ordered the crispy chicken wing too which was, well anything but great.
Mashed Potatoes 7.5/10
Fries 7.5/10
Astons serves western food that is restaurant’s standard but at coffeeshop/cafe price. There’s a tradeoff though. The consistency of the shiokadodoness has a yo-yo effect and you really got to tikam-tikam. At the end of the day, they’re not charging you a lot, so I guess you really have to compromise a little there. Like what they say, nothing is perfect, right?
Price: $11.50 for Black Pepper and $16.50 for Ribeye X Cut.
Recommendation: Steaks and Chops. Potato salad is my favourite for the side.
Conclusion: For just a little bit more, you get to eat Astons food in a cafe as compared to Express at kopitiams. Shockingly, my best Astons experiences were in Express at kopitiams. Prime and Specialties come close but somehow not quite. It’s clear they’re struggling with consistency in quality of their food and perhaps the training academy that’s going to be erected at Joo Chiat(former Prime) is a good thing.
Likes: Most of the side dishes are good.
Dislikes: Steaks used to be juicy and tender though on this occasion, some exercises are needed!
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Food: 8/10 Value: 8/10 Service: 6/10 Ambience: 7/10 Cleanliness: 7/10 Overall: 7.5/10 |
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