Astons Prime, How Nice To Meat You.

Although Astons Specialties has always been on my 'To Try' list, the infamous queue and waiting time can only be described as someone with body odor and wHo tYpeZ LiKe tHaT (that means 'turn-off,' if you didn't get it). However, as soon as I found out the eatery launched a We-Take-Reservations version, my parents and I wasted no time in trudging down to Aston Prime.



As soon as our orders were taken, a waiter with the bread basket made his way to our table and handed us a bowl of homemade butter and a muesli bun each. It was too tempting to ask him to leave the bread basket with us as the buns were warm, slightly crusty and fluffy.



For starters we had the Maryland crab cakes. I have a big thing for crab cakes. For some reason, very few restaurants do them well or even serve them for that matter, so whenever I find a restaurant that does, there is a jumbo-sized chance that I will order them.



Astons 's crab cake rested on a bed of alfalfa sprouts and creamy vinaigrette kaleidoscopic artwork. Capped with rich Dijon mustard, its flaky chunks broke away to reveal briny scent, invigorated by the sweet-tangy vinaigrette.


Dad's clam chowder



Looking good, Grilled Lines! Tender and done medium rare, I would be lying or just PMS-ing if I had any grievances towards the ribeye steak.






Mum had the US Kurobuta, topped with sauteed onions and a spill of gravy. Despite being close to an inch thick, it was still pink in the middle. Though it was pretty good, it can't compete with Le Marron's and Le Bistrot's.



I ordered chicken. GASP!

Reader: You so did not! You came to a steakhouse for crab cake and chicken? What's the matter with you?!

Well, I guess I wasn't feeling particularly adventurous and it would be nice to set aside my prejudice against white meat. The roast chicken in all its succulent glory did its two-legged flightless clan proud. Maybe it's because I hardly order chicken, so when I have one that makes me quite literally eat my words, it becomes particularly memorable. With a hearty rubdown of herbs and spices, they managed to make the Most Boring Meat On Earth delicious.



For S$3 more, you can a side dish from a selection of sauteed haricot beans, steak fries, potato skin and bacon, baked potato and something too boring to register in my post-crab-cake delirium.

Even after making sure the steak fries were the chunky type and made in-house (double bonus!), I was still impressed by the mini bucket of steak fries. I love chunky fries and these were more than chunky, they were like gangplanks of paprika-spiked, starchy goodness. You might not feel as blown-away after reading about this but I wasn't expecting anything like this so level your expectations accordingly when you order this ok?



Mum and Dad both had the potato skin and bacon, a trio of deep fried potato skins, drizzled with bacon-strewn melted parmesan cheese. This dish is loosely translated as: deep fried in hot scalding oil, starch, animal fat, melted cheese, dairy fat- err, how can it not taste good?

By the time I was done with the bucket of steak fries, there was an incredible urge to loosen the button on my jeans.



However dessert was a necessary evil, even though dad was ready to call it quits and mum was semi-reluctant, with the pained should-i-shouldn't-i look etched upon her face. With perseverance channel in the wrong places, I pushed on with the mud pie.

The mud pie must have been lying in the freezer for too long as it was harder than usual. It was an ice cream bar alright and as I tried to pierce the mud pie, I was particularly wary of flying ice cream shards. Forget the fork, can somebody hand me a pneumatic chisel? Since I'm no master sculptor, the only masterpiece left at the end was an empty plate fraught with chocolate scrap lines. Hmmm, very Jackson Pollock indeed…

While blog-surfing, I noticed some people didn't have something nice to say about Astons Prime and basically their point of comparison is Astons Specialties- the no-reservations, no air conditioning, fuss-free sibling. I don't think it's fair to compare because if you want air conditioning, elbow room and to be seated upon arrival, you should be prepared to pay for the convenience and comfort.

The one thing I really liked about Astons is the way they served the food on really hot plates. Service was attentive, if not a little too enthusiastic, which reminded me of Avis 'We try harder' campaign. Changing our utensils after each course and all that, it was cute to see Astons attempt to work the finesse of a fine dining restaurant- think kiddo in dad's too-big shoes.

Just out of curiosity, I checked out how much it costs to fly to Istanbul. Hmm, not as bad as I thought. =p In April, the temprature is about 7-15 degrees Celsius and in December from 5-12 degrees Celsius... How lovely.

Ok I'm finally going to start blogging about New York and Boston soon.