Monday, March 15, 2010

Decent Western food, coffeeshop style, at Astons Express

Despite their recent drop in quality and pretty high prices, I’ve always liked Botak Jones. Other than the novelty of (supposedly) restaurant-styled Western food in coffeeshops at lowered prices, I like their main dishes and their fries with con carne. So, when I heard that another Western heavyweight, Aston’s, was opening up coffeeshop franchises, I quickly went down to the nearest one at Jurong East for a try.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Astons (and seen the never-ending queue at The Cathay’s outlet) and, while I’ve never eaten at their swankier, non-coffeeshop outlets, I was hoping it would prove to be somewhat good. While not all their dishes were big hits, I must say I wasn’t too disappointed.

I had the grilled fish meal, with pasta salad and potato salad as my two choices of side dishes. I really liked the fish a lot. It was grilled to perfect, with a crisp batter encasing soft, warm fish meat and it tasted just right, not too salty. The gravy was a tasteful complement to the dish and it never felt overwhelming or too heavy.

The side dishes too, were a delight. Not only does Astons Express (the coffeeshop line) offer up a whole slew of side dishes, the sides were huge in quantity and, rather than tasting like some afterthought just to pad the dish, they were both really good and made it a bang for the buck.

My friends’ orders, though, weren’t as good. One’s teriyaki chicken’s sauce was basically just BBQ sauce and, while not bad, tasted distinctly average. Another friend’s order of chargrilled chicken was also similar run-of-the-mill, not terrible but similar to what one might expect from a school canteen standard.

Still, though, while their dishes weren’t gastronomical treats, they were still perfunctory and, at less than $7 per person (which is a far cry from Botak Jones’ dishes, most of which go beyond the $10 mark) inclusive of the generous servings of the excellent side dishes, were definitely worth the money. Also, while I didn’t try it personally, I saw some others in the coffeeshop eating the burgers from here and they looked huge and pretty sumptuous.

So, for those who are looking for cheap, decent Western fare and don’t mind having to dine at a coffeeshop, you can try Astons Express.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Astons Express
Jurong East St 13 Blk 134 #01-309 Stall 7
(Jurong Cafe)
Tel : 6569 1882
Operating Hours: 11am to 10pm daily