Astons Express at Ghim Moh

On days where I do not feel like having a full meal during lunch or dinner, this is one of my favourite alternative choices.  For just $1.80, you get a soupbowl of mac n cheese.  The colour of the cheese looks too enticingly good, isn't it?  I have nothing to complain about for the price I pay, the portion I get, and the food quality. In fact, the portion is just nice.  Anything more might make you jerlat.

 

 

Website: www.astons.com.sg
Address: Blk 19 Ghim Moh Road #01-229, Kopitiam Coffeeshop Stall 7/8, Singapore 270019
Tel: 6467 9677

Operating Hours: Open Daily11am - 10pm     

 

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Ice Edge II Cafe at Upper Thomson Road [Closed]



Craving for some ice-cream in the hot Singapore weather?  Ice Edge Café II does serve some interesting flavours such as Salted Egg... yes, that was something new to me.  Perhaps it appeals more to those with acquired taste.  For me, I would prefer to keep to the more traditional flavours such as Mao Shan Wang Durian or Rum and Raisin.

 

Besides waffles, ice cream and cakes, the café also serve western food such as the Fish and Chips you see in the picture below.  The portion looks a little small because I had order the kid's size portion, saving my tummy for the ice cream.

 

While the food quality has nothing to be complained about, I can't say the same for the waiting time.  The café seems to be short-handed, hence be prepared to wait.... my friends and I waited for almost an hour for the food.  Yah... so you might want to check the waiting time before placing your order.  There are lots of other food options if time is not on your side.  =)

 

 

Address: 203 Upper Thomson Road,  Singapore 574344
Telephone No : 6255 4655

Updated on 16 Sep 2013: The café is closed due to expansion of Kovan branch and shortage of manpower.

Astons Express

Astons Express
Blk 19 Ghim Moh Road
Wang Wei Li Coffeeshop
Tel: 6466 2325

Had craving for western food for lunch a few days ago and decided to check out Astons Express.  A few other people were already in the queue before me and I overheard their orders - mostly for the grilled items.  I thought that perhaps a better way to "cut-queue" would be to order something that isn't grilled so that the chef can prepare my food concurrently.  Sounds good?

Decided to order Crispy Fried Fish as the main coure and for the 2 side orders, I decided to go for hot side dishes - onion rings and french fries.  Sinful, isn't it?  All the deep-fried and unhealthy stuff.  Sigh...

For $6.50, I felt that it was really value-for-money.  The one big slab of fish was longer than the plate.  No complaints for the fish fillet, it was good enough for $6.50.  However, the fries was nothing to shout about.  Though it looked like it was sprinkled with seasoning, it tasted rather bland.  The onion rings were just passable too... BK onion rings probably tasted better.  But anyhow, how much can you expect from this price.  =)

Everything with Fries (HV)

40 Lorong Mambong
Singapore 277695
Tel: 64633741
Sun, Tue to Thur: 12nn to 11pm
Fri & Sat: 12nn to 1am
Close on Mondays

Everything with Fries .... of course, it means that all main course comes with a serving of fries.  What's the difference from fast food restaurants then?  Well, the main difference is that you get a choice of seasonings for your fries.  The seasoning choices include curry, salt & vinegar, sour cream & onion, garlic & herbs or you like it as it is, choice original flavour.

The outlet at Holland Village is the chain's 2nd outlet, the 1st being at Joo Chiat.  The ambience is very modern... with white being its main colour theme.

My drink - Butterscotch milk shake.  Being a milk-lover, how can I resist not having a milk shake.  But that means I will not be able to finish my food cos this glass of milk shake can easily take up 50% of my "intake capacity".  I wonder how many scoops of butterscotch ice cream was used to make this milk shake... can't imagine how many calories that translates too... but I can't be bothered with it cos the milk shake was good!

Chose Tandoori Chicken Sandwich as my main course. Wanted to order its salmon main course but was told that they were not serving salmon that day *sob*. Chose sour cream and onion for the fries.

Love the thousand island sauce that was drenched onto the tandoori chicken sandwich. The bread was slightly toasted and was really soft. The tandoori chicken was also tender and juicy. Highly recommend that if you prefer something not too heavy.

However, the sour cream & onion was somewhat ordinary... instead I like the curry flavour most, followed by salt & vinegar, sour cream & onion and then garlic & herbs.

Thanks to the special promo from ieatishootipost website, we got each a free cupcake. The cupcakes are somewhat different from cupcakes you see at regular cake shops. These cupcakes comes with a generous butter cream topping. It comes with peanut butter, strawberry and coconut flavours. The strawberry cupcake really stood out because of its fresh strawberry bits. The cupcake itself is dense but not too rich. Can I say... it was al dente.

 

Total damage was less than $20/pax for a lunch meal with main course and drinks... certainly worth returning to experiment other dishes, esp the NZ salmon strongly recommended by others who have been there.

Swensen's @ Compass Point - Fish & Chips and Pasta

The queue outside Swensen's at Compass Point is ridiculusly long on weekends.  Nevertheless, it is all worth it when the all-time favourite Fish and Chips was served.  The waiting time for food was just about 10mins, which I consider relatively reasonable, since the queuing time to get a seat was easily 20 to 30mins.

The fish & chips was served slightly later than the pasta.  The 2 pieces of golden-brown deep-fried fish fillet were served with crispy thick U.S. fries and a small bowl of coleslaw.  The tartar sauce, although it was just a dip, brought out the tastiness of the fish.  As for the fries, what would it be without tomato ketchup?

Salmon and Mushroom Pasta - Recommended for those prefers not-so-creamy sauce.  The amount of sauce was also just enough for the pasta.  The dish was served with quite a fair amount of slightly-cooked salmon.  If you prefer cooked salmon, toss it with the warm pasta for a while.  However, since Swensen's is not an Italian restaurant, I did not have too high an expectation on the pasta dishes.  And, as such, I think the standard was better than what I would expect.

For a meal with just 2 dishes, without ice-creams and deserts, the damage was slightly less than $35.

Swensen's Singapore - Breaded Chicken Meuniere

With the 1-for-1 lunch treat promotion, it does make sense to lunch at Swensen's, provided there is an outlet near enough for the 1-hour lunch rush. Just by paying for a couple of bucks more, you get to enjoy quality western food, with a relatively reasonable serving portion and most importantly, there's aircon!!  The crazily hot weather recently is really driving me nuts.

I've also realised that Swensen's has expanded their menu quite a fair bit, adding more Asian variety such as nasi goreng, crayfish bee hoon etc.  The pictures on the menu almost tempted me to give them a try.  But... I managed to resist the temptation and decided to go for the good'ol Breaded Chicken Meuniere.  Besides the huge chicken fillet, there's also a generous portion of fries and a small bowl of coleslaw.

The breaded batter was deep-fried to golden brown, crispy but slightly oily.  Chicken meat (not breast meat) was quite juicy and tender. =)  Being a chunky fries lover, I only have compliments for Swensen's fries, which goes great with tomato ketchup.

Mad Jack (Paradiz Centre)

Mad Jack Cafe

1 Selegie Road

Paradiz Centre #01 – 04

Tel: 6338 9771 / 6257 5951

11.30am – 12 midnight daily

A cafe offering rather affordable western food, attracting mostly teenagers and young adults. The menu has a wide range of selection from fish & chips, steak, burger, pasta, pizza, asian food, finger food, cakes, desserts etc.

Placing order is simple and hassle free, simply write down the item number on the order forms placed on each table, and make payment at the counter. However, the food did take quite a while to be served - at least 20 mins?

Here's what I had - Grilled Fish in Honey Lemon Sauce served with mashed potato and apple & peach salad. The fish was quite fresh and portion size is reasonable for the price of $8.90. My only complain is that the fish was a little too thinly slice that the texture became a little dry & tough. The apple & peach salad is a refreshing combination with the grilled fish.


My drink - Complexion Enhancer ($4)- from the range of Doctor Juices made from fresh fruits with no sugar added. The drink contains guava, orange and cucumber. Well, how did it taste? Hmm... what would you expect from such a combination?? It has a "freshy" taste in its natural sweetness, prob from the orange.


With such a great selection, I would be interested to be back to try different food from the menu.

Regent Hotel (Seminar Lunch)

Was at Regent Hotel for a seminar followed by lunch. I had opted for the Fishy meal instead of the Chicky meal.

Glad that it was salmon... a rather huge portion, I would say. Delicious!

My only complaint is - would anyone really finish up the onion? It looked like a monster!

Secret Recipe @ Henry Park Apartment [Closed]

Yesterday's B-day celebration for July BBs was at Secret Recipe @ Henry Park Apartment. They have quite an extensive menu ranging from drinks, main course, desserts and cakes (especially).

Some of my fav are the Tom Yam dishes, Chicken Cornish and Apple Cheese Slice. But yesterday, I decided to try the Pan-Grilled Catch of the Day served with lobster sauce ($11.50). Frankly, I would rate this dish 6/10 cos it tasted it was pan-fried instead of pan-grilled. The crinkled fries was also over-fried, though they weren't burnt. What's worse, the serving portion for fries was quite miserable.

I really wonder why a Mango Ice Tea ($3.90) is red in colour??!!

I guess I would not mind going back there for meals again but will stick to ordering my regular favs.

The Pump Room

It looks like a great piece of art... how can I bear to eat it? This is the Grilled Cod ($29) from The Pump Room.

Bottom layer is a generous serving of warm mash potato, center layer is a slice of cod that was sliced into 2 almost equal thickness, added with some black pepper for grilling, and top layer is half a piece of grilled tomato.

This place is packed during dinner time (esp from 7.30pm onwards). Hence, making reservation is a must to avoid disappointment.

Foodgle Hub at NUS

Went to Foodgle Hub, located at NUS's Prince George's Park Residences. It is an indoor foodcourt with about 10 stalls. Decided to try Astons Western Food since my colleague was raving about it. She had tried the western food from another outlet located at Serangoon Gardens.

Noticed the queue counter on the top left corner of the stall? Once you've placed your order, you will be give a receipt with a queue number. That means you can sit and wait for your food to be ready, without having to stand around and wait.

Each each main course, you can choose 2 side dishes. I chose onion rings and potato salad to go along with my Grilled Fish with Herbs.

The grilled fish slices was a little thinner than I had expected and hence could not really taste the juiciness. The tartar sauce went quite well and was enough for the entire slices of fish.

For the price of $5.70, I thought it was a little steep for students...and we might be payer even less at my good old Ghim Moh market.

Hawaiian Baked Pasta @ NYDC

NYDC is having a 1-for-1 set lunch deal until 30 jun 2008. For each ala carte dish, top up $5 for a soup and drink and another person will get to enjoy a free set meal. As usual, the FOC meal has to be the lower price item.

Cheese-lovers are likely to enjoy this dish because of the generous cheese toppings forming a thick top layer with ham and pineapple. Below this cheesy layer is the pasta, which I thought it wasn't quite al-dante.

Small-eaters may find the portion a bit too much. I finished the entire layer of cheese, ham and pineapple and left half the pasta untouched.

Damage : $11.90 + $5

Tangy Breaded Dory @ Essential Brew [Closed]

This month's birthday celebation was at Essential Brew, a cosy 2-storey cafe at 269 Holland Ave (Holland Village) Singapore 278990.

As the name suggests, it is a place to have a cup of tea with friends on a lazy afternoon or chill-out after work.

Downstairs, there is a choice of sitting on a chair or on the parquet floors... for upstairs, you only have 1 choice and that is - sit on the floor with low tables. If you are lucky, you will get a window seat and you get to enjoy the busy night view of Holland Road.

Set lunch @ Essential Brew is reasonably priced starting from $9.95 which includes a soup, main and tea. I had the Tangy Breaded Dory ($11.95) which came with corn soup (I think) and I had lavander tea.

Checkout my colleague's lemongrass dory and prawn combo... really worth it for only $14.95!

While the food quality was alright, they ought to improve their service level to handle large group. For 18 of us, some only got their food while others already finished their share... Hmm....

Western Food @ Biopolis Food Court

Went Biopolis for lunch a few days back. The ride was just a few minutes away but we hardly go there. We have been talking about taking the Biopolis bus, which supposedly brings Biopolis people to and fro GM market. Anyway, RK drove there that day.

The food court was not extremely crowded. The environment in Biopolis gave me a campus feeling, just like in NTU.

All 3 of us ordered different dishes from the western food stall. I ordered the fish fillet with fried rice ($4). The price is quite reasonable considering that there is a small portion of salad.

The fish fillet covered with breadcrumbs was quite crispy, the batter thickness was fine, though I think some people may find it too thick. It came with chilli sauce instead of tartar sauce.

The rice was a little bland and I think the gravy did not make it any better.

Verdict : Once is enough.