Hello Everyone,
I am sure many of you are very familiar with Astons and their awesome tasting char-grilled chicken! Well, Baby and I have been to Astons to dine many a times but here’s what we found out when we dined at not once but quite a number of times at Astons Specialties [The Cathay Building/Suntec City Mall/Changi Airport/Illuma], once at Astons Prime [Centrepoint Orchard], and many a times at Astons Express [Ang Mo Kio Central]!

What’s the difference you may ask. Well, the food quality standards across the three categories of Astons are actually worlds apart.

Now, let’s start with the highest end of Astons, the Astons Prime, situated at Centrepoint Orchard. Baby and I have been there only once and we reckoned that we won’t want to dine there again because the food quality does not meet up to our expectations. You know, people always say this, “You pay peanuts, you get monkeys!” But at Astons Prime, its altogether a different ball game. Here, you pay a slightly higher price for their signature char-grilled chicken and all you get is chao-tah [burnt] chicken with mushroom soup that taste more like flour than mushrooms. The only pro that I could think about dining here is that you can make reservations to dine instead of queuing up like you’re queuing up for some Hello Kitty freebies.

Next, we have the mid-range of Astons, the Astons Specialties. Well, Baby and I have been to Astons Specialties many a times and all I can say is this, the queue at almost all of the Astons Specialties we’ve been to is just entirely crazy! I still recall a time when Baby and I queued up for more than an hour just so we could dine at Astons! While I have to agree that the quality of food served at Astons Specialties is slightly better than Aston’s Prime, the long queue just puts us off. [unless we are really desperate to satisfy our cravings for the cheap char-grilled chicken] Even so, the quality of food served at Astons Specialties cannot beat the quality of food served at Astons Express.

Ok, now why do we want to advocate dining at Astons Express instead of Astons Specialties or Astons Prime? Well, first and foremost, we felt that Astons Express quality standards of food served is in fact much better than those served at Astons Specialties or Astons Prime. Ok, so how is the quality of food different?

Well, usually, Baby and I would order our standard char-grilled chicken with sides of mashed potato and corn on the cob/french fries and colesaw, and a bowl of mushroom soup that comes with garlic toast. Let me start with the standard char-grilled chicken. While it is common sense not to serve chao-tah [burnt] chicken to guests, it is also common sense that the gravy/sauce for the chicken should neither be too runny nor starchy. The same goes for the mashed potato and the mushroom soup as well! In most cases when we dined at Astons Specialties, we noticed that the kitchen staff just do not know how to balance the texture of the sauce/soup! Sometimes when we dined at Aston’s Specialties, we were served mushroom soup that tasted like flour and at other times, we were served soup that tasted like plain tap water. There is just no consistency at Astons, unlike at MacDonalds’, a Chicken McSpicy at Changi Airport tastes the same as a Chicken McSpicy at Jurong Point!

And the other advantage of dining at Astons Express? You don’t have to queue up for more than 15 minutes. In fact, you  just need to have your order taken and then feel free to sit at any corner of the coffeeshop a.k.a kopitiam while waiting for your food to be served.

Do not be mistaken that I’m here to slam Astons but rather, I would really hope that Astons could really improve on their food quality standards and consistencies in cooking. Afterall, Baby and I are die-hard fans of Astons Signature Char-Grilled Chicken.

From Astons 2012
From Astons 2012

Stay tuned for more updates from us!

God Bless!

Author

Melvin is an Entrepreneur, Life Coach, and Chinese Metaphysics Practitioner. He holds an EMBA and he is a passionate and engaging teacher, known for his unique combination of science, research, and spirituality.

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