Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Astons Prime: Great Value Sizzling Steaks

Astons Prime had been a victim of its own success, or rather, the success of the first Astons Specialities which is located just a stone's throw away. From its inception, Aston (the owner) had wanted Prime to be a place where you could get a great steak at a great price. He wanted to use Prime to showcase better cuts of meat and quality produce. But somehow, it had always been in shadow of Specialities. Along the way, I thought that Prime lost its focus somewhat when it went into a lot of fancy, modern type cuisines which required birds of exotic names being stuffed with things that are hard to pronounce.

What I wanted was a great sizzling beef steak for less than thirty bucks. I wanted to re-live the good old days when you could walk into a steakhouse and be hit by the wonderful aroma of sizzling beef and be teased by the tantalizing sound of oil bubbling on the hotplate. Cairnhill steakhouse was like that in the good old days. Even Jack's Place. Sadly Cairnhill Steakhouse is but a memory and Jack's Place, well, they are not quite the same as in the past.

So when Aston finally brought in some hotplates and revamped the menu, I got pretty excited. I think this time round, he really got back to the basics of what made Astons a success in the first place -- Really good food at really good prices.


New York Striploin 250g $19.90

After this latest revamp, what sets Prime apart from Specialties is two things. First, the hotplate. Purists might say that the hotplate would overcook the meat. But for me, the hotplate excites my sense of smell as well as my sense of hearing even before it satisfies my sense of taste. To prevent the beef from overcooking, they place it over a bed of sauteed onions which over the course of the meal turns into a nicely caramelised accompaniment. Secondly, they use better meats here. Aston managed to get exclusive rights to sell Rockdale beef which produces quite a nice Long Fed Ribeye and Striploin as a standard item.


Veal Rack 250g $31.90

Our makan kakis were invited to Astons for a special session to give their feedback on the latest menu. All in all, we had a great time. I think everyone liked the idea of the hotplate and we all agreed that the prices were very attractive. There were of course some issues which needed to be worked on, especially pertaining to the hotplates and the service. One thing that everyone did enjoy that night was to be able to taste a several items on the menu rather than the single steak.

Value for money is still the key feature at Astons. A quality Long Fed New York Striploin, 250g on a sizzing hotplate served with a fluffy baked Russett potato and buttered mushrooms is just $19.90 with no GST or service charge. My pick is the Long Fed Ribeye Xtracut, 250g, $22.90 which I thought was comparable to steaks that I have eaten elsewhere for around the $30 to $40 range. 4.5/5

There were some steaks which needed more work. I thought that the tenderloin was a little dry and could do with some bacon wrapped around it. Best also to avoid the porterhouse steak for the moment unless you just want a big piece of meat to satisfy that meat craving.


King Salmon Steak $23.90

For those who are concerned about their cholesterol levels, the selection of fish is quite good. Aston's King Salmon Steak is a NZ wild Salmon which in my opinion is best served medium rare. This is especially if you like sashimi. The taste of wild Salmon is distinct from the farmed ones that is so common nowadays. 4.5/5 The Sablefish which is also known as the Black Cod is also very good. If you like Gindara at Japanese restaurants, this is the same fish. It is a very smooth and oily fish that is high in Omega 3 fatty acids, so it is always a joy to eat. However, I thought that since the fish is already so oily, it should have been served with a lighter sauce. 4.25/5

They do have a beer battered fish and chips for $14.90 but I would not recommend it at the moment because they use Pacific Cod which can be a little tough and fibrous. Astons is busy looking for a replacement after our feedback.


New Zealand Black Angus Ribeye "Pittsburg Style"

The surprise item of the night was the NZ Black Angus Ribeye which Aston cooked in a different style where he got the surface of the steak was really charred. We had a great discussion as to whether this should be called "Pittsburg Rare" which just means that the outside is charred while the inside was still rare. Aston also did one which was medium on the inside and charred on the outside which is a style known as "Chicago Medium". Steak specialist PChong, who has eaten at a lot of great steakhouses around the world gave his stamp of approval for the NZ Black Angus Ribeye done Chicago Medium which was also my favourite that night. The charred bits really adds a nice smokey flavour to the meat just like how it does for Char Siew. Some of our other kakis did not quite enjoyed the charring, so you might like to try one before ordering all your steaks to be done the same way. Aston should hopefully be serving the NZ Black Angus as a standard item soon. He tells me it should be less than $30.

Conclusion

I think Astons Prime has finally found its identity. Great sizzling steaks at around $20 without the ++ is hard to resist. If you like to try your steaks charred on the outside, ask for it done Chicago style and tell them if you want it medium or rare in the middle.

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to Holydrummer, Holybro and Holybunny for organizing the session.
Thanks to Aston for hosting us and donating all proceeds ($1050) to charity.

Astons Prime
467 Joo Chiat Road
Open 11.30 to 11pm
Call 63442447 for reservations

51 comments:

iJeff said...

It was my first visit to Astons Prime last Friday night. It is a nice and cosy restaurant with pretty good service. I enjoyed the Long Fed Tenderloin, Veal Chops and Long Fed Ribeye X-Cut. For the side dishes, I liked the Hot Buttered Mushrooms and Cheezy Potato Skins. I will definitely go back again to try the NZ Black Angus Ribeye done Chicago Medium.

Thanks to Aston for hosting us, as well as your kind and generous gesture of donating all the proceeds to charity!

Amagada said...

I had an enjoyable evening as well! Thanks to Holy family for organising. Thanks to Aston and crew for hosting us and donating the proceeds!

Amagada said...

It was definitely great catching up with all the makan kakis...

And meeting new ones as well - Zaylin, Zoelin, SumoXL family, PChong family, LoveJade, YokoOno (sorry forgot your nickname) and the Canon Gang.

Looking forward to the next session.

Sure hope the NZ Augus will get featured on the menu soon! Love the Chao Ta bits! And I still love the baked potatoes.... yummy

P. Chong said...

Actually I had a porterhouse, and it was fine. So possibly there are quality control issues. Mine was perfectly cooked medium. Wished he had charred the outsides to make that Chicago medium. And for the beef to have been dry aged to yield that nutty flavour and extra tenderness, and the beef was a bit more marbled. And as a porterhouse cut, thicker...should be at least 1.25" thick.

K had the tenderloin (or was it the other way round...anyway, on my family table we cross tasted 5 different mains - ribeye, tenderloin, porterhouse, NY Strip and Atlantic Salmon)...back to tenderloin...it was dry, though doneness was correctly medium.

ieat said...

Hey PChong, don't you think the tenderloin would have been better if it had bacon wrapped around it to give it a bit of flavour and juiciness? That's how many place do their tenderloin since it does not have much fats.

The only tenderloin that I actually liked was a Grade 7 Wagyu Tenderloin. Man that one was something! Have a look at the marbling:

Wagyu Tenderloin Pic

wahcow said...

astons definitely has the good cuts of meat in the long fed series....i actually went back 3 times in a month....before and after landing in singapore...moohahahaha

with that quality of meats, for me, i do not think they need to do a hotplate kind of thing....i had trouble getting the consistency of my medium-rare steak due to the hot plate...mooohahaha...or is it just me.... a good steak for me is a good cut, beefy taste, juicy, without any sauces and a simple dash of salt will do.

ieat said...

For me the romance is in the hotplate. When I ate the matsuzaka beef in Japan, that was how it was served too.

But I agree at the end of the day, I would rather have a great piece of meat on a cold plate than a mediocre piece of meat on a hotplate.

Actually they managed to tweak the doneness with the hotplate now so that it doesn't get overcooked by putting the onions under the meat which is only lightly sauteed

ieat said...

Sorry ijeff, I just deleted the comment which you are referring to.

Actually there are only one or two of these guys who keep coming up with these comments.

Not all the Anonymouses are annoying. There are a lot of reasonable people out there who prefer to remain Anonymous. Either that or they haven't figured out how to use their penname. We have a lot of good comments from them. Much much more than the few that are designed to just annoy the rest of our readers.

As we have already decided amongst the moderators, these comments will be deleted whenever we see them.

iJeff said...

No worries, ieat. I had deleted my comment to the anonymous fella too. It just annoyed me whenever I read these irresposible/inflammatory comments.

tj han said...

Looks good! I'll look to go get myself some meat after the exams lol.

I'm not a fan of Peta (who I think are extremists), but it might be good to watch the video over at meat.org. My post-harvest tech prof who's really into steaks showed us the video, which looks at meat processing. It's interesting, but I bet doctors see worse stuff all the time.

Anonymous said...

My grand-parents were farmers, so I know how animals are killed (have you ever heard a rabbit shouting?).

Anyhow:

Please-no-hot-plates-! these are like spoilers one cars, just-bad-taste.

Charles said...

From the 1st StripLoin picture it looks like the meat has either been:
marinated
tenderised (beaten)
am I wrong?

Is there any chance to have Hanger or Flank? much less boring...

Charles said...

There, you have it, what I am looking for:

http://partners.nytimes.com/library/dining/071200french-steak.html

ieat said...

The meat is certainly not beaten. They are not pre-marinated either. Aston does brush on some seasoning during the grilling process.

cactuskit said...

Thks to Aston for hosting us and putting up with our rowdiness! I enjoyed myself a lot. Good food and pals. Agree with Les that steaks on plate just doesn't give the ummphh compared to steaks on sizzling hotplates.

Even though I'm not a western food person, I enjoyed the few visits there. Although food that evening was good, the visits in the past showcased the real standard of steaks there, as it was less crowded. Not easy to pull off over 40 steaks at a go that evening. Could see the crews all working so hard! Thks to them too!

Personal fav: Longfed ribeye.

ieat said...

Talk about pals, Amagada said you and Toothfairy were like kids in the candy shop!

o m i e said...

hmmm.. weird, previous post didn't appear...

anyway, i'm glad that i managed to sign up for this limited seating makan session and it was also my first time at aston's prime.

how come there wasn't any mention about the delicious prime roast steak? got to try sumoxl's medium-rare prime roast and it was very tender and juicy with bright pinkish center. absolutely enjoyed the meat which aston said was marinated with red wine and spices for 24 hours.

as for the nz black angus, oh gosh, though the charred surface was over-whelming, it kinda makes me wanna return to aston's prime again to give the chicago-medium another try. maybe over a glass of vino too.

ieat said...

Great to meet you in person! Between you and SumoXL, I think sumosumo has to think about changing his name already!

Yes I have been thinking about that the Chicago Style Ribeye too! Aston will let me know by Friday if he can secure the supply of beef.

holybro said...

Hmm

Imagine seeing Black Angus on the newly revamped menu

somemore can request for either normal or pittsburg style..steady..

khim said...

ijeff, i hate anonymous comments a lot, tat's y i dun reply to it most of e time..

anyway, e "New Zealand Black Angus Ribeye "Pittsburg Style" got me drooling again.. hope aston can have e new menu rolled out soon! =)

ai yo.. les, y u take my unglam pictures! hahaha

ieat said...

Khim, sorry, but I don't think I ever took a glam shot of you before. Guess we have to wait for the wedding eh?

Anonymous said...

ieat, I don't know if it is just me or what but my last experience with Astons Prime was a disaster. The Steak was so tough and dry despite it being served medium rare. Same goes for my companion's steak. It was really a disappointing experience as I had relied on your previous posting (before this one) which you raved over it. Now I wonder if I should give it another chance.

LS

lovejade said...

Thanks Aston for hosting us. It was a great session!

Nice to meet all of you! =)

les, the pics are really nice and some of them really cute! haha...

ieat said...

LS, its not just you. I have been to Astons Prime a few times last year but I have not blogged them because I always felt something was not quite right.

This time, I think that Astons has got it right. But best to wait for the comments to come in to see what other people's experience are.

Holy Drummer said...

Brings back memories of my relationship with the blog - it all began at Aston's, hor Leslie?

Aston is also an amazing guy who offers the best value for money for customers to enjoy what other restaurants would at double/triple the price. Look at the number of outlets and the snaking queues they command, something must be right! I wish him greater success and continued growth. Kudos for donating all proceeds of the evening to charity.

My personal favourites were the Prime Roast Ribeye, tried it for the first time. Surprisingly fantastic flavour! Marinated in red wine for 24 hours, really did wonders to the meat.

The NZ Black Angus Ribeye Chicago Medium dealt a knock-out blow to my senses. Super charred, just the way I love it!

The Pittsburg rare was a tad too, and I did the unthinkable by flash-searing the bite-sized cubes with a dash of pepper and salt when i got home. Hey, it was good!

I dunno about the Norwegian Wild King Salmon, but the Sablefish (Gindara) was fabulous. Both came with hollandaise sauce and I agreed that perhaps a teriyaki demi-glace would go better with the sablefish.

Clam chowder was awesome and so was the sorbets for dessert.

All in all a fun and good evening, great to see kakis new and old.

What we did not get to try that evening were their starters, so for guests returning or visiting:

Give their fried oysters a try in future, they are lightly battered, deep fried & dabbed with dijon mustard. Fabulous! Retained all the juiciness and the sauce complemented the oysters well.

Maryland crabcake - albeit pricey @ $16 - because it's really labour-intensive and every morsel is packed with real crab meat. A nice indulgence.

Now Aston's Prime will be flooded...

Amagada: That's why I banished Cactuskit - "kids at the corner"! =)

thehungrycow said...

Me want moo-re steak!! Hahaha. Im gonna give another shot at the long fed ribeye and yes, the black angus Chicago Medium, if it's made available.

holybro said...

I think, if budget is a factor for you, and you still want a nice piece of steak, I suggest going for the long fed ribeye @ $19.90. Or if you want, the X' cut (extra portion) @ $22.90

A nicely grilled ribeye arriving in a hotplate will really get your tastebuds working especially when you got that insatiable hunger for steak.

Been there several times within this past 3 weeks, and not once was I ever disappointed.

sh said...

all, do you know if the astons at the cathay has the same food?

thanks

khim said...

les, means u always take my pictures when i have those funny expressions! haha.. =p

khim said...

hi sh,

aston specialities @ the cathay serves the same food as aston specialities along east coast road...

aston prime, which is somewhere behind aston specialities east coast road, serves better cuts of meat at very reasonable price.

hope it helps! =)

sh said...

khim, thanks for the info

ieat said...

Of course what. Then it is more intersting. You want me to post photos of you and smokeduck running towards each other in the sunset ah?

cactuskit said...

Ieat, I need to ask armagada what she meant by saying we were like kids in a candy store. Hahhahahah!

But its always nice to be amongst Ieaters. : )

Disaster is a strong word. I would think a disastrous meal would be one where you ordered well done and it came out rare. Or the taste is completely off, with no redeeming factors. With that in mind, I don't think a meal there can fall into that catergory. I've been there 4-5 times, none came close to even bad.

ieat said...

A disaster is when you order a Wagyu steak that costs $90 and it comes out well done!

holybro said...

A disaster is when you order wagyu for your children and they start pouring ketchup over it. XD

btw sh (Dr Sein Chan from Seventh Heaven if I remember correctly?)

Aston's can now be classified into Aston's Specialties (which has over like 10 branches now) and Aston's Prime @ Joo Chiat Road (Which is the one this post is all about)

Aston's Specialties is just a typical cafe which sells stuff like chicken, and normal steaks and fishes.

Aston's Prime on the other hand, sells a little more higher end items like Long Fed steaks, King Salmon, Kobe Beef Burger...Stuff that cost a little more, but is of course better in quality

Basically it is to cater to your personal preference and buget.

holybro said...

Sorry, lemme rephrase that

Aston's Specialties is not really a cafe, but more of what I would call a normal restaraunt selling simpler stuff as compared to Aston's Prime. That would be a better way to describe it. :)

jungle Gal said...

Ai Sorry to say that the Aston at ang mo kio was quite disappointing. It is cafe prices but the standard was not there.I forgot what we ate bcos it was not memorable. ya the set at Aston Prime is value for money bcos for $20 you get brownie for dessert too yummy.The kids order some flat tortilla thing with filling inside and they did not like it. Do they have chicken pie or salmon pie bcos DH loves pastry a lot.

ieat said...

Aston does keep a very close eye on the comments on this blog so I am sure your feedback will be taken seriously.

No Aston Prime does not have pastries as they specialise in steaks.

sh said...

holybro, thanks for the info - i've heard so much rave about the steaks at aston's in the east, i was hoping the one in the cathay was the same so that i dont have to go down there... but i guess i'd have to make the trip one of these days.
ps. no, i'm not the doctor you're referring to, sorry.

holybro said...

hmm icic..

Anyways, I really do think its worth a trip down if you just have this really bad steak craving which needs to be satisfied asap

my advice is go in the afternoon..coz usually there are not many people there for lunch.

jems said...

it was yet another great night with the ieaters :)
Enjoyed the long fed tenderloin, followed by the veal chops then the long fed ribeye x-cut. For the sides I enjoyed the cheesy broccoli, the brussel sprouts and the mushrooms~ :)
The subsequent tasting steaks that came with a very strong charred taste were a tad too overpowering for me as I felt that the charred taste masked the natural juices of the steaks.

Anonymous said...

ieat,

I have to say I would disagree with having a bacon round the tenderloin will help with it's dryness...

I had an 20 days aged tenderloin which is still juicy and nice, grill perfectly as according to my preference (which is usually medium rare or medium), and no bacon wrap... But that's in KL.

I cannot as yet comment on places in sg as I have not been to lawry's or morton, but so far the other places which I have been to, well, it has not measured up.

visinv

ieat said...

Well, I think the aging does help a lot. Whereabouts in KL do you get aged beef? We can't really get it here in Singapore and I have been pressing Astons to procure some.

Lovetoeat said...

I think the Serangoon Garden branch is the worst. Basically Aston QC was alot better when they first started out and since then , i have been quite disappointed with the service rendered.

No doubt it is good value but i thought if it could maintain the standard of what it used to be in East Coast (where we have to queue up for long hours) , it will be great.

I used to be a follower but i have been disappointed by the last 2 occasion. I hope it will be better next time when i return to Singapore

Anonymous said...

I just went to Astons @ Cathay. Although I must admit the food is not too bad (my salmon was overcooked but most places tend to overcook salmon so I was not too bothered) - my companions had the steak and it was cooked properly. I must say their service is rather lacking. Perhaps it is the prices we pay that are relatively in the cheaper range and so one must expect "cheaper range" service? Literally the staff were walking around like zombies and weren't paying attention to customers that tried to "flag" them. The guy that served me my salmon fish walked around with it for sometime before serving me. Perhaps they were tired as I got there late .. sat down only at 9+pm. That was about the only excuse i could come up with.

Oh and my garlic bread with the mushroom soup was soggy but the garlic bread we paid for alacarte came out nice. How weird is that? Probably because the soup+bread was left sitting out for sometime before getting served?

In all honesty, i had a better experience with Botak Jones @ Kopitiam opposite of Cineleisure. Hopefully Aston(owner) is really paying attention to the blog comments and know that good service does go a long way. We don't need zombies serving our food!!

This is especially if we're paying a service charge :)

- JL

Anonymous said...

^ To add, we actually queued up for 30-40 mins before being ushered in. So despite whatever I might feel, it seems something is done right :)

ieat said...

That is a good feedback Anonymous. Aston does read this blog and I am sure he will take serious note of this.

Why don't you start using a pen name so that we can start recognizing you whenever you write?

Holy Drummer said...

If I may add to that. I agree to a certain extent, and it is particularly true for the outlet @ Cathay:

Service staff can be a bit more proactive, particularly in ushering guests to their tables. Many a time the snaking queue contradicts the already-turnovered tables that stood so for a good 5-10 mins while servers are attending to dining guests within the restaurant. Waiting guests need to be ushered in quick time to pacify them. It is quite frustrating to see a few empty tables while there is a long queue waiting. As they say, a hungry man is an angry man - guests just wish to be sitted down as soon as possible.

I have highlighted it to the staff & restaurant manager a couple of times and perhaps I can offer a solution: Designate one server to be the default host or usher & make it his/her priority task, above the normal service.

It is commendable that they take pre-orders for those in the queue, but someone has to be dedicated to exercise control of the crowd flow especially during peak periods to make it more efficient and allay the vexed up feelings that results from their hunger.

2 cents worth. =)

tj han said...

I went to the revamped Aston Prime today with a few friends to celebrate my birthday. I must say the place was underwhelming. I thought service and everything else was fine, but the food wasn't as good as I imagined it would be. No wonder it was rather empty compared to the Specialties branch at Joochiat.

I had a NY striploin, which was alright. I mean, for the price of 19.90 without any service charge or GST, it's cheap but I found the meat a bit bland and tough. My friend's ribeye, which I didn't get to try, was supposedly better, but he said it wasn't that good either. I quite liked the side orders though, but the cheezy potato skins don't make logistical sense, since the cheese is totally burnt on the hotplace.My friends commented that the fries at Specialties were better no doubt due to the paprika.

Now, the main issue is the fish. 4 of them ordered fish dishes, for some reason. All agreed the batter fried cod was too tough, cod is wasted deep fried imho. Nobody thought the fish dishes were good unfortunately.

Personally, I would return to try the other steaks, to see if I made the wrong choice of striploin over the other cuts, since I don't like subcutenous fat. But to me, Specialties is still better.

YS said...

Hey, thanks for the post. After one not-great experience at Aston's Specialities, I sort of written off the chain.

Basically, I summed up the steak as: good technique, but terrible beef. I never had a steak so tasteless and unappetising before. I could well have been eating something synthetic.

I might just give them another chance of reading this.

BorneoGecko said...

Had a bad pre Father's Day dinner with my folks & wife at Aston Spec @ East Coast Rd last nite.

The restaurant manager Ken was sulky, rude & ungracious when we requested for table change since my mum find it too cold. Don't even bother to response when I thank him (We owe him a living?)

The part time waiter just threw the sachets of sugar on the table when he serves my mum hot tea We owe the whole joint a living?)

The only saving grace is this guy Kenny apologise to us on his behalf that makes me sit down and not to create a scene.

We spend about $80 (Tenderloin, Ribs, Lamb Loin, Fish) for table of 4 so we should have spitted out this chain, went to Aston Prime instead.

Not coming back anymore, it suck!!!

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