Now I’m confused… Teddybear is a bear isn’t he? If so, why does he fancy steak? Aren’t fishes the top of his menu? Oh well. I guess humanity has gotten the best of him after all; otherwise it’s probably his human friends.

It was Nick’s last evening in Singapore before he returned to Canada the next afternoon (then back here again in April, if I’ve not mistaken). Since we’d all probably be at work when he leaves, the TSFs decided to call a gathering at Nick’s place that very evening.

The plan was that Jason would “da-bao” (aka take-away) food and bring it to Nick’s place for us. Unfortunately, 5 minutes before arriving at Nick’s, plans changed. Instead of having “da-bao-ed” food, we were changing our course and making our way to Joo Chiat to meet up with the rest for dinner at ASTONS Specialties.

Geez. Who would have thought that a place like this would require patience to wait in line for a table? It’s times like this that I wonder how much of Singapore am I really getting these past xx years of my life. Perhaps it’s time to really re-educate myself with society? What am I saying…

Okay, it didn’t take that long. In fact, according to Joseph (or was it Jack?), we were quite lucky. Usually it’d take at least an hour or so to get a table. Perhaps they knew that it was Nick’s last dinner in Singapore (or not)?

While the rest were browsing through the menu, I whipped out my pink notepad and pen, and started jotting down all the necessary information on the menu – I’m expecting that I’d be writing this post you see.

By the time I had everything I needed, everyone was ready to order. Teddybear had decided to go for the steak. Fortunately for me, while jotting down the information I needed, I took the liberty of deciding what I was going to have as well. Initially I was torn between the steak and chicken – bigger on the steak honestly. Since Teddybear was having the steak, I decided to give the chicken a chance instead.

To start of the meal, we decided to share a soup that came with garlic bread.

Mushroom soup and garlic bread
Price: Not sure
Dish rating:

I think the rating speaks for itself. The mushroom soup wasn’t too good, but the garlic bread on the other hand, was crispy and they were pretty generous with the spread. Simply said, the garlic bread outshines the soup by far.

It didn’t take long before our main dishes were served.

Teriyaki Chicken
Price: SGD6.50 (nett)
Dish rating:

The portion was pretty decent and the chicken was just okay. I can’t say much about the sauce really, it was nothing fancy. But I’d have to add that for just SGD6.50 (nett) with two side dishes, it was definitely value for money.

For the record, I had potato salad and mashed potato. Teddybear on the other hand, had pasta salad and (yes, same as me) mashed potato.

Mashed potato
Price: SGD1.80
Dish rating:

We both loved mashed potato, even though I’m pretty sure bears weren’t supposed to. Here’s the list of side dishes you can pick from:

Side dishes
Price: SGD1.80 each

Cold: Coleslaw, potato salad, pasta salad, house salad
Hot: Baked potato, BBQ beans, corn on the cob, french fries, garden veggie, mashed potato, onion rings, tasty rice

As for the steak…

I’m not sure what happened, but apparently there was a mix up with the order. Teddybear had ordered the steak with mushroom sauce, but it came with black pepper instead. We checked the receipt and true enough, it was recorded as black pepper too.

Fortunately, the steak was served with the sauces on the side. So, for the mix up (that we couldn’t really verify who made) they gave Teddybear both sauces, which gave him an either-or option.

How did the steak fair?

Black Pepper Steak
Price: SGD11.50 (nett)
Dish rating:

As quoted by Teddybear (word-for-word), “the steak’s saliva-inducing presentation belied its sub SGD20 price tag” – such a big phrase for such a small bear like me. I think he forgot that it was SGD11.50 and NOT SGD20, which says a lot really.

Now, I’m confused again. To be frank, the food wasn’t at all that fantastic (well at least mine wasn’t), why is that “usually it’d take at least an hour or so to get a table” and people seem to be recommending it? True be it, it was a steal for its price and the atmosphere was pretty cosy, but could people really be drawn based on price and the surrounding alone? Hmmm…

ASTONS Specialties
119 East Coast Road (Opposite Katong Mall)
Tel: +65 6247 7857
Website: http://astonsspecialties.blogspot.com
Service rating:

_{Operating hours:}
11.30am to 11pm (Close on first Monday of each month)

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