Go to the Camemberu.com review for more photos.

Astons is by now, almost a household name for cheap Western set meals. This "Prime" outlet is its high end foray into more premium offerings. Think of it attempting to bring Lawrie's or Morton's to the masses.

The restaurant with dark wood panels and tall black booth seats is indeed wonderfully cosy with dim incandescent lighting.

There were quite a few negative reviews in its early days, which hinted at teething problems. But now they seem to have gotten their act together. Service that evening was genuine and pleasant. They served us iced and warm water, regularly topped up, and even extra napkins when they saw us needing it. I liked the warm rustic dinner roll with garlic herb butter (unsalted, I think). A good start.

The wild mushroom soup (S$5) was filled with chunky mushroom pieces and clumps of cream but tasted a tad sourish, which didn't do it for us. I detected the scent of evaporated milk too, another thing we didn't fancy. However the clam chowder (not pictured as it looks too similar) was much much better, for the same price. At S$5, we didn't complain. Even a fancy can of Campbell's costs more these days.

Delightful salad of raw spinach and crisp, grilled bacon. A very generous portion for S$12.90. I was delighted by the tangy dressing and mustard seeds which added unusual texture to the salad. I could just have this and be happy!

This is one of the main reasons we came here. Mother-in-law had been craving crab cakes, so we decided to come here and try Astons' version. Apparently they sell out really fast, so we pre-ordered two when we called for reservations. There's only one patty per serving, and it looks like a "bergedil" (the Malay fried potato-and-mince patty). However, tastewise, it was a bit musty and bland. Even the grassy taste of the alfalfa sprouts overpowered the crab cake. Absolutely not worth the S$16.90 it commanded.

The steak was really the star of the show. They ran out of ribeye so we got the striploin. This premium slab of USDA Choice, New York 12oz striploin (S$38.90) here was HUUUGE. And more importantly, delicious. This is their "medium" - just slightly pink in the middle but not bloody - although this itself was too "raw" for my mother-in-law and maid.

Aside from the steak, we also had USDA baby back ribs (S$26.90). Another enormous portion served on warmed plate. It was meaty but a wee bit dry. We almost had trouble finishing this.

With the mains, you get to choose sides for S$3 each. Oh the steakhouse fries (S$3 as side dish to main) are good, so very good. Lightly dusted with paprika and salt, they stayed hot and crispy for quite a long while.

While we've never had a good experience at Astons Specialties, I'd come back to Astons Prime for the steak, spinach salad and fries. Pleasant ambiance and good service round up a nice experience. On the whole, we did feel it was pretty good value-for-money. On top of that, there's no service charge or GST. This goes on my list of good places to indulge Neanderthal cravings.

Located a stone throw away from their flagship outlet, Astons Specialities, sits Astons Prime – a more Atas, or upmarket version of their sister outlet that cater a wider range of premium meat cuts – with bookings and reservations accepted.

The meal started off with the complimentary bread and homemade garlic spread, which my dad and I like it pretty much. While some might argue that the spread was bland and tasteless, I like it for its fragrant while finding some strong tasting ones overpowering, to the point artificial. Unfortunately, that is as good as it goes for the night. The Wild Mushroom Soup although generous with the shrooms, tasted just like any canned soup, and there is really nothing wild about it since the mushrooms used are nothing special. A case of misleading advertising? You tell me.

The main course was the USDA Certified Angus Beef Ribeye Choice Cut that is known for their propensity to produce tender, flavourful beef. They have just the right amount of marbling to insure a juicy, incredible full-bodied flavoured steak. When it finally arrived after a long wait, I was so hungry that any dish you serve me should taste good, but what do you know – first cut to the meat and there was no blood to be seen for a medium rare steak. A second cut that halves the steak shows the same result although mine was slightly better than my dad’s – at least my meat came with a hint of pink on the inside, while my dad's steak came well-done. Thank goodness we did not ordered the Grade 9 Wagyu Beef, which would have been a waste if it was cooked this way.

But more drama was to unfold as halfway through our dinner, we realised that my mum’s Fillet Mignon has not arrived. We checked with the staffs not once, but twice and the response we got was “Sorry but the grill is full, you would have to wait”. I was left wondering for a second whether the staff is implying that it is our problem that their grill is full? It is obviously an oversight that the kitchen has forgotten the order since 5 of us are already halfway through our mains. I wouldn’t be half as angry if he had proceeded to say that he would tell the kitchen to expedite the order, but instead he goes on to mention “other table is also waiting for their steak”. That really left me speechless – What has another table waiting for their steak got to do with us? Is the supposedly "you are not alone" statement suppose to make us feel any better? The manager tried to diffuse the situation by apologising and offered a complimentary oil soaked Chicken Quesadilla, which my bro-in-law had a bite and spit it out saying that it tasted funky. Badly trained staffs coupled with lousy service recovery methods, all these which can only be found Uniquely in Singapore.

You can view the photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.

Astons Prime is a recently opened upmarket version of Aston Specialties, catering to the more well heeled with a wider selection of premium meat available and reservations of course.

Located just a stones throw away from the original Astons Specialties, Astons Prime sits along the row of shophouses near the junction of Joo Chiat Road and East Coast Road. The interior is simply furnished and can probably seat up to about 30 people. There are corner booth seats for 2 pax which are a must if you wish to have more privacy. Pity there are only 2 of those seats though and I wasn't fortunate to get one of those even during lunch.

When a place claims to serve up its own homemade garlic spread, my expectations go up a notch because I like my garlic spread a lot, probably more than most people. Sadly, Aston's spread didn't even come close to meeting my expectations. For one, it was rather bland and didn't exactly jell in well with the bread, which incidentally, wasn't tasty nor was it served warm.

Chicken Quesadilla - Interestingly, biting into the Chicken Quesadilla was akin to eating roti prata with bits of chicken and BBQ sauce. The paper thin crust was a little crispy and flaky with a rather miserable filling of chicken. Not that I'm saying that its not good, but for almost 8 dollars, I'd rather order something else.

Fillet Mignon - Notice that the fillet mignon comes in 2 variations, the New Zealand fed and the Australian fed. I'm guessing the Australian one is better because of its superior pricing. But then again, I didn't get to try the New Zealand variant, so I'm really in no position to comment.

My Australian fed fillet mignon was small (they are all 8oz by the way, which is about 250g) but good. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it was excellent as I've definitely tried better but this one was really in a league of its own. Medium rare, succulent and sweet. Only gripe I had was that the meat slab was too thick which resulted in the exterior being a little too charred. I did like the accompanying sauce though, which tasted like it had a little bit of cheese in it.

$70 for 2 pax for lunch is rather expensive honestly, but good steak comes at a price unfortunately. Service is excellent and there is no service charge or GST which kinda sweetens the deal a little. I see potential in this place, but it would be nice to have a larger slab of meat for the same price, please?

See all my pictures here