The French (Kopitiam) Stall

Name: The French Stall
Place: Serangoon Road (Opposite Shell Station)
Address: Corner of Sturdee Road North.

Before I start, let me warn you this is NOT a REVIEW. I refuse to do a review. So if you are looking for a review of this eatery, please go somewhere else.

Okay, if you are still reading on, reasons why I refuse to do a review are as below:

1) Service
2) Service
3) Service
3) Ambience vs Price
4) Quality of food

1) Service
First thing we reach there, we were greeted by this sign - '...you can be seated only if all are present' (or something to the effect). Well, do they have so many people who told them that they have more than the actual number who actually turned up? What's wrong with letting people sit down first? In the end, we sat at the entrance to wait for all to be present.

2) Service
7 of us in the group and 5 is present. We tried to talk to them and finally they let us sit down first, bending their rule slightly. Great service? Fat Hope. As 2 friends is very late, after sitting down for abour 15 mins and all 5 of us have placed our order, the 'friendly' waitress come and tell us this:

"Is your friends coming, if not, sorry, you have to give up this table and shift to a smaller table." KNN. Service at its best.

Again we have to try to talk to her pleading for 5 minutes grace. Fortunately, the 2 late-comers arrived before the grace expired.

3) Service
Any place you can find where you need to pay service charge and GST in Kopitiam? And for such service, I think I will be happier to pay service charge to the grumpy Tze cha stall aunty below my block. At least she doesn't chase you away from the table you have been allocated.


4) Ambience vs Price
At a corner of the road, no aircon throughout the whole stall, one can easily mistake it as a Tze Cha stall from far if one did not see the big but plain sign board of the name of the 'high-class restaurant'.

Well high class because price range from $15 - $25 for their main course. Well, this is French Cuisine so it cannot be considered as expensive but paying the price to ask us to dine beside the road is simply atrocious, at least all of us in the group.

5) Quality
Seriously nothing fantastic. If you want to eat French, go to La Petite Cuisine @ Serene Centre. At least the chef comes out when he is free to ask you how is the food.

Aston Prime / Aston Specialities / Aston Express

Name: Aston Prime / Aston Specialities / Aston Express
Place:
Auston Prime @ Joo Chiat
Auston Speciality @ East Coast / Cathay / Sports Club / Sembawang SC
Auston Express at Various Location
(Exact Location please refer to www.astons.com.sg)

I tried the outlet at Sembawang shopping centre. It was a new outlet and despite me hearing of Aston name, I have not tried it before. So that was my chance.

I ordered one Hickory BBQ Chicken, one pork chops and a Dinner Burger. Portion is generous and food is good. Comes with 2 side for the Chicken and the pork and one side for the burger.

My comment: Pork is just average while the chicken and the burger is good. For the chicken, I would not use the word fantastic but I would say that it is one of the better one that I have tried. And for $6.50, it is a steal.

The dinner burger is actually a bigger portion of the rest of the (cheaper) burger you see on the menu but they let you add one side. It is like buying a chicken burger and add one side. Works out to be cheaper if you have the dinner burger because you get a bigger burger and pay slightly less for the side.

As for the size of the burger, think of Carl's Junior Chicken Club. Something to the size or I would say that this is slightly bigger.

Although it seems to be like a restarant, there is
NO SERVICE CHARGE AND GOVERNMENT TAX!!!
(at least for the Sembawang Store)

So just add up the total of what you order and that's it.

And although there is no service charge, service there is fantastic. Quote this incident when I was in a queue (i need a table for 2) and there was a family of 5 that was behind me. When I was the first one in the queue, it happened that there was a big table (seats 6) that was ready. Naturally, I would not want 2 of us to hog the table for 6 and I would expect them to usher the family there before me.

They did, but before they do, they apologised to me (which I think it is not necessary) for letting me wait and they told me that they have a table for 2 that was empty but not ready. They told me to wait for another 2-3 mins and would let in me as soon as they have finished clearing the table. After doing so, then they ushered the family over.

I think that they have taken an extra step to ensure the service standards is there and I think I will be happy to pay for service charge in this case.

Menu:


More photos to be uploaded.