Gurney Drive (Changi Airport)

We were looking for somewhere to satisfy our bellies before my friend flew off. For those who have been to Penang, you will definitely have heard of / visited Gurney Drive, located by a seaside promenade, with lots of stalls (and even more tourists). 

The place was surprisingly empty during lunchtime and we thought, "Is it because the food is bad?" Luckily, our fears were unfounded.

We decided to get the Premium Crab Meat Fried Koay Teow ($12.65). I was expecting a few shreds of crab meat. It was surprising that they were rather generous with the crab meat which added an interesting flavour to this otherwise generic dish. The Fried Koay Teow was not oily and had wok hei. The waiter also cautioned us prior to ordering the dish that it was spicy. Sure it was, but that just increased the shiokness of this dish!

The Gurney Nasi Lemak ($7.65) was pretty good as well. Distinctly separate and fragrant rice, coupled with the cannot-go-wrong deep fried chicken and the addictive ikan bilis landed my friend and I into a dilemma as to who should have which dish. As with all good things, share and you shall have the best of both worlds.

Value for money food.

Gurney Drive (various locations)
Terminal 3 Departure
Departure/Check-in Hall
Level 3 Mezz South #03-21
Tel No: 6441 1690 

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Astons Specialties (Changi)

I think Astons at Katong beats Astons at Changi hands down. Despite the pretty facade, the food and a particular waiter's service weren't good. The only good thing that came out of it was that I had a very good meetup with a very good friend. My previous experience here was actually okay but after this time, I think I would give this branch a miss.

The thing I like about Astons is that their food is very affordable. For a main dish with two sides, it's only around $8-10. Plus if you wanted to any anything to your order, it comes at a cheap price tag too.

The horror story begins. The waiter arrives with our order. But instead of my order which consisted of black pepper fish + onion rings + corn ($8.50), he came with a grilled fish. And my friend got the black pepper fish when she ordered grilled fish. Then, he asked as though it was not his problem that they got the wrong order, "Do you want me to change the food?" To which I replied, "Yes please." Seriously, were you waiting for me to switch the fish around? It's not that we were lazy but because there was all kinds of sauce (black pepper sauce, tomato sauce etc) it just didn't make sense to make our food taste like a coagulated mess.

The picture below is what I got. When I scraped the pepper sauce off my fish, there was a layer of white stuff, seemingly like sauce from the grilled fish (the mixed up order). I think it's absolutely horrible that I have to deal with such bad attitude and laziness from that particular guy.

If it were just the service, maybe I would go back for the food. But the food was horrible. I seldom use the word horrible because the food is normally edible. But I actually had to spit out portions of my food because I just couldn't swallow them. There were super charred pieces of the fish at the bottom which made it very bitter. I have eaten this countless times at the Katong outlet and they definitely did not have this problem. The corn was bad as well. Normally you could chew and feel the bounciness of the corn. But I was just eating mush. I wonder how old the corn is.

The only saving grace is that we actually could spent 2 hours chit chatting without feeling pressured to leave. But the food and that particular guy's service needs a lot more work. I'm not sure if it was because we went at 245 pm which meant that they were tired after the lunch crowd, but honestly, that's just a very lousy excuse I cooked up for them.

Astons Specialities (Changi Airport T1) 
Changi Airport Terminal 1
Viewing Mall Central
80 Airport Boulevard
#03-18
Tel: +65 6542 4709

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Imperial Treasure Cantonese Cuisine (Crowne Plaza)

The thing about reviewing dim sum from well-known Chinese restaurants is that after a while, they kind of taste the same. So, I'm picking out a few dishes that may not uniformly be found in all restaurants or which deserve particular mention. 

Imperial Treasure got me right at the honey coated cashews. Such a nice break away from your usual peanuts or the brown colour soft peanuts (whatever you call them). 

Amongst the recommended dishes by the waiter were the Char Siew Bun coated in honey. Granted, the bread was soft and chewy. But it tastes just like a mini version of a char siew bun that I could buy cheaply at some bakery. Why it is a recommended dish- that I really don't know.

I normally find these deep fried dumplings pretty much standard- but this didn't meet up to my standards. While it was uber crispy, the "oil taste" was very evident.

Another recommended dish was the chives dumpling. I didn't eat it but those who ate it said that it was good and had a thin skin.

This is a deep fried banana ball with some red bean paste in it. Interesting combination but it isn't a particularly stunning.

The only thing really worth mentioning is the egg tarts. (Look at the poor egg tart which is kind of deflated). Piping hot egg tarts with a flaky crust.

While the food does not stand out, its quality is decent and actually pretty cheap. The above + char siew sou + har gow + siew mai + 2 big bowls of porridge worked out to around $100 for 6 people.

Crowne Plaza Hotel 
75 Airport Boulevard
#01-02 (next to Changi Airport T3)
Tel No: +65 6822 8228

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