Places that have salad bars along with their main menus are particularly attractive to me.
Maybe because my appetite switches around from time to time, and I'm the sort who doesn't know what it is I want to have until I'm actually there.
And so although I say I'd like to go the full works of salad, main and dessert, it is also possible that by the time I get there I'd have changed my mind entirely and decide to switch to another place with smaller bites.
Very stressful for my regular dining companion, of course, which is why all-in-one places like Aston's Steak and Salad are fantastic for peeps who cannot make up their minds, and even if they do, are wont to change their minds at the very last minute.
It had been my intention to go for the fish and chips, but I caught a glimpse of the pretty large salad bar whilst waiting in queue, so decided- at the counter-to skip the main, just order the salad bar (they dont' allow sharing) and share the main with my dining companion instead.
Turned out to be a great decision, because the main meal was pretty huge, and it would have either been packed up, or gone to waste had I been stubborn and ordered mine.
Instead I got to eat as much salad as I wanted.
Three big bowls of vegetables I took, including the favorites of romaine lettuce (the only kind of lettuce I like), kidney beans, lots and lots of corn, black olives (only the black ones I favor) and alfafa sprouts. I thought of taking carrots (because they would look good on camera) but then I didn't feel like chomping my way through slices of carrots and so decided on chickpeas instead.
If you're wondering, yes, I repeated the same selections for all three bowls, with the exception that I added chopped egg for one, a sprinkling of parmesan cheese for the second, and a ladleful of black olives for the third.
It isn't that there weren't other selections- there were- in fact, quite a variety. Cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, red peppers, green peppers, broccoli, purple lettuce, sprouts, coleslaw, peas, and several kinds of lettuce.
That's all I remember, but I'm pretty sure they had more.
After all, they had six kinds of salad dressings- Blue cheese, Thousand Island, Ranch etc- all of which were the creamy kind, and even though my hand hovered over the blue cheese (unusual, mah) I eventually decided on a dressing of olive oil and olive oil alone because I'm fine with the taste.
Plus I didn't feel like drowning my veggies in all that cream.
Not that I'm anti towards creamy dressings- "you want what then eat what lah" is my usual philosophy- I simply used the blue cheese as a dip for the fried stuff.
Chicken nuggets, tater tots, onion rings, shoestring fries and sweet potato fries, all of which you wouldn't usually see at a hardcore salad bar, but hey, this is a family-friendly restaurant, and there are CHILDREN.
That amount of blue cheese dip was enough for the onion rings, the tater tots and the chicken nuggets that me and my dining companion piled onto a plate to share.
Quite fun a meal it was, what with the bright atmosphere, the homely environment, the presence of space, the cheerful-looking food, and we made sure to wrap it up with a scoop of soft serve each, and a cup of full-bodied tea.
And so although I say I'd like to go the full works of salad, main and dessert, it is also possible that by the time I get there I'd have changed my mind entirely and decide to switch to another place with smaller bites.
Very stressful for my regular dining companion, of course, which is why all-in-one places like Aston's Steak and Salad are fantastic for peeps who cannot make up their minds, and even if they do, are wont to change their minds at the very last minute.
It had been my intention to go for the fish and chips, but I caught a glimpse of the pretty large salad bar whilst waiting in queue, so decided- at the counter-to skip the main, just order the salad bar (they dont' allow sharing) and share the main with my dining companion instead.
Turned out to be a great decision, because the main meal was pretty huge, and it would have either been packed up, or gone to waste had I been stubborn and ordered mine.
Instead I got to eat as much salad as I wanted.
Three big bowls of vegetables I took, including the favorites of romaine lettuce (the only kind of lettuce I like), kidney beans, lots and lots of corn, black olives (only the black ones I favor) and alfafa sprouts. I thought of taking carrots (because they would look good on camera) but then I didn't feel like chomping my way through slices of carrots and so decided on chickpeas instead.
If you're wondering, yes, I repeated the same selections for all three bowls, with the exception that I added chopped egg for one, a sprinkling of parmesan cheese for the second, and a ladleful of black olives for the third.
It isn't that there weren't other selections- there were- in fact, quite a variety. Cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, red peppers, green peppers, broccoli, purple lettuce, sprouts, coleslaw, peas, and several kinds of lettuce.
That's all I remember, but I'm pretty sure they had more.
After all, they had six kinds of salad dressings- Blue cheese, Thousand Island, Ranch etc- all of which were the creamy kind, and even though my hand hovered over the blue cheese (unusual, mah) I eventually decided on a dressing of olive oil and olive oil alone because I'm fine with the taste.
Plus I didn't feel like drowning my veggies in all that cream.
Not that I'm anti towards creamy dressings- "you want what then eat what lah" is my usual philosophy- I simply used the blue cheese as a dip for the fried stuff.
Chicken nuggets, tater tots, onion rings, shoestring fries and sweet potato fries, all of which you wouldn't usually see at a hardcore salad bar, but hey, this is a family-friendly restaurant, and there are CHILDREN.
That amount of blue cheese dip was enough for the onion rings, the tater tots and the chicken nuggets that me and my dining companion piled onto a plate to share.
Quite fun a meal it was, what with the bright atmosphere, the homely environment, the presence of space, the cheerful-looking food, and we made sure to wrap it up with a scoop of soft serve each, and a cup of full-bodied tea.