Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Anson Town Bistro - Serving Malaysian Food from Perak @ Gambas Avenue (Near Yishun / Sembawang) [Singapore]

With all of us not being able to travel out of Singapore for the time being due to the pandemic, it seemed like many of us are now spending more on either online shopping or food. Facebook is well aware of that and I did notice an increase in the sharing of articles on food outlets on my newsfeed.

Aside from Uggli Muffins that was a constant bombardment on my Facebook, another eatery that appeared pretty often was Anson Town Bistro; maybe because my sister and a few friends had also shared an article about the authentic Perak food it served. Since it's near Yishun, my family decided to check it out one weekend morning! 

For a commercial entity banking on authenticity, I honestly expected the atmosphere to be 'traditional' but it wasn't the case; not with the humongous chandelier hanging down from the ceiling! Anyway, ordering and collection were self-serviced; know what you want, order and pay at counter, take the pager and wait for it to ring before collection. 

We didn't have to wait too long! Within 10 minutes, most of the items we requested for were already collected and placed on the tables! Now, I have been to Perak but not specifically the Anson area which is about 60 kilometers away from the state capital of Ipoh. Hence, some of the dishes I had below might not be something I was acquainted with. 

Ipoh White Coffee
- many eateries in Singapore that offered white coffee as a beverage often means tearing open a 3-in-1 sachet from Old Town and pouring in hot water. Not this one at Anson Town as you can even opt to have gao (thick) or siew dai (less sweet)! Sadly, I still prefer my Old Town 3-in-1 white coffee...

Anson Special Chee Cheong Fun
- with ten types of chee cheong fun (some with curry, some with pig skin), you are literally spoilt for choice! The signature is this anson special which was dry and served, interestingly, with green chilli! 

Those dark bits in the rice rolls were actually meat and it was refreshing to have the chee cheong fun with the green chilli. The thing I didn't like was that the rolls were thicker, harder and not as smooth as the traditional kind we are accustomed to having in Singapore.

Plain Sweet Chee Cheong Fun
- this is similar to what we have in Singapore; doused with sweet sauce with toppings including sesame seeds and shallots! One of the better ones around but the best is still the one from Amoy Street hawker centre.

Meatball Porridge
- with a smooth consistency that's typical from the Cantonese style of cooking, this bowl of congee was plain with a light flavour that would be suitable if you decide not to have such a heavy breakfast. I would need some meat though and the meatballs sure didn't disappoint with their bouncy texture.

Fried Chicken Chop Nasi Lemak
- I am in a fix whenever I have too many options; therefore, I eventually went with the nasi lemak and only chose this chicken chop option (instead of chicken wing) because it has a thumbs-up sign.

Chicken chop was average; the rice was acceptable but what I found most baffling was the sambal chilli. There was this strong flavour that kind of overwhelmed the palate yet strangely addictive; I didn't particularly like it but I kept mixing my rice with the sambal chilli! 

Asam Laksa
- I don't crave for laksa except for maybe the famous one in Yishun and D'Laksa at KSL City Mall in Malaysia but this was ordered for sharing and I was encouraged to give it a try. 

Zesty with an intense fish flavour and blessed with an amazing so-shiok spiciness, this could in fact give D'Laksa a run for its money! If I really need to nitpick, it's only the consistency which was a bit watery even though it didn't compromise on the taste.

Rojak
- if you are someone who likes to try new things, do keep in mind the rojak from Anson Town as you can't find two ingredients commonly found in Singapore's style rojak; youtiao (fried dough) and tau pok (fried beancurd)! 

In their place were these pieces of cracker-like thingies. They were unique alright as ingredients to rojak although I do find them to be a bit on the salty side and in that regard; the usual youtiao and tau pok would do a better job in complementing the rojak sauce.

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Address
No.7, Gambas Crescent,
#01-07, ARK@Gambas, 
Singapore 757087

Map
As above.

Website

Menu
As above.

Pricing
Ipoh White Coffee - S$1.90
Anson Special Chee Cheong Fun - S$4.00
Plain Sweet Chee Cheong Fun - S$3.00
Meatball Porridge - S$4.00
Fried Chicken Chop Nasi Lemak - S$5.00
Asam Laksa - S$5.80
Rojak - S$4.80 
(NETT)

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