What's cookin'?

Look at the utensils laid out! Can you guess what's coming up next?



A mug of oil, a mug of dark soya sauce, two bowls, two pairs of chopsticks, one ladle and one plate.... Hmmm, what can we be having?



Knew you wouldn't waste time guessing! We're having claypot rice! Whoopee!

The stall we patronised is located in a coffeeshop at Blk 328, Clementi Ave 2, and its stall name is New Lucky Claypot Chicken Rice. The thing that I love about the claypot rice at this stall is the chicken! It's extraordinary! The texture of the chicken meat is like nothing I've ever tasted. So tender and moist, even the breast meat too. The salted fish bits added an unexpected salty punch to the dish at times and the chinese sausage was so sinful. I nearly tried to send Wendy off for some miscellaneous task so I could eat more of the claypot rice. Mine mine mine! Gluttony aside, do take note that the stall is closed on Wednesdays.


Oh, by the way, claypot rice needs a little more work from the customer before it can be eaten.

Trail of Crumbs (ToC) Ultimate Stepwise guide to claypot rice preprandial preparation:
1. Take out the chicken and put it on the plate.
2. Add the dark soya sauce and a little bit of oil.
3. Mix the rice well with the ladel. The rice should appear uniformly darkish brown after proper mixing.
4. Taste and repeat step 2 to 4 is necessary.
5. Dish out the rice into the bowls, take some chicken and it's Chow Time!

Chickern lice, er, chicken rice

After a long period of trying out the chicken rice in the west side of Singapore, I have discovered one of the best chicken rice of the West: Xing Yun Hainanese chicken! Stall no. 01-202. Located in Jurong East market, the chicken rice they prepare is excellent! Firstly, the meat is very tender, the rice is aromatic but not too oily and the chilli sauce is absolutely wonderful! Not too hot and not too watered down.



Tip of the day: When you order chicken rice, you CAN specify the parts that you want or the parts that you don't. Try not to take the breast meat (this applies to all chicken rice stalls). Normally breast meat is more tough and doesn't taste so good. For me, I always tell the vendor that I don't want breast meat. The price remains the same, but the difference in taste is, ah, so great.

Breakfast @ Bugis

One fine morning, for reasons I tried in vain to recall, we were in the Bugis area. With breakfast in mind, we entered the Albert Food Centre, which is located near the Famous Kwan Im Tong temple. Upon exploring the area, we realised that there was a moderately long queue outside a stall called Fatt Kee Shou Shi (means a stall named Fatt Kee selling cooked food, literally) which sells bee hoon, porridge and yam cakes. This should be a normal sight except this stall sells them in much smaller portions than usual. The prices are also proportionally lower. I guess this is sales method caters to the insatiable but fickle appetites of the average Singaporean, thus boosting overall sales and popularity. I bought a few items to try:



The bee hoon is not great with my standards, but Wendy seemed ok with it, saying that it had the taste of rice, which is supposed to be good. But the porridge, wah, is very good. Ever drank homemade fish soup? Can you imagine porridge made with that soup? Not too thick and not too watery? Is the mental simulation too much for you? Fret not! Try the porridge from this stall! It is very good! I actually went back and bought one more bowl, because having one just seemed not enough.

While you're queuing for the food, do look out for the Taichi Beehoon auntie! If she's there, you're going to be treated into a wonderful performance where she focuses her mind and Spiral Taichi forces to create portions of fried bee hoon that are of equal quantity (I suspect it's to the nearest gram). That's why the fried beehoon in the picture is more conical in shape than the conventional ones.