Food Hunt #1

For some reason we were allowed to book out early today, and since the ever-so-nice WO Chia could give us a lift from the east all the way to Clementi, I took the opportunity to bring my friends Changqi and Seewee to try out some really good food.

I had been planning for something like a makan spree as a project for a while already, and with a newly accuqired sidekick in my Canon Ixus, I hereby begin my food hunt and the first trip is Claypot Chicken Rice located in Clementi (central I believe) Block 328!! I never really bothered to take a photo of the stall, or at least jot down its name, but anyway, good food needs no introduction through its name, you'll automatically know you hit the right place when there's a queue of 20 people in front of you, and you acutally have to wait 40 minutes for your food =/

Claypot Chicken Rice, as its name implies, is rice, with chicken, cooked in claypot, over burning charcoal. Extremely tedious and slow process (takes at least 30 minutes), and in modern day where time/efficiency is king, hardly anyone can afford the luxury of waiting so long for a dish that sounds as uninteresting as CCR. However, good things come to those who wait, and you shall see why.

The beginning of a long wait started with the aunty placing 3 sets of chopsticks/spoons/bowls on the table, also serves as a 'There is an order from this table' signal.



Soon to follow, the uncle comes with 2 cups of liquids, falsely tricking us into thinking that our food would soon be served, while in fact it was to be 20 minutes later before the star of the show appeared on the table. On the left is sweet dark sauce, and on the right we have our very common vegetable oil.



The sweet dark sauce tastes very much nicer than the common types we find in NTUC, in the sense that its thicker and more flavourful (much like my childhood favourite Brovil, the thick beef sauce that goes down so heavenly well with porridge, yum)



After having around 15 minutes of fun looking at spoons of oil/dark sauce flow from the spoon back to cups, our food was here!


Right off the stove, just unlidded.


A claypotful of goodness. Generous servings of tender chicken, taiwan sausage, traces of salted vegetables and salted fish. I really think they never add any flavouring in the form of salt/MSG/or any sauce, just purely the naked ingredients thrown into the pot for cooking.






Seewee expertly running the dark sauce of the CCR, coating the previously white chicken rice with a contrasting coat of black goodness.


Adding abit of oil before I start mixing everything together. *slurps*





Very nice right? Yeah it tastes as good as it looks, if not better. Absolutely fragrant, juicy chicken rice in a claypot.


My special guests for the day on the first Food Hunt! -Seewee & Changqi





Well, I think the best part of the Claypot Chicken Rice has got to be its 'Guo Pa', the sticky rice that gets burnt and stuck at the bottom of the claypot. Slightly burnt, crispy, and eludes the natural fragrance of rice. Lovely.




It would be a pity that such good food is gone to waste, and of course that wouldn't be the case, at least not when I'm around. Hahaha.


Well, its a pretty good start for my apparently long, continous journey to discover the many many many many good food that take different forms in the many hawker centres/kopitiams/cafes/restaurants. I certainly look forward to many more such eatings. Do stay tuned! Haha.

Although I reached home full, still couldn't resist a plate of sin in the form of my parents' trademark. Lor Bak.



Something I still don't know how to cook, but I will someday! Muhamuhamuahahaha.