Crispy rice, tender meat, sweet and savoury pieces of lup cheong drenched in sauce and cooked over an open flame, claypot rice is the quintessential Cantonese comfort food. Good things take time to make, and you’ll find yourselves waiting upwards of 20 minutes for a serving. It’s only natural to spend your time waiting for something that can really satisfy your taste buds, so we’ve rounded up some of the most worthy contenders to try!
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Lian He Ben Ji
Established in 1979,Lian He Ben Ji prides itself on delivering nostalgic flavours with traditional cooking methods. Every serving is cooked to order, and with no lack of customers, be prepared to wait anything from 30 minutes to over an hour. Over here, each claypot is cooked to a boil over a gas stove for five minutes. Once boiling, the ingredients are added so all the flavours will seep into the rice. Then, the claypot is transferred to a charcoal stove where it will sit and simmer for the next 20 minutes to impart a wonderful, smoky flavour.
New Lucky Claypot Rice
No list of claypot rice places in Singapore is complete without New Lucky Claypot Rice, who has retained their Michelin Bib Gourmand award since 2017. The waiting time here is around 20 to 30 minutes during off-peak hours, and 45 to 90 minutes for peak periods. Their signature Claypot Wu Wei Rice ($10/$15 for two pax, $15/$20 for three pax, $20/$25 for four pax) includes a mix of both chicken and lup cheong.
Geylang Claypot Rice
Cooked first with a gas stove and ending off on a charcoal stove, their signature claypot rice ($15/S$26/S$36) is slow-cooked to ensure that the wonderful flavours of chicken, chinese sausages, waxed meat and salted fish are fully infused into their carefully selected premium rice. Besides claypot rice, you can also order zi char dishes here!
Sembawang Traditional Claypot Rice
Their signature Claypot Rice (S$8.80/S$13.80/S$19.80) comes with chicken, mushroom and chinese sausages. The rice here is still cooked the authentic way, where the rice is cooked from scratch in a claypot over hot charcoal. This also gives it added flavour and creates the signature crispy bits of rice at the bottom of the claypot. Mix well with some black soya sauce and oil and enjoy a bowl of claypot rice that you’ll never forget.
Yong Nian Claypot Chicken Rice
The owner, who hails from Taiping, Malaysia, inherited the secret recipe from her father who used to run an empire of claypot rice stalls in their hometown. Their signature Claypot Chicken Rice (S$6.50) is cooked in a special claypot that’s specially handcrafted and imported from Taiping. Each claypot is topped with juicy chunks of marinated chicken, chinese sausage and perfectly cooked rice, all steeped in a secret combination of sauces that results in a pot of umami.
Yuan Yuan Claypot Rice
The chicken in this claypot rice is seasoned in a special sauce made with sesame oil, pepper, peanut oil, salt, sugar and ginger for more than five hours, making this the star of the dish. They’re also popular for using hua diao wine in their Famous Claypot Rice (S$10/S$15/S$20/S$25), which enhances the aroma and taste of the dish, making it all the more irresistible.
Le Chasseur
It might not sound like it, but Le Chasseur is actually a Chinese restaurant serving zi char and claypot rice! Order the Signature Claypot Rice ($11/$20) before anything else as the wait is about 20 minutes. The smoky flavour and charred basmati rice at the bottom of the pot will complement the rest of your dishes! They also have a satisfyingly spicy sambal belacan that goes incredibly well with their claypot rice.
He Ping Claypot Rice
He Ping Claypot Rice has been serving claypot rice for over 40 years and the claypot rice is still prepared the traditional way with charcoal, so be prepared to wait 30 minutes or more. Something different about the way the claypot rice here is served: the chicken chunks, chinese sausage, salted fish and salted duck egg yolk are removed before the dark sauce and oil are poured in.
Yew Chuan Claypot Rice
Golden Mile Food Centre is home to many great eats but Yew Chuan Claypot Rice has to be one of the most popular ones there. Run by a husband-and-wife duo, the stall has been in business for almost 20 years and they only serve one type of claypot rice. But what’s unique is that they serve two types of lup cheong and the difference in sweetness adds new dimensions of flavours to every bite.
Zhao Ji Claypot Rice
Zhao Ji Claypot Rice is known for being generous with ingredients, so you won't have any complaints of too much rice and not enough ingredients to go along. The downside is that waiting time can get quite long, sometimes over an hour! Zhao Ji is also said to be Lian He Ben Ji’s biggest competitor, so give it a try too to see which you prefer!