Lian He Ben Ji Claypot Rice @ Singapore *****

Claypot Rice with Chicken, Chinese Sausage, Salted Fish, Chinese Spinach, Black Soya Sauce and Oil

A properly prepared pot of claypot rice is beautiful to behold. So often menus will display it, and tantalized, I take the bait only to be sorely disappointed.

Let me clear this up once and for all. Being served in a clay pot does not a claypot rice make. Real claypot rice is cooked in a clay pot over a charcoal flame. It has a woody, smoky aroma that has been known to drive grown men wild. It includes the essential ingredients of chicken, chinese sausage, and salted fish. Most importantly, rice scraped from the bottom of the pot is crispy- slightly charred, it crunches beneath the teeth- it is this glorious texture that makes the whole dish worthwhile!

Cancer scaremongers be damned, I shall have my burnt rice and eat it too.

Details: Chinatown Complex, Blk 335 Smith Street #02-198/199 Singapore (+65 6227 2470)