168 Claypot Chicken Rice in Pudu
[Non-halal] 168 Claypot Chicken Rice in Pudu is one of Max’s favourites in KL.
We even prefer this to the Michelin-recommended Heun Kee Claypot Chicken Rice located in the same area.
The rice is cooked individually over charcoal fire for an aromatic finish, with a good balance of flavours from soy sauce, lap cheong (Chinese sausage) and salted fish.
168 Claypot Chicken Rice in Pudu
168 Chicken Claypot Rice is located just across the road from the 76-year-old Restoran Sek Yuen (see our post here) on Jalan Pudu.
This claypot chicken rice stall is part of the Kedai Kopi Satu Enam Lapan (168 Coffee Shop) and is a popular dinner spot for the locals.
For over 44 years, Mr Wong has been fanning the flames of these claypot chicken rice cooked individually over charcoal stoves. In fact, the stoves at the side of the coffee shop tends to get a crowd gawking at Mr Wong’s mastery over fire and clay.
Come early to avoid long waiting time
The last time we visited 168 Claypot Chicken Rice was probably eight years ago. We remembered waiting for an hour for the food to arrive as it can get quite busy during peak period. This is because each pot is cooked individually by Mr Wong over twenty individual stoves.
Despite that, we remembered that that chicken rice was one of the best we had.
We finally made it back to Mr Wong last Saturday and only had to wait for 30 minutes for our food to arrive.
Here’s the trick: Mr Wong’s 168 Claypot Chicken Rice opens at 4pm daily (closed on Wednesdays) which would typically see a few customers making orders for takeaway.
We arrived for dinner at 5.45pm and got our claypot rice in 30 minutes! If you’re “hangry” we don’t recommend coming after 6.30pm as you might need to wait an hour for your food to arrive. However, you can alway request for the soup or vegetables to arrive ahead of your claypot chicken rice.
168 Claypot Chicken Rice is still good!
After eight years, we can confidently say that Mr Wong’s Claypot Chicken Rice (RM22 for a big portion to feed two) remained as good as ever!
As each claypot is cooked to order, Mr Wong has mastered the art of cooking each pot to yield a rice texture with a good bite, and enough fluffiness. As the chicken pieces were marinated for hours, the meat was superbly tender with flavours that truly penetrated the flesh.
The chicken portion is generous, and there is good aroma and smokiness in the rice, with fragrance from salted fish and lap cheong.
Max’s favourite parts are always the burnt crispy bits of rice that are cooked at the edge – and these can scraped off easily, which is a testament to Mr Wong’s mastery of not overcooking the dish.
Have some soup please
Claypot chicken rice is traditionally enjoyed with Cantonese soup, and we enjoyed our bowl of Watercress Soup (RM8) that night. The soup has a good watercress base with a bit of sweetness from tomatoes. We like that they added pork belly slices and chicken feet into our soup.
If you’re looking for more fibre, the blanched Choy Sum (RM8) doused in oyster sauce is pretty decent too.
Summary
You can surmise by now that we really like the food here. The restaurant is also tourist-friendly as the lady boss speaks fluent English and is ever happy to help you order. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
168 Claypot Chicken Rice
Address: Kedai Kopi Pudu Satu Enam Lapan, 21, Jalan Kancil, Pudu, 55100 Kuala Lumpur
Hours: 4pm-10pm (Closed on Wednesdays)
Phone: 017-635 6443
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