Tai Liok Claypot Chicken Rice, Alexandra Village
I know it may seem like that we don't eat hawker food because of the lack of blog posts thereof. But au contraire, I eat hawker food a lot of the time. I love hawker food! It's just that I usually dabao (i.e. takeaway) hawker food to enjoy in the air-conditioned comfort of my home, and because food that's packed for takeaway doesn't quite look as good as its freshly plated state, I don't take pictures or blog about it (btw, that's the reason why Buko Nero, one of my fave restaurants, doesn't allow photos to be taken of their food...no QC). But, every once a while, I will brave the heat and sit down for a full meal at a hawker centre. We were recently with Kang at Alexandra Village to hunt down some long-lost food stall to satisfy his current claypot rice craze.
Tai Liok Claypot Chicken Rice is one of the purveyors of claypot rice. They used to be situated at the second floor of the now derelict margaret drive hawker centre. They've since moved to the very popular and extensive Alexandra Village, and despite the prevalence of other much-loved food stalls, Tai Liok seems to hold its own very well amongst the stiff competition. Its customers have definitely followed them from its margaret drive days and it clearly does a roaring trade. But, the downside of such popularity is that one has to be prepared to wait at least half an hour for your food.
Oh another warning note as well: parking in the industrial area housing mostly car garages is also quite a pain, so it's probably best to dine really early like a geriatric, or super late like a pre-clubbing party animal.
The Claypot Rice ($16 for 3 person portion) is one of the better ones I've tried, though not mind-blowingly good. The issue I had with it was the rice, while mostly fluffy and moist, with delectable charred edges at the bottom, lacked an impactful flavour. The rice just seemed plain and one-dimensional, even with copious lashings of soy. That said, the rest of the ingredients are just fabulous. The chicken pieces were juicy and flavoursome, while there was plentiful salted fish and Chinese sausages to lend extra oomph and flavour. One last gripe: I would have liked a bit more greens in this. There were about 5 green leaves in the entire pot.
There's apparently a set method of eating claypot rice and I was given an education in this. To personalise your claypot, you can ask for the kitchen to hold off the dark soy, so you get to control the salt content of the dish. While there are some claypot stalls that automatically add in the soy into the rice, Tai Liok's claypots are, by default, without soy. So, first, you ladle out the ingredients, they have enough salt and flavour and don't need the soy.
Drizzle copious amounts of thick dark caramelized soy and flavoured peanut oil over the plain rice.
Mix it all up and voila, you have a deliciously smoky concoction.
Store front
Tai Liok Claypot Chicken Rice
Blk 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1
Alexandra Village
Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 5pm to 10pm
Closed on Mondays
Tai Liok Claypot Chicken Rice is one of the purveyors of claypot rice. They used to be situated at the second floor of the now derelict margaret drive hawker centre. They've since moved to the very popular and extensive Alexandra Village, and despite the prevalence of other much-loved food stalls, Tai Liok seems to hold its own very well amongst the stiff competition. Its customers have definitely followed them from its margaret drive days and it clearly does a roaring trade. But, the downside of such popularity is that one has to be prepared to wait at least half an hour for your food.
Oh another warning note as well: parking in the industrial area housing mostly car garages is also quite a pain, so it's probably best to dine really early like a geriatric, or super late like a pre-clubbing party animal.
The Claypot Rice ($16 for 3 person portion) is one of the better ones I've tried, though not mind-blowingly good. The issue I had with it was the rice, while mostly fluffy and moist, with delectable charred edges at the bottom, lacked an impactful flavour. The rice just seemed plain and one-dimensional, even with copious lashings of soy. That said, the rest of the ingredients are just fabulous. The chicken pieces were juicy and flavoursome, while there was plentiful salted fish and Chinese sausages to lend extra oomph and flavour. One last gripe: I would have liked a bit more greens in this. There were about 5 green leaves in the entire pot.
There's apparently a set method of eating claypot rice and I was given an education in this. To personalise your claypot, you can ask for the kitchen to hold off the dark soy, so you get to control the salt content of the dish. While there are some claypot stalls that automatically add in the soy into the rice, Tai Liok's claypots are, by default, without soy. So, first, you ladle out the ingredients, they have enough salt and flavour and don't need the soy.
Drizzle copious amounts of thick dark caramelized soy and flavoured peanut oil over the plain rice.
Mix it all up and voila, you have a deliciously smoky concoction.
Store front
Tai Liok Claypot Chicken Rice
Blk 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1
Alexandra Village
Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 5pm to 10pm
Closed on Mondays
Comments
The claypot laksa there is famous too.