Lian He Ben Ji Claypot Rice

Located at stall #01-203 of the temporary Chinatown hawker center out on Outram Road, these guys are allegedly quite famous. What do they specialize in? Claypot rice, which is kinda like a cross between a paella and Pepper Lunch, but in a local way. It's basically rice with a few pieces of chicken, Chinese sausage, and salted fish placed in this claypot and put on a fire. Add some dark/sweet soy sauce and oil to taste, and mix it all up.

Unfortunately, I wasn't a huge fan. I could appreciate the smoky taste of the rice, but other than that, it was a bit tasteless unless I bit into a piece of sausage, which I found too sweet for my liking. There was some chicken in there too, but the hassle of gnawing on the bones and spitting them out was a turn off for me. And while I do like Chinese salted fish with rice, I grew tired of it by the time I reached the bottom of the bowl.

Actually, there was one part of this dish that I admittedly did enjoy a lot: the crispy burnt rice that got stuck on to the sides of the bowl, just like at Pepper Lunch. Be careful though; I actually scraped so hard to get those pieces off that I broke off one of the ceramic handles of the pot while holding it and ended up cutting my finger in the process. Boo hoo.