Remaking the Claypot Rice

Some dishes have a very long history behind it and it ain't an easy task trying to break away from the same old method of preparing the dish and coming up with a new way of preparing it. However...

'Water Chestnut' For a start, the taste of the 'Water Chestnut' are pretty refreshing for a warm day.

'Stone Pot Chicken'(香香鸡肉) Doesn't this dish looks beautiful to you? There's a nice mixture of different colours. Ingredients like 'Special Marinated Chicken', 'Sliced Salted Fish,' 'Sausage', 'Mushroom' and 'Vegetable' have been added into this dish.

When it comes to 'Claypot Rice', who could forget about the important soy sauce?

With a lot of tedious stirring, I finally managed to stir all the ingredients inside the 'Stone Bowl' nicely together. Here comes the nice part about this dish. The taste of this is pretty much similar to a normal 'Claypot Rice' and unlike the normal 'Claypot', this does not have the problem of the rice sticking onto the bowl. Therefore like some of my friends, if you really love the taste and the texture of the overcook, crispy rice, you could really savour it till the very last bit over here. On top of the crispy rice, each individual bite also comes with a nice fragrance of 'Salted fish' and a good mix of the sweet ingredients listed in the above. Even though the portion of 'Claypot Rice' that I'm getting over here are much more smaller than the regular ones, but I don't need to worry about the bones of the 'Chicken' and I could really emptied the whole bowl without any wastage. (By the way, as compared to any other types of bowl, the 'Stone Bowl' can keep the food warm for a much more longer period of time, which is a big (+) :D)

'Stone Pot Sliced Pork'(片片猪肉) Prefer 'Pork'? No worries! They have a similar dish that have replace all the 'Chicken' meat with sliced 'Pork' meat.

'Stone Pot Bacon & Cheese Rice'(奶酪熏肉) They also have something cheesy for the cheese lovers.

'Stone Pot Chicken, Longans & Black Bean'(龙眼黑豆鸡汤) They are using the 'Stone Bowl' to serve the soup too.

'Onion Cheese Mushroom Omelette'(洋葱煎蛋) While preparing this dish, it seems that the ingredients are added one by one, since the ingredients are separated and they are not sticking together nicely.

'Mango Ice Cream' The taste of the Mango Ice Cream is pretty thick and strong. Initially, we were given the impression that the owner has prepared the 'Ice Cream' herself, but she has confessed that the 'Ice Cream' were made by someone else and she herself were pretty impressed with the quality of the 'Ice Cream'. (Hmm... I wonder who's behind the nice 'Ice Cream' over here.)

So what's the name of this restaurant?

The name of this restaurant would be 'Signature Stone Restaurant'. It's located along 'Havelock Road'.

Notes:

• Opening Hours:
  11:00 - 22:00 Daily

* Click here to find out more about 'Signature Stone Restaurant'.
^ Click here for the 'Facebook' page of 'Signature Stone Restaurant'.
~ Click here for the location of 'Signature Stone Restaurant' on 'Google Maps'.

Suckling a Spanish Pig...

Being a Chinese, I grown up eating Chinese-style 'Suckling Pig' during all sorts of Chinese banquets. Especially after giving the first piece of 'Suckling Pig' a try, you will be hooked on the taste of the 'Suckling Pig', not forgetting the skin, which is pretty crispy. However, the Chinese 'Suckling Pig' has a major weaknesses too. If the pig isn't prepared properly, you will end up getting either a salty pig or a pig with tough meat. Anyway what does the 'Suckling pig ' has to do with the post today?

Everything started off with a simple advertisement of a restaurant on a magazine a few months back. The advertisement looks delicious? and unforgettable. However, it's due to the photos of one of their signature dish that seems to be stalking me around recently that push me forward.

'Spanish Style Roasted Suckling Pig' By looking at the photo, it's pretty hard for you to determine the exact size of the pig. But it's roughly 70 centimetres in length and the breadth is approximately 30 centimetre. One of the waitresses told me that usually one of these pigs would weigh between 3~5 kilograms. Taste wise, in order to prove how tender the meat was, rather than using a knife to slice the pig into pieces, the waiter was using a plate to slice up the pig into pieces. And he will give you the plate to smash it into pieces inside a wooden box. Besides for the tender meat and the crispy skin that you are getting, this dish isn't too salty and to some extent, I think that I could easily finish 1/2 of the pig without any difficulty. By the way, a special 'Tomato sauce' and a pot of stew was also provided for this dish. Seriously, I couldn't believe that the 'Tomato sauce' was actually 'Tomato Sauce'. The taste was so good that it actually blend with the taste of the 'suckling pig' nicely. On top of that, the potatoes that comes as a side dish of the 'suckling pig' was pretty good too. It was a good mixture between sticky and soft. Trust me, once you have added a bit of the special sauce to the potatoes and giving it a try, all the whipped potatoes out there in Singapore would look pretty bad.

Too bad, all the loan shark nowadays have already modernised. Otherwise they probably would want to pick this up. :P

'Pan con Tomate'	'Coca de recapte con chorizo y Quesos'
I was busy digging into the 'suckling pig' that I didn't have the chance to give these dishes a try. But one thing that I can guaranteed you would be the fact that the 'Pan con Tomate' smells heavenly. I could even smell the heavenly smell from the other side of the table.

'Paella Valenciana (Valencia Paella)' How should I phrase this. This dish is like a mixture of the 'Chinese' fried rice and Claypot Rice. Each spoonful of rice comes with a pretty strong taste of seafood. If you are too comfortable with the normal 'Chinese' fried rice, you probably wouldn't really like this. However, I think that it's a pretty good experience and you can really call this 'Seafood Rice'. :P By the way, though we were a group of four, but we managed to clear all the dishes that we have ordered that evening. (And that includes the whole roasted suckling pig. Whahahahahaha~~~~~~)

So where could you give all the delicious dishes a try?

The name of this restaurant would be 'Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant'. It's located at one of the corners of 'VivoCity' level 1.

By the way, they have an in-house live band too. This could be one of the better ways to kill time while waiting for all the good food.

Notes:

• Opening Hours:
  Sundays - Thursdays: 11am - 11pm
  Fridays - Saturdays: 11am - 12am
• Seems that most of the signature main dishes will require a pretty long waiting time. Therefore, it will be much more wiser for you to either place a few orders for light snacks or bring your own gadgets/materials to kill time while waiting.

* Click here to find out more about 'Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant'.
^ Click here for the Facebook Page of 'Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant'.
~ Click here to find out more about 'VivoCity'.

Claypot Rice for 1 or more ... :D

Dining alone? Wanted to go for Claypot rice but you need to find 2 or more people to share it, but you have difficulty looking for a Kaki? Never fear, here comes a good solution. :D

Mixed Rice(什锦飯) - Mixture of Chicken Rice(滑鸡飯) and Sausage Rice(腊味飯) First of all, the ingredients that are included in this Claypot rice are vegetables, chicken, sausages, salted fish, etc... Secondly, the taste. Basically, all the ingredients are cooked thoroughly. And please remember to spend a bit of time adding a bit of oil and the dark soya sauce, and make sure that all the ingredients and the sauces were mix together. After giving it a try, I love the sweet taste of the chicken, the slightly overcooked sausages, the fragrance rice and salty salted fish. Being greedy, I sort of regretted for ordering the Claypot rice meant to be shared by 2 individuals, although the meal ended up to be pretty satisfying, but I almost had difficulty getting back home. (Basically I ended being too full. ==")

Here's a copy of the menu of the stall. Unlike some other stalls out
there, this stall are opening their doors to single diner. (Like me.)
Besides for Claypot rice, they also prepare and sell various types of soup
too. (I don't think I have tried their soup before, so I can't really tell
good or how bad it can be.)

So where can you give the Claypot Rice a try?

The name of this stall would be 'Lian He Ben Ji Claypot'(联合本记煲饭).
It's located inside 'Chinatown Complex Food Centre'.

Notes:

• Operating Hours: 4:30pm - 10:30pm (Closed on Thursday)
• Since they are opening their doors to single diner, you will have to wait pretty long for the claypot rice. Based on relevant resources, if you are lucky, you probably need to spend 20~30 minutes waiting. Well if you are pretty unlucky like me, you might ended up spending 45~60 minutes for a pot of good Claypot rice. (But trust me the wait is pretty worth it. The taste of the Claypot rice are pretty good and the portion that was given were pretty generous.)

* Click here for the location of 'Chinatown Complex Food Centre' on Google Maps.

Chicken + Pork Claypot Rice

I got to admit that I'm a glutton. Once I start.... I will just keep on going on and on. Till I drop. I still can remember the days where I can finish a large pizza by myself. (Hmm... I don't do that nowadays. I wonder why? Speaking of pizza that reminds me of something. :D)

Either ways time to move back to the title of this post, 'Claypot Rice'.

Although there are places that are offering 'Claypot rice' for an individual,
I personally felt that it just doesn't feels right. Therefore I have been
keeping a lookout for big mega 'Claypot Rice' for at least 2 or more. :D

Here's a closer look of the 'Claypot Rice'. Unlike the other 'Claypot Rice'
stalls, that will pour all the oil and the dark soy sauce beforehand, this
stall will simply provide you a mug of oil and a mug of dark soy sauce.
And you get to enjoy the luxury of pouring as much oil and dark soy sauce
as you want.
(This would be an ideal step for people who prefer more oil or less dark soy sauce.:)
Anyway, I was busily eating and enjoying the 'Claypot Rice' that I have
completely forgotten to take a photo of the 'Claypot Rice' (with all the
oil and soy sauce and all the stirring).

This stall is pretty generous when it comes to the ingredients
that was given. Besides for Chicken chunks, there's salted fish, and 2
different kinds of sausages. Taste wise, after adding 3 spoonful of
soy sauce and a spoonful of oil, plus a bit of stirring, that taste
is fantastic. It's neither too sweet nor too plain. In fact, if your
appetite isn't as big as mine, I think that the 'Claypot Rice' for
2 should be big enough to fill the stomachs of 3 normal individuals.
(Reason behind it, I was filling up four bowls of rice.... :D)

By the way, this place allows you to make special request for different
variations of 'Claypot Rice'. You can either go for 1 kind of ingredient
or opt one of the ingredients out. (Hmm.... I wonder who would it taste
like if I go for the Chicken Chunks only...?)

Location Wise...

The name of this stall would be 'New Lucky Claypot Rice'.It is located in 'Holland Drive Market and Food Centre'.

Operating hours:

• 11am–1.30pm
• 5pm–8.30pm

* Click here for the location for 'Holland Drive Market and Food Centre'.
^ Click here for the other delicacies that can be found at 'Holland Drive Market and Food Centre'.

Some delicacies are difficult to find but worth searching...

Why do I say so? In Singapore, with the increase in the numbers of Hawker Centre or Food Courts, it isn't a difficult task in finding the food that you wanted to eat. But at the same time as we are moving towards a fast paced lifestyle, some individuals cannot afford to spend an hour's time having a good meal. Hence some of the delicious delicacies tend to wind up their business due to insufficient funds to continue their businesses.

As for today, I am going to introduce to you a delicacy that puts your patience to a test.
Introducing...

Claypot Rice.
This is a local delicacy that is dying out in large numbers due to the
fact that the time needed to wait for a delicious pot of Claypot
Rice is too long. Note: depending on the queue of the store, you
might ended up waiting for an hour or so just for a pot of Claypot Rice.

So what will you be getting in a pot of Claypot Rice?
You will be getting a pot of cooked rice, chicken chunks,
preserved sausages, vegetables and if I'm not mistaken salted
fish. All the ingredients stated in the above will be covered
with a layer of dark soya sauce and a bit of sesame oil(I think).
So that's probably the main reason why the waiting time is much
more longer than the other delicacies. Especially when most
of the Claypot Rice Stalls in Singapore will only cook
a pot of Claypot Rice after an order have been placed.
Well like what they say, 'No Pain, No Gain'. :P

Some important information:

• Upon getting the Claypot Rice, mixed thoroughly for a few minutes otherwise the rice will stick onto the Claypot.
• Some Claypot Rice in Singapore pour a lot of Dark Soya Sauce on top of the ingredients but this stall only pour probably half the amount of what you are getting any the other stores. Although that has also increase the difficulty of mixing the ingredients together, but the taste is still the same and it is more healthier. :D

So where can you find this delicacy?

The stall is located at 'ABC Brickworks Market/Food Centre'. Besides for this Claypot Rice stall, delicacies like 'Chao Zhou' fish balls, Fried Hokkien Prawn noodles, Satay Bee Hoon, desserts, etc can be found in the same market too.

Note:

• This stall is closed on Wednesday.
• Their operating hours starts from lunch time all the way to dinner time.
• Take note they only have Claypot Rice for groups of 2 or more unless you are very confident that you can finish up a pot of Claypot Rice for 2 by yourself. (Which is something that I have been doing.)

* Click here for the map of ABC Brickworks Market/Food Centre.
^ Click here to find out what other delicacy can be found in the ABC Brickworks Market/Food Centre.