Comforting Claypot Chicken Rice @ LSY Pot, Puchong

There’s something very comforting and heart-warming about food served in claypots. Yes, “warm” is the operative word here. In fact, that’s the whole idea of cooking food in claypots because heat is retained in the pots for a longer time thus sealing in the flavours of the food. Claypots are often soaked in water before being used and the water is retained in the porous clay, so when the pot is heated up during the cooking process, steam is released and helps in the “steaming” of the food and the moisture loss is minimal, resulting in tender tasty morsels. That’s some scientific explanation there – makes sense, right?

A long long time ago, there’s this favourite place of mine where we’d go for Claypot Chicken Rice whenever we needed that fix. It was somewhere in Setapak, behind the main road of Jalan Genting Kelang and the stall only opened for business after 6pm. They were using the backyard of the row of shophouses there. The menu was basic: claypot chicken rice, blanched vegetables and soup. But oh, those were so so good! We would always order extra helpings of chicken for our claypot and only the drumstick and thigh pieces, mind you. The soup was darn good too… having been boiled for hours and full of ingredients! We had so many hearty dinners there… but sadly, I can’t find them there anymore. I have no idea where they have moved to or if they have folded the business.

That backlane stall has always been my benchmark for the best claypot chicken rice. Ever since then, I have been on the lookout for a good substitute but sadly, so far, I have found none which comes close. Although I am not as big a fan of claypot chicken rice as DL, I do enjoy eating a good pot of it. Now… DL… he’s a different pot altogether… he totally loves claypot chicken rice. So when I told him about Marcky’s raves about a certain chicken claypot place in Puchong, it didn’t need much persuasion (in fact, none at all!) to get him to drive us there for dinner recently. And that’s how we ended up in LSY Pot that night.

It’s true what they say about charcoal fires adding their aroma into food. More so if it’s food cooked in claypots. I remember how my mother used to have this tall huge claypot for boiling soup over a charcoal stove. I learned from a very young age how to start a charcoal fire in the clay stove, you know.

In LSY Pot, they cook their claypots of chicken rice over charcoal stoves. When the lid is lifted, there’s this heavenly whiff of charred-ness mingling with the headiness of chinese wine in the well-marinated chicken pieces and the glorious “mui-heong” salted fish slices. The chicken pieces were mouthwateringly tender, cooked just right… the slices of chinese sausages adding a hint of sweetness to the rice. The sides and bottom of the claypot were scraped clean… who wouldn’t, because those charred crispy bits of rice sticking there were like the highlight of the meal!

The claypot chicken rice in LSY Pot comes in 2 sizes: Small (RM6.90, for single portion) and Large (RM13.50, good for 2, I guess). Now, I wouldn’t say it surpasses or is even on-par with my afore-mentioned benchmark but it would make the “decent” grade in my books. So, if you are hankering for some decently-charred claypot chicken rice, this would suffice.

Besides their signature rice, LSY Pot also serves some noodles and soups in their menu…

Claypot Lo Shue Fun (RM6.50)

Claypot Bittergourd Yee Mee (RM5.80)

Claypot Wine Chicken Soup (RM6.90) – the same marinated chicken (meant for the claypot rice) were used for this soup but there was not enough wine added in.  They must have forgotten that the soup dilutes the wine in the chicken!

Braised Chicken Feet (RM5.50)

My recommendation is to go for the Claypot Chicken Rice and forget about the other items. Unless of course you are not a rice person… but then, if you are not a rice person, you wouldn’t be going for claypot chicken rice now, would you? 😉

LSY Pot
22 Jalan Puteri 2/4
Bandar Puteri Puchong
47100 Puchong