168 Claypot Chicken Rice Pudu Kuala Lumpur 富都瓦煲鸡饭 ☎ +6016 373 6622

When we were living in KL, charcoal cooked claypot chicken rice was one of our favourite local dishes.

In Pudu, we liked Heun Kee and 168. Over in Petaling Jaya, we had another couple of favourites but I forgot their names. Yeah, before I retired, I didn't pay attention to what's famous and what big names. Just know what we enjoyed and where.

Anyway, Heun Kee went on to snag a Bib Gourmand listing but closed last year. My toddlers liked Heun Kee because, the shop was air conditioned, and the taste profile leaned on sweet. I appreciate it too that Heun Kee cooked their claypot chicken rice from scratch and with charcoal stoves. A true traditional claypot chicken rice place.

(Note: Yeun Kee has an outlet in Taman Connaught opened in 2016. The original Pudu shop under the Pudu flyover closed in 2025, and re-opened as Yan Kee. I just tried Yan Kee and it was good! 👍 )

At that time, my personal favourite was actually 168 Claypot Chicken Rice. Not very comfortable, we had to sit in an old dingy, humid coffee shop....

..... or street side with fumes from cars inching by in KL's notorious peak hour traffic crawl.

168 is at the busy intersection of Jalan Kancil and Jalan Pudu. Jalan Pudu in the evening is a major throughfare for traffic streaming southeast out of downtown KL.

Truth be told, I didn't know this place is known as 168 Claypot Chicken Rice until now 🤭 I've always known it as "claypot rice at Pudu Maybank there".

It's not totally my fault 🤭 This stall though it has been here for nearly 50 years now, doesn't have its own name but the name of the coffee shop at 168 茶餐室.

(Heun Kee was known to us as "Pudu claypot rice below the bridge" [Pudu flyover] ).

Back to 168 which is still thriving.

The ordering protocol is easy once you know it. Make you order with the staff, not with boss Wong 黄老板 - he is very busy juggling 20 claypots at a time like an overworked seasoned magician 🤣

All the things that go into the claypot with the rice, which together make the dish of varied textures with sweet and savoury flavours.

Waiting time is long - at least about 30 minutes as the rice and chicken are cooked from scratch and there are many orders during peak hours.

Smallest one person serving with optional salted fish cost RM16 (2026 price). Price actually RM15, add RM1 for the salted fish.

A lot of chicken, scallion and plenty of rice for one person!

The chunks of chicken were meaty, soft tender and juicy.

Savoury from the marinate but I can still taste a bit of natural chicken sweetness.

The lup cheong slices were savoury, mild tasting.

The salted fish was flat salty tasting but did add a layer of flavour when mixed thoroughly with the rice.

The rice consisted of good quality grains. Nutty, tender and there were chewy bits of browned and charred crust 锅巴. Quite remarkable considering that boss was single-handedly cooking 20 claypots at a time.

Flavour of the rice was savoury sweet from dark and light soy sauce, chopped raw ginger, a dash of Chinese cooking wine and salted fish.

Still, a nice hyperlocal street side hawker experience. It's been nearly thirty years eating here, finally I made a record of it. (I came back to Pudu and realised that some of the top of my mind hawkers here have passed on or retired - no photos, no words to document their life long contribution.)

I don't know the boss. My style is to stay anonymous as much as possible. Pay for my own food, enjoy my meal, chat briefly with the boss to thank him / her, and leave.

For this Pudu trip, I tried three claypot chicken rice places. I feel Yan Kee gives the best value in terms of taste, quantity and comfort for the same money.