Claypot rice is a Cantonese food icon and we are glad that we had an excellent one at Min Ji Claypot Rice 民记煲仔饭 during our recent Guangzhou foodie trip.
Min Ji Claypot Rice is highly regarded by Guangzhou locals and tourists alike. The original shop is at Bejinglu Street since 1979, but we went to their Huifu East Road 惠福东路 outlet which has three shop spaces.
The interior was bright, clean, simply but comfortably furnished. The vibes were decidedly local though the Min Ji shops were near to the Beijing Road Pedestrian Mall tourist hotspot. It's very popular as people queuing outside for tables attest.
Typical of casual restaurants in Guangzhou, Min Ji has relatively high ambient noise from customer chatter and banter.
Menu is on the wall. Min Ji serves only one thing - claypot rice but very well made and with lots of variations of the Cantonese icon. Twenty eight variations, various optional add-ons, and soups.
I felt the prices were very competitive (though considered moderately priced i.e. not cheap here).
Due to the crowd and as Min Ji claypot rice are cooked from scratch on order, they took a relatively long time to prepare and serve.
We had (clockwise from top left) beef & wax sausage 牛肉+腊肠饭, eel & beef 黃鳝+牛肉饭, mushroom with wax sausage & chicken 冬菇滑鸡+腊肠饭 and salted fish & pork belly.
One thing about claypot rice places is consistency or the lack of it. Sometimes, there is the coveted socarrat 锅巴, that crisp caramelised rice crust at the base of the claypot and other times it isn't there. If it's there, sometimes it is just right, other times it is burnt or charred.
I was delighted that at Min Ji, it was there and was right every time.
There have mastered the art of making socarrat through dedication and commitment to getting the one thing, claypot rice right 一生只爲做好一煲飯. Great control of heat and timing.
The socarrat was moderately browned not charred, crisp but not hard - consistently across all the four claypot servings we ordered.
Win already lor like that.... .
The socarrat is customarily broken up and tossed with the softer, fluffier rice above the soccarat. Ingredients like chicken, beef, pork, wax sausage were all fresh and well seasoned.
I felt the claypot rice we had were well balanced savoury sweet and flavourful enough - I didn't need to use condiments like soy sauce, aromatic oil, chilli sauce, etc., which were provided.
But, the dried shrimps were excellent and boosted the dish's umami flavour. Came in jars which we helped ourselves to them - very generous of Min Ji.
Kaki kaki and I have one regret. Using Min Ji as the benchmark, we will henceforth have a harder time looking for claypot rice that we will enjoy as much. Life changing he said - I can't disagree 😳
If you love claypot rice, do check out Min Ji. If your idea of a good claypot rice is a good socarrat and balanced, moderately intense flavours from quality ingredients, I am quite confident that you will enjoy Min Ji too.
Restaurant name: Min Ji Claypot Rice 民记煲仔饭 (北京路总店二店)
Address: 452 Huifu E Rd, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China 510115 惠福东路
Tel: +86 020 8306 5679 ☎ 181 4286 9079
Hours: 10am - 10pm
Written by Tony Boey on 24 Oct 2026
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