Sembawang Traditional Claypot Rice at 4 Jalan Tampang Singapore 758949 - The Ambience The Owner The Menu The Signatures

The Beginning & Ownership 

42 year old Don Giam who is Hokkien & his beautiful wife Doris Wu (who has Peranakan roots & also 42), started Sembawang Traditional Claypot Rice at 4 Jalan Tampang barely two months ago. 

Since he was 8 years old Don Giam used to help out at his paternal uncle's claypot rice outlet. The elder Mr Giam used to operate a traditional claypot rice eatery at Beauty World in Upper Bukit Timah Road for over 40 years. The elder Mr Giam has since passed away. Don Giam brings with him more than 34 years' experience in running a restaurant business. 

Today at the outlet at 4 Jalan Tampang which he co-owns with his beautiful wife Doris Wu, he is assisted by his 21 year old eldest son Adrian Giam (in orange T-Shirt as seen below) in the operation of the restaurant. 

The Ambience 

Weekday Friday evening dinner crowd congregates at Sembawang Claypot Rice to satisfy their burning hunger. 

The Chef 

Don Giam hires Malaysian Chef Ah Xiong from Muah to helm the hot kitchen. 

The Cuisine The Signatures 

Sembawang Traditional Claypot Rice serves Asian Chinese Cuisine with Signatures such as: 

• Traditional Claypot Rice 
• San Lou Bee Hoon 
• Curry Fish Head 
• Special Sauce Steam Fish Head
• Sambal Sotong 
• Sambal Prawns
• Salted Egg with Bittergourd

Menu Planning 

Currently Don & Doris handle Menu planning at the restaurant. Many of the Signature dishes at Sembawang Claypot Rice are the brainchild of Don & Doris, where they have painstakingly come up with original recipes through much fine tuning and refinement, using quality & fresh ingredients to create dishes that appeal to the Asian palate. 

For their Signature Claypot Rice they come up with their secret recipe made using about 10 herbs & spices, with good grade premium rice "Golden Phoenix" priced at $28 per 10kg bag. The claypot rice is made using raw grains placed in claypot cooked over gas using clay stove indirect fire. 

We ordered 4 of the key Signature Dishes as seen below : 

Salted Egg Yolk with Bitter Gourd $8.80 - the salted egg yolk coats the sliced bitter gourd evenly to lend it a savoury taste & fragrant aroma and come than compensate for the mildly bitter flavor of the bitter gourd.

The Curry Fish Head at $18.80 - is of the Indian curry version, not Nonya version. Chef Ah Xiong uses fair amount of curry powder in this dish so it is pretty lemak. The fish used is fresh juicy tender, and still retains the heat in part due to the claypot it is being served in that is able to keep this dish warm. The rest of the dinner kakis (Stanley, G2, Bob) love this dish, though my personal preference is the Nonya Curry style. 

Sambal Sotong at $12.80 - served here uses fresh sotong that is delivered fresh to the outlet every 2 days, and even daily if the stock runs out fast. Doris Wu shared that the sambal rempah is prepared fresh daily at kitchen using a lot of fresh herbs: shallots, garlic, chili, onions, galangal, ginger, tumeric, belachan, etc. 

How it is done - Don Giam added that the Chef uses a whole squid for this dish, the sotong is first steamed, then the sambal that has been sauteed is drizzled over the steamed sotong. Chef Ah Xiong uses lard in this dish to render it an added fragrant flavor.

Tasting Notes - I love the Sambal Sotong as Chef Ah Xiong has cooked it to the right consistency just about well done, not overcooked not rubbery but retains the moisture, is chewy and tastes freshly sweet with an added crunch when you chew it with the toasted lard. The sambal applied in this dish totally won me over, this is by far one of the few restaurants that truly serves a decent sambal I would cook myself from scratch. I can tell Chef Ah Xiong uses a lot of fresh ingredients to concoct the sambal.

Sesame Chicken at $12.80 - chicken meats cooked in sesame oil, soya sauce, oyster sauce, ginger, garlic, spring onions, served in a claypot. I like the gravy that Chef Ah Xiong presented in this dish that tastes sweet savoury & smells very fragrant largely due to the garlic, onions, spring onions & the sauces used. Though I do wish Chef would perhaps use larger pieces of the chicken meat so that after much simmering in the gravy the meat does not become too reduced. 

Sembawang Traditional Claypot Rice is located at :

4 Jalan Tampang 

Singapore 758949 

Tel : 67577144

www.sembawangclaypot.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sembawang-Traditional-Claypot-Rice/275640515930636  
Opening hours : 10.30am - 10.30pm