168 Claypot Chicken Rice Review

Claypot chicken rice is one of those Kuala Lumpur (KL) dishes everyone tells you to try, and the famous stalls come with a catch: every pot is cooked to order over a fire, so waits of an hour aren't unusual. If you only have a few nights in the city, it's fair to wonder whether one pot of rice is worth that.

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168 in Pudu is one of the best-known claypot chicken rice stalls in the city, so one afternoon in April, near the end of our three months living in KL, Cream and I took a Grab over and got there right as the stall started cooking at 4:00 p.m.

That turned out to be the best decision of the day. We wanted to know two things: does the famous pot live up to the name, and can you eat it without losing your evening to the queue? This is our honest 168 Claypot Chicken Rice review.

Watch Our 168 Claypot Chicken Rice Taste Test

Cream does the tasting on camera, from watching the pots go onto the charcoal to scraping the last crispy rice off the bottom:

Is 168 Claypot Chicken Rice Worth It? My Quick Answer

Yes, if you get there at the 4:00 p.m. opening. The salted fish claypot chicken rice at 168 is very good, the crispy rice crust is the best part, and watching the pots cook over charcoal makes it a fun night out. We'd give it an 8 out of 10. It was one of our good KL meals, but not our favorite (nasi kandar and fish head curry are ahead of it). A large pot and three extras cost the two of us about $15.

What Is Claypot Chicken Rice?

Claypot chicken rice is a Chinese-Malaysian classic: rice cooked in a clay pot with marinated chicken, soy sauce, lap cheong (sweet Chinese sausage) and, if you want it, salted fish. The pot sits right on the fire, so the rice at the bottom and around the sides turns into a crunchy, toasty crust. That crust is the reason people queue.

168 is a stall inside a traditional Chinese coffee shop at the corner of Jalan Kancil and Jalan Pudu, run by the man everyone calls Mr Wong. According to local food blogs, he has been cooking claypots here for over 40 years, on a row of more than 20 small charcoal stoves.²

Arriving at 168: The Pots on the Fire

The cooking happens right out front, and it's the most fun part of the visit. The chicken sits in a big tub of marinade, and the cook scoops it straight into the pots, adds the sausage and a sauce, closes the lid, and sets each one on its own charcoal fire.

Those pots are seriously hot. Ash drifts up off the coals while they work, and some of it floats into the coffee shop. It's part of the show, but don't wear your nicest white shirt.

Because we arrived at 4:00 p.m., there was no queue and we sat straight down. The cook was already working on a few pots, and ours was ready in about 15 minutes. That's our hack for any famous food spot in KL: be there when it opens. Reviews from people who came at dinnertime talk about waiting 30 minutes to an hour, and some much longer.

What We Ordered at 168 Claypot Chicken Rice

We ordered the large salted fish claypot chicken rice, which was plenty for the two of us, plus a plate of bok choy, a chicken feet soup, and a barley lime to drink.

1. Salted Fish Claypot Chicken Rice // The Reason to Come

The pot arrives at the table steaming, topped with spring onions, pieces of chicken, slices of Chinese sausage, and bits of salted fish with the skin still on, all on rice with a dark sauce. You mix everything together yourself before serving it into bowls, and as you stir, you pull up the browned rice from the bottom. The smell when you open it is fantastic.

Those crispy bits of rice are what make it. Cream's first reaction was "those crispy bits of rice are just insane", and he's right: the crunch against the softer rice on top is what keeps you going back to the pot. The chicken was seasoned and cooked perfectly, the soy sauce adds salt, and there's a little sweetness coming through from the sausage and sauce. Cream said he was "blown away by this one."

When you think you're done, scrape the sides. Whole sections of rice stick to the pot, and they come away in sticky, toasty pieces. It's a pot that just keeps giving. Cream was on his third or fourth bowl by the end.

There's a small dish of sliced chilies in sauce on the side. Add some if you want heat, because those chilies bring it right away.

2. Bok Choy With Oyster Sauce // The Easy Side

A generous plate of bok choy in what tasted like oyster sauce. It's simple, and it's a good fresh break from the rich rice. Cream loves bok choy, and this was a nice big serving.

3. Chicken Feet Soup // Rich, Not Light

The soup came with bits of chicken and chicken feet. It's not a light broth. It has a deep, strong chicken flavor that's hard to pin down but very satisfying.

It was Cream's first time eating chicken feet. He couldn't figure out how you're supposed to eat them, so he just went for it: "It's good. It just tastes like the fatty chicken skin." If you're curious about chicken feet, this is an easy way to try them.

4. Barley Lime // The Drink You'll See Everywhere

We'd seen barley lime on menus all over Malaysia and finally ordered it here. It's barley water with lime and the cooked barley grains left in. The citrus tastes like kumquat, orangey and limey at the same time, which fits the small calamansi limes (limau kasturi) Malaysian drink stalls squeeze. It's refreshing, and the barley gives it a chewy texture, a bit like bubble tea. It's a good match for a hot, salty pot of rice.

What We Didn't Love

Only one thing, and it's easy to fix: the salted fish is very salty. Mixed through the rice it's a great flavor, but if you get a whole piece in one bite, it's a lot. Break it up and stir it in well, and don't eat it on its own.

Next time I'd also skip the extras and just order the claypot chicken rice. The sides were fun to try, but the pot is the meal.

Who 168 Is For, and Who Should Skip It

Go if you want a real local dinner in a plastic-stool coffee shop, you like watching your food cooked over a fire, and you can get there near 4:00 p.m. It's great for two people sharing a large pot, and cheap for how much food you get.

Skip it if you eat halal (the pot has pork sausage and the stall is not halal), if you need air conditioning (it's an open coffee shop next to a row of charcoal fires, and KL is hot all year, as our guide to the best time to visit Kuala Lumpur explains), or if you can only come at peak dinner time and hate queues.

How 168 Compares With Our Other KL Favorites

168 was one of the most fun meals we had in KL, but not the best one. Nasi kandar and fish head curry are both ahead of it for us. If you only have room for one big local meal, those come first, and you'll find them both in our guide to the must-eat foods in Kuala Lumpur. If you've got a few nights, add 168. (Still deciding whether KL deserves those nights? Here's our honest verdict on whether Kuala Lumpur is worth visiting.)

Prices, Hours, and Getting There

• What we paid: about $15 in total for two in April 2026, for the large salted fish pot, bok choy, chicken feet soup, and a barley lime.
• Menu prices: a 2026 review lists the small pot at RM15 (about $3.50) plus RM1 for salted fish.¹
• Hours: the claypot stall cooks from 4:00 to 10:00 p.m. and is closed on Wednesdays, according to listings from 2024 to 2026.² The coffee shop opens earlier, but the pots don't start until 4:00 p.m.
• Where: 21 Jalan Kancil, Pudu, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, at the corner with Jalan Pudu. The coffee shop is listed as Kedai Kopi Pudu Satu Enam Lapan.
• Getting there: we took a Grab, and it wasn't far. Pudu LRT station is about a 10-minute walk away. Our guide to getting around Kuala Lumpur covers Grab, the monorail, and walking.
• Where to stay: Pudu is next door to Bukit Bintang, where we lived for three months and where most visitors stay. See places to stay in Bukit Bintang.
• Payment: bring cash. Recent reviews say it's cash only. Our guide to cash or card in Kuala Lumpur covers when you'll need it.

168 Claypot Chicken Rice, 21 Jalan Kancil, Pudu, Kuala Lumpur

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Our Verdict on 168 Claypot Chicken Rice

A very good pot of rice and a fun night out, as long as you beat the dinner crowd. Get there at 4:00 p.m., order the large salted fish claypot chicken rice, and save room for the crispy bits at the bottom.

Next Steps for Your Kuala Lumpur Trip

• The 13 best restaurants in Kuala Lumpur, ranked by our scores.
• The must-eat foods in Kuala Lumpur, including the nasi kandar and fish head curry we liked even more.
• Is Kuala Lumpur worth visiting? Our honest verdict after three months.
• The best time to visit Kuala Lumpur, month by month.
• Is Kuala Lumpur good for digital nomads? What three months of living there was like.