Claypot King, Melbourne

What food do you crave when you're feeling ill?

More often than not, it's a dish that harks back to your childhood. Something simple and comforting with clean flavours that arent overly complex.

After two days of non-stop gluttony in Melbourne, Billy and I were already starting to feel a little green around the gills. A post-dinner snack of caramel-filled churros followed by Lord of the Fries hot chips with melted cheese and gravy? Guilty. Did I mention what was dinner? Just a feast of epic proportions at MoVida Aqui. It's true - our gluttony knows no bounds.

On Saturday night, dinner was mostly made up of chocolate, furtively nibbled during the murder mystery evening held at Koko Black. No wonder then, that Billy puts in a bid for claypot chicken for supper. "I need Chinese food," he wails.


Iced lemon tea $3.20

We end up at Claypot King, a brightly lit casual eatery on Swanston Street. The drinks menu includes Hong Kong classics like iced milo, soy bean milk and Coke with lemon as well as fruit smoothies like durian, avocado and an unusual combination of avocado and mango.


Salted fish and chicken claypot rice $10.50

The claypot rice menu is extensive but Billy only has eyes for the salted fish and chicken. The steamed white rice, hot and fluffy, is served in a heated claypot that should ideally crisp the bottom edges of the rice. A wicker basket acts as a trivet and insulator. Billy revels in the salty dried fish and plump slices of chicken.


Hainanese chicken rice $9.20

Apart from congee rice porridge, my go-to food when I'm feeling under the weather is Hainanese chicken rice. The white-poached chicken is soft and succulent, and the accompanying ginger and shallot sauce seems to possess restorative qualities for my system. Even the sprigs of coriander seem to rejuvenate the soul.


Ginger and shallots with chilli sauce

A mound of chicken rice, cooked in chicken stock, is sweet and sustaining. We sigh as we eat, our shoulders relaxing with every mouthful. Rice swells in our bellies like the warmth of a late afternoon sun.

"I feel so much better now," I say to Billy, as we get the bill. "I really needed that."

We stumble into the night, rejuvenated.

What food do you crave when you're feeling ill?




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Claypot King
209 Swanston St, Melbourne, Victoria
Tel: +61 (03) 9662 3222‎

Opening hours:
Open 7 days 11am - 3am

Grab Your Fork visited Melbourne as a guest of Tourism Victoria for the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. We visited Claypot King anonymously and paid for our meals personally.

> Read the next Melbourne post (Abbotsford Convent Bakery breadmaking workshop)
< Go back to the first Melbourne Food & Wine Festival 2010 post

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Melbourne - Lord of the Fries
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Melbourne - MoVida Aqui
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