Chicken Pot PLQ Review: Hidden Claypot Chicken Stall In Paya Lebar With Mains Under $10

Chicken Pot PLQ has affordable chicken hotpot in Paya Lebar

Recently, Chicken Pot PLQ garnered some attention on TikTok. Touting the stall’s affordable prices and delicious food, the video dubbed them Singapore’s “best kept secret”. Naturally, we had to check them out for ourselves. Having sampled Qi Xiang Chicken Pot the weekend before, I was curious to see how Chicken Pot PLQ would compare. 

Food at Chicken Pot PLQ

Of course, we had to get the Signature Chicken Pot ($8.80/$13.80/$19.80). For the price, you get a generous amount of chopped chicken pieces simmered in a thickened broth with chopped onions, bell peppers, and baby bok choy. 

Despite its reddish undertones, the broth wasn’t as spicy as it looked. It had an overall salty taste and a slight numbing effect, which was also taken up by the rest of the ingredients. Admittedly, I liked Qi Xiang Chicken Pot’s version better for its full-bodied flavour and more pronounced herbal notes. That being said, Chicken Pot PLQ’s rendition isn’t too bad. 

Moving on to the ingredients: the chicken was well-cooked, tender, and fell off the bone easily. The accompanying vegetables also had a nice crunch that provided some textural variety throughout the dish. 

Like other chicken pot restaurants, you can choose from a range of hotpot ingredients to add to these base ingredients. Priced at $1 a serving of carbs, $1.50 for vegetables, and $2.50 for meat, expect to find familiar favourites such as instant noodles, potato, chinese cabbage, beancurd skin, pork belly, beef, and more.  

Big eaters can get the value-for-money Hotpot Platter ($6.80), which includes vegetables such as cabbage, lettuce, lotus root, and winter melon, as well as tofu, crabsticks, mushrooms, and a choice of either pork belly, beef, or luncheon meat. 

I have a rather small appetite, so I decided to just add instant noodles, cabbage, beancurd skin and pork belly slices to my chicken pot. 

Not much needs to be said about these add-ons. They’re common ingredients that you add to a hotpot to soak up the flavour of the broth, and it’s no different here. I did wish that the portions were a little bigger for the price, though. 

Apart from the titular chicken pot, the stall also offers noodles and side dishes. We decided to try a classic bowl of Dan Dan Noodles ($6.80). It’s a simple dish, here comprising a spicy sauce made with chilli oil, dried sichuan peppers, preserved vegetables, and minced pork served over wheat noodles and finally garnished with chopped scallions.  

The taste of this was well-balanced with a mix of spicy, savoury and nutty notes. The sauce evenly coated the noodles, which were firm with a nice bite to them. Overall, it was decently executed and an enjoyable dish.

We finished our meal with Handmade Wanton with Spicy Sauce ($6/$10) AKA chilli oil dumplings. 

The only nitpick I have is that the dumplings were slightly less meaty than other ones I’ve tried recently. Nevertheless, the chilli oil-based sauce had just the right amount of tartness and spiciness, making it pretty moreish overall. 

Ambience at Chicken Pot PLQ

Chicken Pot PLQ, as its name suggests, is conveniently located in PLQ’s KopiTime food court. It’s relatively spacious, with large booth-style seating that’s not often spotted at food courts. It wasn’t too crowded when we were there at 11am on a Thursday, so we managed to get our food quickly. 

The verdict

While I prefer the richer flavours of Qi Xiang Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot PLQ—like many other chicken pot stalls in food courts—is a cheaper, more convenient alternative for those who frequent the Paya Lebar area. Their other menu items aren’t too bad either, so I’d definitely recommend checking them out if you’re nearby. 

For more chicken pot recommendations, check out our One Pot Chicken coverage. Otherwise, read our YM Bakery coverage for cheap dessert tarts in PLQ!

Address: 10 Paya Lebar Road, #04-11, Kopitime, Stall 09, PLQ, Singapore 409057
Opening hours: Daily 10:30am to 10pm
Tel: 9776 2213
Website
Chicken Pot PLQ is not a halal-certified eatery.

Photos taken by Daryl Lim.
This was an independent review by Eatbook.