SHAH ALAM, Jan 8 — As lunches go, cheap and cheerful – or its Cantonese equivalent, peng leng jeng — never goes out of style. 

In the heart of the city, food courts or popular roadside establishments are usually your best bet. 

Venture further out, however, and industrial areas are where you should be looking.

In Bandar Pinggiran Subang, Shah Alam, just 10 minutes from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, a handful of kopitiams and casual eateries cater to the mechanics and technicians from the surrounding automotive and hardware shops. 

Here, sandwiched between one of many auto parts stores and a metal furniture supplier, is a restaurant serving what may well be the quintessential working man’s lunch: chicken rice.

Technically, Restoran Kent Ipoh Chicken Rice serves Ipoh nga choy kai, but in the Klang Valley the distinction between this and the Hainanese variation is often a poached, yellow blur. 

Some places serve it with both rice and hor fun, some don’t; some also offer wantan mee and siu mei out of a pragmatic sense for business. 

Kent keeps things focused: rice, bean sprouts and poached chicken, with a choice of normal or kampung chicken.

When it comes to poached chicken, I always avoid the leaner kampung variety, which tends to be tougher. 

The whole point is a moist, slippery texture, and moist and slippery our half chicken was. 

The soy sauce mixture leaned sweet, though in my view it was a little light on salt. The same could be said for the bean sprouts: crunchy and juicy, but dressed with a sauce that felt slightly plain. 

Any perceived lack of depth, however, is easily compensated for with the ginger paste, which is cooked down to a rich, mellow sweetness rather than the root’s usual tingling heat.

One thing that truly stands out is the soup. Where so many chicken rice joints fail – serving little more than lukewarm, coloured water – the soup here, with fish and pork balls, is a rich, milky chicken broth that tastes like what I imagine the souls of at least a dozen birds might taste like.

Beyond the core offerings of chicken and rice, a few Hakka-style pork specialities are available: Hakka braised pork, stewed pork with taro, and braised pork with preserved vegetables, better known as mui choy kau yuk. 

I opted for the latter. The tender pieces of fatty pork were divine, while the preserved mustard greens carried a subtle savoury-sweet depth.

The bill came to RM94 for half a chicken, one portion of mui choy kau yuk, a large portion of bean sprouts, fish and pork balls (three of each), and rice for three people. 

The food is simple but satisfying, and while we averaged about RM30 per person, it’s easy to eat for much less: a single takeaway portion of chicken rice with a drumstick is RM9.80 – a serious deal in the context of today’s rising prices.

Restoran Kent Ipoh Chicken Rice • 健業怡保芽菜鸡饭

12, Jalan Bulan BZ, 

Bandar Pinggiran Subang, 

Shah Alam, Selangor.

Open Monday to Saturday, 8.30am-3pm

Tel: 011-3631 8221

* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.

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* Follow Ethan Lau on Instagram @eatenlau for more musings on food and occasionally self-deprecating humour.