PETALING JAYA, May 10 — As a neighbourhood, Section 17 is blessed with a wealth of affordable eating.

One particularly abundant stretch is the flats along Jalan 17/1A, where locals head to long-time stalls like Nasi Lemak Pak Din in the gerai makan centre on the corner, or frequent newer arrivals like Bilal Nasi Kandar, which has quickly become a favourite among the working crowd.

The rest of the street is home to a diverse mix of mostly Malay and Chinese eateries, with tomyam and ayam gepuk spots standing side by side with dai chow restaurants and kopitiams.

The proximity of Universiti Malaya student housing has also made budget-friendly Chinese options like Restoran Chuan Xiang Ke, a popular haunt for the university’s international students.

Newer arrivals in recent years have taken on a slightly different character.

A cafe with a baffling retro office concept — and equally bizarre marketing — opened on the street, alongside a tiny soft-serve shop conveniently located next to Bilal, just in case you needed any more calories in one sitting.

One of the newest additions, however, bucks that trend: Fragrant Town Restaurant, which brings classic Cantonese roast meats, with a focus on roast duck and goose, to the area.

While places serving roast meats with wantan mee and rice are dime a dozen across the Klang Valley, roast duck and goose have never been more widespread in Petaling Jaya than they are today.

Previously, your best bets were specialty spots like Sunrise or Loong Foong, but newcomers like Yat Gor Roasted Goose Noodle House and a branch of Kopitiam 7 have since entered the arena, likely driven by the recent influx of imported birds into the market.

At Fragrant Town, you can get a single portion of roast duck with oil rice (RM12.50) or springy wantan mee (RM13.50), or double down by pairing it with another protein.

I’d recommend the roast chicken and roast duck with rice (RM14.50). The prices are not rock bottom, but you could do a lot worse in PJ, especially as gentrification sinks its teeth into every neighbourhood while we navigate an energy crisis whose full extent we still have not seen.

The defining quality of the roast duck here is its juiciness. Every piece I tried — whether from the individual portion or an à la carte order of the lower quarter (RM28) — was profoundly juicy, with tender meat dripping in savoury liquid gold seasoned with medicinal herbs.

Not every piece had shatteringly crisp skin, but there was not a single dry bite of roast duck.

The roast chicken is similarly succulent, while the white-cut chicken (RM19 for a lower quarter) is moist and slippery in all the right ways.

The only let-downs were the roast pork and char siu, both of which were merely unremarkable.

Roast goose, meanwhile, is available by advance booking only, priced at RM268 for a whole bird.

Fragrant Town does not reinvent the roast meat shop, but it does serve some genuinely juicy roast duck at prices that still feel reasonable for PJ. In a neighbourhood already packed with cheap eats, that is enough to make it worth a stop.

Fragrant Town Restaurant

58, Jalan 17/1A,

Section 17, Petaling Jaya.

Open daily, 8.30am-3pm, 5.30-9pm

Tel: 016-314 9029

Facebook: Fragrant Town Restaurant

* 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.