Klang

Bak kut teh at dawn, the royal quarter and banana leaf at dusk

A single day covers Klang from Kuala Lumpur. Catch an early KTM Komuter from KL Sentral, about an hour, and eat bak kut teh on Jalan Stesen by the station. Spend late morning in the royal quarter around Istana Alam Shah and the Sultan Sulaiman Royal Mosque, and finish with banana-leaf rice in Little India.

Morning. Ride an early Komuter out of KL Sentral; the trip takes about an hour and leaves you on Jalan Stesen with the bak kut teh shops already steaming. Order the ribs with a bowl of rice, fried dough sticks for dunking and a pot of Chinese tea, and if there are a few of you, add a plate of the dry version. Walk it off along the river and through the shophouse rows behind the station.

Late morning. Take a Grab to the royal quarter. The silver Tugu Keris stands in the park beside Istana Alam Shah, which you can only photograph from the gate. Kota Raja Mahadi, the remains of a fort from the Klang War of the 1860s, is on Bukit Kota next to the municipal hall, and the Sultan Sulaiman Royal Mosque, a 1930s blend of Art Deco and Moorish domes, is close by. Dress for the mosque.

Afternoon and evening. Cool down with a bowl of cendol at Klang Cendol, then an iced coffee and toast at Cheong Foh, a short walk away. Cross to Jalan Tengku Kelana for a banana-leaf meal and an hour among the sari shops and goldsmiths of Little India. Catch the Komuter back to Kuala Lumpur, or stay on two stops to Port Klang if you plan to take an early boat to Pulau Ketam the next day.

Klang bak kut teh, dry or in broth, and the halal alternatives

Bak kut teh is the reason to come. Klang's Hokkien version simmers pork ribs for hours in a dark broth of soy, garlic and herbs, and the shops near Jalan Stesen serve it for breakfast with rice and tea. Try the dry version too. For halal food, go to the banana-leaf restaurants of Jalan Tengku Kelana.

Locals eat it for breakfast, and whole families gather over it on Sunday mornings. Beyond ribs, you can order belly, trotters, offal, tofu puffs and mushrooms, and the best shops sell out of the choicest cuts well before lunch.

The old shops around Jalan Stesen near the station are the place to start. The best known has no signboard and no menu, and its regulars cannot agree on its name; it sits at the west end of Jalan Stesen Satu, beside a car park. Ask three locals for the best shop and you will get three different answers, so do not fret over the choice. Try dry bak kut teh as well, a Klang invention in which the meat is fried down with dried chilli, okra and dried cuttlefish into something closer to a stir-fry than a soup.

Bak kut teh is pork and not halal. For a halal meal, Jalan Tengku Kelana has banana-leaf rice and thosai in Little India's Indian Muslim and Tamil restaurants. Klang Cendol does the shaved-ice dessert with palm sugar, and Cheong Foh Cafe serves the local coffee with buttered toast. At Port Klang and on Pulau Ketam the food turns to seafood, with crab the usual order.

Pulau Ketam, the stilt village off Port Klang

Pulau Ketam, or Crab Island, is a car-free Chinese fishing village on stilts and a half-day trip from Klang. Ride the Komuter about 20 minutes to Port Klang at the end of the line, take the passenger boat across the estuary, and eat chilli or black pepper crab near the jetty before the last boat back.

There are no cars on the island. Houses, shops and small Chinese temples line raised concrete and timber walkways, and residents get about on foot and by bicycle; you can hire a bike for a slow loop through the village and out towards the fish farms. Life runs on the tides and the catch, and on weekday mornings the walkways belong to the fishing families.

Most people come for lunch. Seafood restaurants near the jetty serve crab in chilli or black pepper sauce alongside steamed fish and clams, and portions are generous. Bring cash, because cards are not taken everywhere. Before you sit down, check the time of the last boat back to Port Klang, since services thin out in the late afternoon.