Swatow Lane Ice Kacang Heritage Ais Kacang

If we visit the New World Park in George Town for ice kacang we will find two outlets offering this favourite local dessert - The Original Swatow Lane Ice Kacang.

There is one stall in the hawker centre and another at a shop lot within the same premises.
To know the original Swatow Lane Ice Kacang, here is the story.

1923 : More than a century ago, Swatow Lane Ice Kacang founder, Lee Kah Tuo started selling iced water and ice balls on a push cart in the vicinity of Rangoon Road and Swatow Lane in George Town. It became a place for the people to stop for a rest and to quench their thirst.

1940 : The second generation proprietors of this popular stall, Lee Soo Khan and Lee See Eng, were invited to operate the stall in the New World Amusement Park. At that time, ice kacang with bananas became the favourite and must-try dessert and it was called Lido Ice Kacang.

1969 : The New World Amusement Park and its theatre closed down and the ice kacang stall moved back to the roadside location along Swatow Lane. Customers continued to patronize the stall.

1975 : The third generation proprietors, Lee Eng Lai and Lee Eng Huat were invited to represent Penang in international food festivals in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore to showcase the local delicacies and hawker foods of Malaysia.

1980 : Due to popular demand, ice cream and other fruits were added to the ice kacang. Rojak was also offered. Many other hawkers opened their stalls along Swatow Lane and it became a famous street for hawker fare.

2007 : The New World Park reopened with a new hawker centre in it. All the hawkers trading at the roadside were invited to move into the centre. Swatow Lane Ice Kacang was the most popular stall in the hawker centre among locals as well as tourists.

2017 : Swatow Lane Ice Kacang moved to its own shoplot within the New World Park premises. It was restyled as a kopitiam and renamed as Kafe Swatow Lane Ice Kacang. It is now run by the fourth generation of the Lee family. These friendly and polite great-grandchildren of the founder are running their more than 100-year old family business now.

A bowl of Ice Kacang Classic with lots of mouth-watering ingredients @ RM6.00 only.

Top the ice kacang with a big scoop of ice cream for an extra ringgit @ RM7.00.

A traditional serving of cendol with red beans, another favourite local dessert @ RM6.00.

Only in Penang can we find such a generous serving of this iconic and hard-to-resist dessert for less than a red-ringgit note.