Penang Road Kek Seng Coffee Shop

Durian ice-cream

For many Penang people, Kek Seng coffee shop bring back many sweet old memory of old Penang. I went to Kek Seng just to catch the old kopitiam feeling..... the old kopitiam of the past.... the Penang of the past......

Kopitiam is the typical old cofee shop in Penang. They served beautiful black cofee(kopi-o). Recently there are many new coffee house chains using the word kopitiam as their name. But that is not the same as kopitiam I knew.

Kek Seng is famous for durian ice kachang(ABC), home made durian ice cream. It has been a long time......this is the 3rd generation operated coffee shop with 103 years history.

Kek Seng Coffee Shop is located at 382-384, Penang Road, 10000 Penang. It is just opposite Komtar.















Another feel of the kopitiam is , the old chair and white marble top table, & kopi-o....
















































It is also famous for the Penang Laksa, Koay Teow T'ng(white noodle), Loh Bah. The Popiah also not bad, and the Prawn Noodle(Hokkian Mee). It has also chicken rice stall. The focus however in the kopitiam is the home made durian ice cream.
















The Pohpiah (flour skin roll filled with lettuce, sweet chinese turnips, bean sprouts, garlic, crab meat, minced tow kua (tofu), dashes of soya source); and the pie tee
















Hokkian Mee (Prawn noodle, which contained yellow noodle, prawn, fried onion, vegetable, lean meat)
















Soya drink(ice and warm)
































Home made Durian ice- cream
















Durian fruits
















To non-Penang people,you may not be familiar with Durian, a tropical fruits with strong aroma. For those visitors who had taken Durian; either you like it or hate it. It is a thorny fruits with yellow flesh. Most of the visitors cannot stand the strong aroma, and some vomit just smell of it....it is durian. But when you like it, it is long term love affair, you can become addict on it.

But durian with ice cream, that is pretty good combination, and it is nice cold durian ice cream. The strong aroma disappear, and durian flavor replace the strong aroma.

Kek Seng is not only ice-cream; it has a touching story to tell. The story of a terminal ill former German navy officer from Perth, the late Willi Hans Boehm. The late Mr Boehm requested to eat Kek Seng durian ice cream on his last moment in life. The Penang people try to sent the durian ice-cream to Perth, but it was not allowed entry by Australia authority.

Willi Hans Boehm was with the German ship Uckermark,which was blew up in Yokohama, Japan in 1943.Later he joined the mission of submarine base in Butterworth, Penang. He met his wife , Agnes Vaz, a Portuguese Eurasian( a Serani) from Penang. Kek Seng Cofee Shop is the place where they used to visit when young.They married in 1946, after the war. They stayed in Penang until 1973, and later migrated to Perth, Australia.

He died from Lung cancer; I do not know did he taste the durian ice-cream, but I did know that Penang people have love for him. Because he first love Penang. The Penang flag was laid on his coffin with German flag. The durian ice-cream was his love, the love of Penang.

For the details of the touching story, please visit the web site of The Star Newspaper; www.thestar.com.my