Under Rated Ice Kacang Gula Melaka of Chinatown 雪花飛昌記冷熱甜品

The three 雪花飛 traditional dessert stalls in Chinatown Complex food centre enjoy the love and loyalty of their multi-generational fans. But, as the Chow brothers get older, their legacy is fading. Their signature Ice Kacang Gula Melaka may vanish from Singapore's hawker scene when they retire. Sadly, it may not be missed by the newer generations as 雪花飛's Ice Kacang Gula Melaka is relatively under rated and under the social media radar.

Today, the two Chow brothers run one dessert stall each at Chinatown Complex food centre while the widow of their late brother ran a third stall.

(Update: The younger [left photo] Chow brother's stall closed in Apr 2021. He opted to retire to care full time for his wife who has dementia.)

雪花飛 which literally means "flying snow flakes" was founded by the Chow brothers' father in the 1950s. It began as an unlicensed push cart stall plying the streets of People's Park in Kreta Ayer. (Image of People's Park in 1955 courtesy of NAS.)

雪花飛 dessert stall later moved to the intersection at Smith Street and New Bridge Road. The stall was located below the old SIT (Singapore Improvement Trust) flats at the right of the above photo.

These flats were used by the dreaded Kempeitai (Japanese military police) during the Second World War (1942 - 1945). These once notorious flats were demolished in the 1970s and the site is now occupied by New Bridge Centre shopping mall. (Image courtesy of NAS.)

In the beginning, the signature dessert was 文頭雪 wen tau long which is a jelly made with fig seed gel. The big wash basin filled with yellowish brown colour jelly was the centre piece of the little stall. The blocks of jelly were sliced and scooped up with a shallow ladle, and served in a bowl or cup of shaved ice with squeezed lime juice. It's a refreshing sweet sourish cold dessert.

雪花飛 moved to the intersection at Smith Street and South Bridge Road in the early 1970s (when their old location was demolished). This was 雪花飛's heyday. At this time, the colourful ice ball was in vogue.

It was just shaved ice hand shaped into a ball and drizzled with different colour syrups. Truth be told, colourful the ice ball may be, all the colourful syrups tasted exactly the same as it was just artificial pigments 😂 Even so, most of us from that era count sucking on those humble colourful ice balls as among the happiest moments of our childhood.

The Chow brothers don't serve ice balls anymore but they would happily oblige customers' requests to relive their childhood moments.

In the mid-1970s, the Chow brothers started selling Ice Kacang Gula Melaka. It was boiled red beans, grass jelly and attap seeds under a mound of shaved ice which was drizzled with gula Melaka. The Chow brothers make their own blend of syrup with palm sugar (gula Melaka) and Thai jaggery sugar.

雪花飛's signature ice kacang with flavourful and aromatic gula Melaka was an instant hit with customers.

In 1983, like all the street hawkers around Kreta Ayer, 雪花飛 was relocated to Chinatown Complex food centre where they were allocated three stalls, one stall for each of the Chow brothers.

Around this time, the Chow brothers created another ice dessert which remained their top seller today.

Red Bean with Corn.

It is boiled red beans, sweet corn, grass jelly, attap seed under a mound of shaved ice, crowned with crushed toasted peanuts and doused with gula Melaka. It is the same sweet on sweet flavours but with a layer of nutty flavour and crunch.

It's delicious and easy to see why it is so popular with 雪花飛 fans. I love it too.

Personally, I feel these created in Singapore traditional ice desserts deserve greater recognition (they are hardly mentioned in traditional or social media). The three 雪花飛 stalls are in their last legs now.

The next time you are in Chinatown Complex food centre, have an Ice Kacang Gula Melaka and/or Red Bean with Corn for dessert. These are vanishing Singapore traditional desserts going into history in the near future.