Tallest Ice Kacang In The World?

size does matter

Ais Kacang is probably Malaysia's favourite dessert. If you're Malaysian, you've probably had one or two in your life! In Taiping, the most popular place for Ice Kacang is at the Market Square, right above the Larut Matang supermarket. Here you'll find a cluster of 5 or 6 stalls selling the stuff.

During my schooldays, Ice Kacang was almost a daily affair. It was after all, only 40 sen back then. We'd hang out at stall No. 3, whose proprietor was an affable elderly couple who'd accommodate our weirdest request. Usually, at 10 sen more we'd order our dessert tall.

The Chap Chiam, literally "Mixed Sharp" in Hokkien was just your regular Ice Kacang - with the usual peanuts, corn, kidney beans, grass jelly and cendol. But here, the guy would pile on a mountain of shaved ice and he'd drench it it coconut milk and gula melaka (palm sugar), all 8 inches of it. And when Ice Kacang gets that high, that's when you taste heaven!

And then the challenge begins. As we boys ate our Chap Chiams, we'd thump the table to see whose mountain of ice would topple over.

We were dumb kids. Now, we've grown up to be dumb adults who'd probably still do it just for kicks!