Swatow Lane 2007

Down memory lane, Swaton Lane or "San Sai Kai" (in Cantonese) was once a place where I spent most of my early childhood in the 1970s till 1980s. Every evening, our parents would bring us for evening walk near the then abandoned amusement park, and each time we would stopped by the roadside to buy fruits from Ah Lee's store, yes, the ever famous ais kacang store in Penang now.

Ah Lee's store was unique in the sense that, it did not only sell ais kacang, but rojak and fruits as well. Once upon a time, there was also this unique big "ice ball" where it was sold in a coconut shell that cost only 10 cents. Notably, there was also mini cucumber sold with rojak paste. I don't think I would ever find them now in the whole Penang.

Fast forward, Swaton Lane in 2007 has transformed into an ultra modern hawker centre in Penang. The new hawker centre built on the land of the old New World Amusement Park is not only spacious with an unique high roof, it is also clean and comfortable. Most importantly, there is enough carparks.

After some two months deprivation of hawker food, so today I decided to try out the food over there during our long Friday break. Of course, the first thing I would like to try was the Wan Than Mee.

There used to be this particular Wan Than Mee store that we ate very often in those years. There was this bald man,by the name of Ah Fook who used to cycle around the neighbourhood every morning with his trademark knocking two pieces of stick, giving the sound of "tok, tok, tok" to take orders from the customers. Yes, Wan Than Mee was served upto our doorsteps then. Wan Than Mee was therefore known to us as Tok Tok Mee.

Even after many years, this store still existed at the same old spot by the road side even after a new Wan Than Mee store was opened inside the coffee shop.

Swatow Lane Wan Than Mee
Price: RM3.00 (Medium)
Rating: 5/10

However, I was rather disappointed because the Wan Than Mee that I had today, did not taste the same as before. I was therefore wondering if it was the same old store. However, I did not see Ah Fook around.

Ais Kacang with mango and ice scream top
Price: RM3.50

Nevertheless, not all food were nice. I still remembered, my friends and I had a very bad diarrhea after having the curry mee, and we never eat back at the same store. We also experienced diarrhea after having pasembur and the Sultan Mee many years ago. Therefore, they gave us a bad impression that, we'd never had them again nowadays despite their popularities.

Well, there are more stores in the new hawker centre and I would be going there again next time to check out other food.

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