The Man in Ho Chi Minh City Who Has Sold Leng Keng Ice Cream Rolls for 42 Years — Keeping Generations’ Childhood Memories Alive

A Taste of Childhood

At noon, as the Ba Dinh Market (Binh Dong Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) begins to quiet down, the soft leng keng sound of a tiny bell echoes through the streets. Hearing it, Ms. Diem (30) slows her motorbike and pulls over to the sidewalk, waiting.

From afar, an elderly man—around sixty—appears, pushing an old motorbike with a rectangular metal box fixed to the back. With one hand on the handlebars, he gently rings the small brass bell.

That man is Nguyen Minh Hien (born 1967, Ho Chi Minh City) — the long-time vendor of kem ống leng keng (tube-shaped ice cream), a nostalgic favorite for Ms. Diem.

“I’ve been eating his ice cream since I was a kid,” she says, smiling. “Now, almost every week, I look for him just to buy a few sticks. No matter how many kinds of ice cream I try elsewhere, none can recreate the flavor and feeling of Mr. Hien’s kem ống. Every bite brings me back to my childhood — to the days when my mom gave me a few coins for street snacks.”

A Lifelong Passion

Mr. Hien recalls that his love for kem ống started early. As a boy, he would eagerly wait for the ice cream seller to pass by so he could buy a treat. Eventually, he decided to learn the trade from a local vendor.

It didn’t take long before he mastered the process. He built his own ice cream box, attached it to the back of a bicycle, and began selling in nearby neighborhoods. To attract customers, he bought a small brass bell — ringing it as he pushed his cart along the streets.

“I started selling ice cream when I was a teenager,” he says. “I’d walk with my bicycle, shaking the bell. People loved my ice cream, and little by little, I built a loyal group of customers. It wasn’t a job that made me rich, but it was honest work, with no bosses or time pressure. So I stuck with it — and now, it’s been 42 years.”

The Sweet Ring of Love

Selling kem ống not only brought Mr. Hien an income — it also brought him love.

As a young man, he moved to District 8 (now Binh Dong Ward) and rented a small room to be closer to his selling route. There, he met a woman who sold bánh lá dừa, bánh ít, and bánh tét (traditional sticky rice cakes). She was a friend of his landlord. Impressed by his sincerity and hard work, the landlord introduced them. After a period of courtship, the two decided to get married and continue their humble street-vending life together.

For 42 years, Mr. Hien has stayed true to the same traditional recipe — kem ống made entirely by hand from coconut milk and mung beans.

To make it, mung beans are peeled, boiled until tender but not mushy, then mixed with coconut milk and a bit of sugar. The mixture is poured into long metal tubes (about 40 cm each) and frozen until solid. Once ready, the ice cream is stored in a cold box for selling.

In the old days, he carried the ice cream box on a bicycle. Later, he upgraded to a motorbike, still keeping the same hand-painted sign: “Kem ống: 3,000–5,000 VND per stick.”

A Simple Treat, Full of Memories

Mr. Hien’s ice cream rolls come in uniform width but different lengths depending on the customer’s order. The ice cream isn’t hard or icy but soft, chewy, and creamy — with a light sweetness, a nutty hint from mung beans, and the fragrant richness of coconut milk.

Every day, he goes out to sell around midday — when the sun is at its peak. “This job depends on the weather,” he says cheerfully. “The hotter the day, the better the sales.”

Years ago, he could sell nearly two full boxes — over 400 sticks a day. Nowadays, he sells less than half that amount, but he continues to walk the streets, ringing his bell and greeting customers with the same warmth and optimism as ever.

To many, that soft leng keng bell isn’t just a signal of ice cream on a hot afternoon — it’s the sound of childhood returning, one gentle ring at a time.

Nguyen Truong