Halo Halo

Aside from Balut and Adobo, Halo-Halo is probably the 3 delicacies that you shouldn’t miss while visiting the Philippines for the first time.

Halo-halo literally means, “mix-mix” and is the most popular Pinoy (means Filipino in slang) dessert.

Basically made up of shave ice, evaporated milk, fruits, beans and sweats, Halo-Halo is an all time favorite for the locals. Its also one of those things your Filipino tourist guide will keep on insisting that you try.

Sales of Halo-Halo shoot-up during the summer months (March to May) although this used to be a “summer dessert”, it can now be purchase all year round.

Served traditionally in a clear tall glass its made up of boiled sweet red beans, coconut meat, jackfruit, pounded young rice, yam, cream flan (leche flan), caramelized plantain, it is then filled with crushed ice, evaporated milk, and is optionally topped with an ice cream.  A different version of Halo-Halo might also contain sugar palm fruit, tapioca, nata de coco and sweet potato.

Most of the ingredients are seen at the bottom of the tall glass. Enough evaporated milk is then poured on top of the ice shaved as it trickles down the bottom of the glass. The topping can either be a leche flan or ice cream (any flavor would do).

Malaysia and Singapore has a similar dessert known as Ice Kachang and Cendol, is also a similar dessert from Southeast Asia.

By far, the best halo-halo I’ve tried (mind you, I tried a lot) is the Milky Way Halo-Halo.

http://www.milkywayrestaurant.com/

Halo-Halo can also be served in bowl.