The Best Halo-Halo in Town

 

MENU MENU : The Best Halo-Halo in Town

By Margaux Salcedo Contributor Philippine Daily Inquirer

Posted date: April 26, 2009

MANILA, Philippines -- What is life? Is it supposed to be laden with profundity that we need a Bible to guide us through it? Or is it the simple act of getting by from day to day, with our intellect complicating it all? Do we really need to eat the Bread of Life or do we need to... just eat? Is there a recipe for heaven or is there no secret to it at all? Pardon the discourse—it’s Easter morning as I write. So let me take my halo (?!) off and write about its edible homograph, the halo-halo, in the spirit of the summer season. Halo-halo is, for the benefit of foreigners, “a snack of mixed sweetened fruits and beans topped by shaved or crushed ice, and ice cream or milk” (Doreen Fernandez, Tikim, c. 1994). Others define it as “the best version of shaved ice dessert in the world” (Margaux Salcedo, no book to her name, b. 1976). Shaved ice is a popular dessert in most Asian countries. Japan has something called Kakigori or shaved ice with flavored syrup. Koreans have Bingsu, which is shaved ice topped with sweetened red beans, fruits and soybean powder. Bangkok boasts of Thai Shaved Ice, whose ingredients include black sticky rice, chestnuts,sweetened taro and red beans. We have the Halo-Halo. Admittedly not a halo-halo aficionado, my first stop for research was the most obvious to the eye: Chow King. Made ever so attractive by their media campaign, the real thing, I was happy to find, does not disappoint. The multitude of ingredients promised by the billboard is delivered. It has sweet banana, garbanzos (chickpeas), yellow and red beans, ube (purple yam), macapuno, pinipig (rice crisps), langka (jackfruit) nata de coco (coconut gel), sago (tapioca), kaong, red jelly, leche flan (custard), kundol, bean paste and kamote (sweet potato). Whew! And you know what, you do get to taste them all, spoonful after spoonful, even if you’re eating out of plastic. Amazing fastfood! Then I went to the opposite extreme of the mass-based version: the halo-halo of The Peninsula Manila. They call it the Halo Halo Harana. Serenading you from a gigantic bowl, this halo-halo was described by Time Magazine in 2006 as the Best Legal High in Asia. Here is how they justified it: “This psychedelic eyeball-popper comprises egg-yolk custard, chickpeas, sweetened kidney beans, colored gelatin, red, green and white sugar palm, nata de coco, purple-yam preserve, sago in syrup, jackfruit, macapuno (a rare variety of creamy coconut), purple yam ice cream, toasted rice crisps, about an inch of evaporated milk and—with emphatic excess—sugar. Its arrival, in a dramatically oversized balloon glass, heralds the start of a gustatory event that you’ll be recalling for days.” This “best legal high” costs over 400 big ones, so anyone who actually pays for this is probably actually high. (Chow King’s cost only P54 for a small glass without ice cream, P70 for a small glass with ice cream; and P114 at most for a fiesta glass with two scoops of ice cream.) In fact, save for the size (it is really ginormous) and the Pen lobby ambience (still the best), there isn’t much to be too high about. The ube is not even halaya, and you can tell; the leche flan has an unattractive sweetness to it, if that’s even possible; and the ice appears to be crushed, not shaved ... just like the ice of Chow King’s! This made me conclude against my initial prejudice that a halo-halo is a halo-halo is a halo-halo, wherever you order it. Apparently, some are better than others! I realized this when I tasted the halo-halo of Little Quiapo. Little Quiapo was my turning point in halo-halo appreciation. Here, the ice was thinner than the initial two I had tried. The special was also served in a parfait glass instead of in a bowl. I really liked this because, weird or not, there’s a happy giddiness that comes with using that long-stemmed spoon and watching it drill through the ice to dig up the come-what-may that a halo-halo holds at the bottom of the glass. Then, like finding various treasures, at the end of each spoon-drill you are exhilarated by what you find once it’s deposited in your mouth.. First treasure, kaong; second treasure, langka, and so on. Giddy, giddy, giddy. It also dawned on me that the quality of ice is essential to impressive halo-halo (as it is with impressive engagement rings!). When ice is shaved, not crushed, it gently melts on your tongue rather than burning it with its freeze. Then you are able to concentrate on the “mix-mix” flavors instead of being bothered with overcoming the ice rocks. The finalists for best shaved ice, however, are Icebergs and Razon’s. And sorry, Pampanga, but I must award the Best Shaved Ice award to Icebergs. At the onset, at the first dunk of your spoon into their Halo Halo Parfait, you instantly see how fine their ice is. They are not amiss with their “mix” either: The ube and leche flan are compact in flavor; they add corn and peaches, which are not usual ingredients; and top this with cornflakes instead of pinipig. Very enjoyable. Now Razon’s has earned the reputation of having one of the best halo-halo in the country. But one has to argue: Is this really halo-halo? Because Razon’s only has bananas, which they describe as “sun-ripened saging na saba,” macapuno and leche flan. Can you call it halo-halo without them red-beans and kaong? Perhaps they should just call it halo, not halo-halo, if only half of the mix is there. Moral of the story: Some halo-halo are indeed better than others. And as taught in the Bible, the only way to get a piece of heaven, is to do things right. Cleanse your soul and shave your ice! And lastly, even if Danny Mercado is amazing to listen to (he plays at The Pen), you really need not pay much to have a taste of heaven. You can find it in Little Quiapo! The Peninsula Manila, Ayala Avenue corner Makati Avenue, Ayala Center, Makati City, 8872888 Razon’s branches: One Kennedy Place, Club Filipino Avenue, Greenhills, San Juan, 726-8727. Market Market Fiesta Open Air, Taguig City, 899-7841. Unit 2, 46 Banawe corner Maria Clara Streets, Sta. Mesa Heights, Quezon City, 410-0000. SM Mall of Asia, 2/F Entertainment Mall, 556-0277. Robinsons Galleria, 1/F (Kiosk) 638-1898. 22 Jupiter Street, Bel-Air Village, Makati City, 899-7841. Trinoma Mall, 2/F, Food Choices, 916-7662. Greenbelt, 1/F, 899-7841. Robinsons Place, 1/F Padre Faura Wing, Ermita, Manila, 521-2466. Icebergs branches: Metrowalk, 687-5920. Robinsons Place Manila Food Court, 536-7997. SM City North Edsa, 1/F Main Bldg. 929-4543. SM Cubao Food Court, 913-8020. SM Mall of Asia, 1/F South Wing, 556-0762. Timog Avenue, 374-3831. Trinoma Mall, 1/F, 901-3988. Little Quiapo branches: 42 Aguirre Avenue corner Lirag Street, BF Homes Phase 1, Parañaque City, 807-0220. 90 Malakas Street, Brgy. Piñahan District 4, Quezon City, 922-4131.