Poptalk's Summer Coolers Special: Halo-Halo

POPTALK by Tonipet Gaba will air its "Summer Coolers" special today next week Tuesday? at 10:00pm on GMANewsTV Channel 11. Catch celebrity guest Patani Daño, student JM Araneta, and yours truly as the food blogger, as we review three kinds of halo-halo in this episode :)

We were asked to eat, and eventually rate three kinds of halo-halo from three different establishments. First up was the Giant Halo-Halo of Max's, then the Halo-Halo of Razons of Guagua, and lastly, the Special Halo-Halo of Iceberg's. It was a long and tiring day as we did the shoot in different locations, and we only had one camera so we did more than the usual number of takes for angling and safety. One thing is for sure, the level of utility the halo-halo brought decreased as we transferred to the next restaurant, and as we tasted the dessert on camera, on cue.



Max's Giant Halo-Halo (Php 419) is the first one we tasted. It's REALLY huge with lots of toppings like macapuno balls, sweet beans, red mongo, garbanzoes, banana, kaong, gulaman, nata de coco and langka, shaved ice soaked in milk, topped with ube, leche flan, a generous sprinkle of rice crispies and cheese, plus three huge scoops of ube ice cream, oh, and sticks of chocolate wafer. This dessert is perfect for groups of friends, as it is good for 6-8 people. 4 of us finished a bowl. :)) The good thing about this besides that it could be shared, it can also be taken out or delivered right to your doorsteps.




Next up was the Halo-Halo of Razons of Guagua (Php 90). We weren't asked which one is the best among the three kinds, but I would go for this one if you ask me. Razons Halo-Halo offer you a simple yet flavorful dessert experience. It's made of the usual shaved iced and milk, but this one just has banana, macapuno, and leche flan (my favorite!). This one's creamy and it melts in your mouth. You could arguably say that maybe the best halo-halo could be judged by the texture and taste of its shaved ice.



After the shoot, we took a rest from eating Halo-Halo and indulged on one of Razon's bestsellers, their Sizzling Bulalo Steak. My friend Yuri of Lost Tsinelas wrote about it in his blog. Aside from their Halo-halo, this is definitely one of my favorites in Razon's :)



Last but not the least, we tried Iceberg's Halo-Halo (Php 98). At this point, after shooting at two halo-halo places, we were kind of sick of eating already. The show must go on, as they say, so we mustered enough eating prowess we have, and shot the last of the three. Surprisingly, I like theirs more than Max's. The serving is also good for two people.



After all the shots of us tasting all three kinds of halo-halos, it was time for us to say if it was "POP" or "FLOP" according to taste, presentation and price. I gave all of them a "POP" in all aspects. If I had to choose among the three (which was what I wanted) and rate them in descending order, I would go for 1. RAZON'S HALO-HALO (WINNER!) 2. ICEBERG'S HALO-HALO and then 3. MAX'S HALO-HALO.

Don't get me wrong: All three have their own pluses. Max's Halo-Halo presents an innovative way of enjoying the popular dessert, with friends, at an incredibly good price; also it can be delivered to you with their neat packaging. Iceberg's Halo-Halo comes with heaping yet balanced servings of ingredients, ice and everything else. It tastes better than a lot of halo-halo's out there. Razon's is a sure winner for its creamy and yummy halo-halo which melts in your mouth.



Thank you to Tonipet Gaba, Leah and Jessica, and all the people I was with during the shoot. :) Poptalk airs every Tuesday at 10:00-10:30pm on GMANewsTV Channel 11.