There was a lot of buzz about the upcoming Halo Halo place....
located at The Shops at San Miguel (corner of where East H Street morphs into Proctor Valley Road) and where the now defunct Albertsons once was. Anyhow...after our seafood meal from TJOB #3, we paid a quick visit to the newly opened Halo Halo Cafe & Ice Cream Parlor. As you can see, it was quite busy. We also ran into a friend there (he recommended their TLT - Tocino, Longannisa and Tapa as well as the Daing, which is not on their menu).
They've only been open for a few weeks and haven't had their grand opening yet. There isn't any decor on the walls yet either. The guys working here are pretty chill and many of the customers were enjoying the cafe's namesake as well as scoops of the increasingly popular ube ice cream (it seems "ube" is a "thing" now but I've always loved it over the years).
I was excited to see Karioka (I normally spell this word with "c's") offered here because my mom used to make this when I was a child. Carioca are fried glutinous rice balls with shredded coconut which are fried, then covered with a brown sugar glaze which hardens when it dries. The versions here wee banana and coconut. Each piece was .75 or four for $2 (we only got two pieces for this trial visit).
Their display cases had cups of desserts waiting to be filled with evaporated milk and ice cream. TC ordered a halo halo cup with ube ice cream (my favorite). This cup had everything in it.
There were drinks with sago & gulaman (sago are tapioca pearls, gulaman is agar agar jelly), cantaloupe and mango. I got the cantaloupe drink which has the shredded fruit, juice, ice cubes and sugar which is is quite refreshing on hot days.
More desserts waiting to be customized...
As for ice cream, they had regular flavors like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, etc. They also had a variety of Asian & Filipino flavors like pandan, green tea, ube, corn & cheese, cashew langka (jackfruit) and macapuno (one of my favorites).
Their dessert menu for now. Everything is under $5.
As for the food, I'll have to make a separate trip soon to try out their TLT and/or kare kare. Nothing is over $5.50.
Our desserts from that evening...
TC's halo halo with ube ice cream, evaporated milk, green gulaman, jackfruit and red beans. You are supposed to "mix" everything together (that is the meaning of 'halo halo', 'mix mix') with a long spoon.
My cantaloupe juice. I was on sugar overload after having my carioca so I saved my juice for later this week. The cantaloupe strings were fun to eat through a straw.
Bert's pandan ice cream with pandan jelly that he shared with me. I'm not a pandan fan since it tastes too grassy for me, but Bert really liked this, lactose be damned.
And lastly, the Karioka balls (nicely bitten into so that you may see the innards in all of their glory):
Just look at that lovely coating! Of all the desserts, I liked the carioca the best, preferring the banana version over the coconut. I told my mom about these and she was happy to see that carioca was sold somewhere. In the old days, you couldn't buy this anywhere. When my mom would make it (which was pretty rare or she had to be in the mood), she would spear the carioca balls, three to a stick, making it fun to look at and to hold and eat.
Halo Halo
2326 Proctor Valley Road
Chula Vista, CA 91914
(619) 946-4878
They don't have a website yet but here are the reviews from you know where.
I know I'll be back to try those other desserts and well as their food offerings. I'm glad we went here when we did since the store got crowded at times with lots of the local kids coming in (still in their school sports gear, like TC) with their parents.
4 comments:
Oh I haven't tried carioca before but it sounds like something I would like! I like how everything is reasonable priced.
Word is that the owners here are the former owners of Conching's Cafe (now defunct).
Carioca is one of my favorite childhood treats. I haven't had it for at least a decade or so. My mom used to make this a lot. I should try making this myself.
I think you would really like carioca.
Ooo, cashew and jackfruit ice cream! That sounds so yummy and unique! I discovered that I like pandan, too, so I think I’d be into pandan ice cream too. Yuuuuum. I haven’t heard of Karioka balls before but they look tasty. The coconut one looks better to me, but I prefer coconut to banana.
I personally haven't tried that cashew and jackfruit ice cream but I would love to try it. I am not fond of pandan flavored anything since it kind of tastes like grass to me.
If you go here, you need to try those carioca ball things. I was so surprised to see it sold here. I've never seen it anywhere else.
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