Ben’s Halo Halo Laguna Honest Review
June 26, 2021
Ben’s Halo Halo is suddenly all the craze here in Quezon City. They recently opened in Banawe so I decided to check out what the hype is all about, and what exactly makes this halo halo stand out from all the rest.
So where did Ben’s Halo-Halo originate? It actually started in Laguna, but what’s interesting is this quintessential Filipino dessert was heavily influenced by Italians – and that’s because the founder used to work in Italy. The really interesting thing is that instead of using shaved ice/milk, they make use of gelato ice instead which is thick, creamy but not like milkshake because there’s still some shaved ice texture to it. Regardless, it’s noticeably richer and creamier than what you would normally get in a halo-halo.
We got our halo-halo to go and actually tried all three available flavors. There’s of course the original, but we also tried the Spicy Winter (with a whole siling labuyo on top) and the Salty Summer (with a salted egg on top instead).
In terms of the actual composition of the halo-halo, this remains the same. You get your sweetened bananas, macapuno, white beans, ube, leche flan and langka. And of course, your gelato ice.
The mix of flavors blend well together, but I must admit that there seems to be fewer toppings than expected. My go-to halo-halo place is Iceberg, which is very generous with all the toppings. In comparison, I felt like I was eating a whole lot of gelato ice here, as opposed to yummy toppings. Don’t get me wrong the gelato ice tastes good, but yeah.
What I do like though is how I no longer need to chip away at the shaved ice then mix with the milk. Here it’s already well-blended and VERY creamy. Total win for me.
As for the Spicy Winter – it’s way too hot for me!! But my dad found it interesting. I didn’t get to try the Salty Summer, because someone ehem ate it all without sharing a bite with me, but it was overall, same same as the original halo-halo supposedly.
Overall, really interesting take on the local halo-halo. I do like the gelato ice, but wish they add more toppings to it. If they do that, I guarantee I will be one of their best customers, ESPECIALLY because they’re located in the same building as my favorite lamb dumpling restaurant <3