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Filipino-Aussies Are Sharing Their Halo-Halo Creations, And My Mouth Is Watering

Pavlova halo-halo is the most Filo-Aussie thing ever and I love it so much.

Sohan Judge
by Sohan Judge

Senior Publishing Strategist

It's Filipino Week at BuzzFeed Australia — which means we're celebrating everything Filipino-Aussie culture. Today, we got four Filipino-Australians to try each other's halo-halo recipe to find the best one.

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Halo-halo is a Filipino dessert with shaved ice, condensed milk, and any kind of toppings that you desire. That could be fruit, different types of sweet beans or ice cream. By definition, halo-halo means "mix, mix", which is exactly what you're meant to do with it (before devouring it).

Different parts of the Philippines make halo-halo differently and everyone has their individual preferences. The key is getting the ratio right – just enough sweetness, not too cold and packed with flavour!

Erica's "OG" Halo-Halo

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Erica: Nothing beats the OG halo-halo. You can get it on the side of the street in the Philippines. There's red and green jelly, nata de coco, leche flan, ube ice cream, rice crispies, cornflakes and evaporated milk. Before you start customising anything, you need to try the OG.

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Arville: It's exploding in your mouth. This ube ice cream is so good, which I learned today is a purple yam. I probably need a bit more crispiness to it, I'd give it a 7.5/10.

Angelo: My mouth is so full. There's also some nata de coco, which I absolutely love just eating by itself sometimes. I'd give it an 8/10.

Dom: Oh my gosh, it's so good. It's like eating fireworks. Minus points for the cornflakes, I really don't like cornflakes. I'd give this an 8/10.

Total points: 23.5/10


Dom's Buko Pandan & Sago't Gulaman Halo-Halo

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Dom: These are basically my two favourite desserts smashed into one. Buko pandan comprises of pandan, which is basically an Asian vanilla, and also just shredded coconut. Sago't gulaman has some brown sugar jelly and sago't pearls. As the cherry on top, I've added a bit of buko pandan ice cream — just to melt everything together.

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Arville: The pearls are nice – it's a caramel-y, maple syrup type flavour. There's definitely a lot more texture in this which I like. The only thing I would add to this is fruit jelly or fruits. I'd give this an 8.5/10, it's pretty up there.

Erica: I like pandan. This reminds me of milk tea. It's giving one flavour...brown sugar and coconut. I actually don't know how I feel about it, it's not the halo-halo I know. I like variety. I'm gonna give this a 5/10.

Angelo: This looks interesting, I've never had it before. I love the sweetness of condensed milk. I would give this a 9/10.

Total points: 22.5/10

Angelo's Mais Con Yelo Halo-Halo

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Angelo: This is pretty much shaved ice, creamed corn, corn, evaporated milk, condensed milk and I also added some cheese ice cream to it. I fill up my halo-halo to the point where the condensed milk can is empty and everyone's just looking at me like, 'are you okay?'

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Dom: It's giving tall glass of water, she's giving IG model. I thought this cheese ice cream would be sour or savoury, but it's actually kinda sweet. It's nice...until the corn juice kinda goes everywhere. Not for me, 4/10.

Erica: There's not a lot of colour. It's nice and creamy. I don't know if this would be my halo-halo of choice, it's a bit boring. You need to step up your game. 4/10.

Arville: That was a bit too icy. The corn is kinda throwing me off a bit. I do like sweet corn though, but in this setting it probably doesn't work as well. I'd definitely add more jelly to this and less ice. 6/10.

Total points: 14/30

And finally, Arville's Pavlova Halo-Halo

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Arville: It's your standard halo-halo, but I'm adding a bit of a mix. I've got the pavlova, which is the meringue and cream — bit of my Aussie side in there. We've also got a bit of that canned fruit salad – all my Filipinos out there, you'll know what I'm talking about.

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Erica: This is giving tropical vibes. I love the meringue touch, it makes it nice and sweet. It's a fusion between a fruit salad, a halo halo and an ice cream sundae. But if I presented this to my mum or lola, they would be like, "we didn't raise you right". I'm gonna give this a 6.5/10, but it pains me to say that.

Dom: A fusion of two totally different cultures. Normally, halo-halo recipes have a lot of preserved ingredients, whereas this one has like fresh fruit, which cuts through the sweetness. I'm just well and truly shook. 9.5/10.

Angelo: This is very visually appealing. The crunchiness of the meringue definitely adds texture. I definitely see myself making this at home, it kinda reminds me of myself because I'm Filo-Aussie. 10/10.

Total points: 26/10

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