The Halo-Halo at Philadelphia’s Sarvida Is 5 Layers of Perfection
Halo-halo is the only dessert option at Sarvida, Lou Boquila‘s newest Filipino restaurant in Philly, but it was all that our table for six needed. The cup of multi-layered goodness delivers an entire dessert menu worth of textures and flavors: custardy, chewy, icy, milky, creamy, and starchy-sweet. The best way to eat halo-halo, Boquila says, is to mix everything together, but I called him up and asked him to break it down for me, one delicious layer at a time.
The Ice
Shaved ice makes halo-halo a summer staple. “It’s hot and humid for most of the year in the Philippines,” says Boquila, who lived there until he was eight. “So the ice is there to cool you off.” It also balances out the sweetness of the dish.
The Milk
Traditionally, the shaved ice gets drizzled with sweetened condensed milk, but Boquila adds evaporated milk in a 50/50 ratio to ease up on the sugar.
The Flan
Most Filipino flan is dense, but Boquila takes more of a crème brûlée approach, with fewer egg yolks. He bakes the flan right into the cup for a creamy base. “Back home you’ll get a small square of flan in halo-halo,” he says, “but I wanted to make sure everyone got a taste.”
The Ube
The crowning touch is a scoop of roasted, puréed ube—a sweet, starchy potato. “This is everyone’s favorite part,” Boquila says, but he warns guests not to eat it straight off the top. “You have to stir it all together to make sure you get a little bit of everything in each bite.”
The Add-Ins
“In the Philippines, they’ll throw anything in there— cereal, crispy rice, toasted coconut. Here we make almost everything in house,” Boquila says. His mix includes sugar-macerated jackfruit and adzuki beans poached in brown sugar, star anise, and cardamom. The only store- bought ingredients are coconut jelly and palm nuts.
Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit
