I had my first halo-halo of the season today. Delicious! It’s a filipino dessert/beverage/concoction made of varying layers of sweet preserved stuff (beans, chickpeas, coconut, jackfruit, purple yam, shreds of sweetened plantain), crunchy pounded dried rice, custard/leche flan, crushed ice, milk or coconut milk, and ice cream, served in a large soda glass. Then you mix it all up and eat it. “Halo-halo” means “mix-mix”. It’s served as a streetside treat in the Philippines. The ingredients and ice cream flavors will vary. Today’s was a little sweet for my taste, but the kids loved it. It was made to order at a tiny filipino grocery store near me, and I’ve also seen it here in filipino restaurants where you can order it to go. I’d love to be able to buy it off a cart. You can buy the preserved ingredients in jars in Asian stores and make it yourself, but it’s kind of a production.
I had some years ago, when the Filipino-American club at my university had a fundraiser. it was delicious! I wish I knew where they sell it around here.
I didn’t even know it existed until a friend who lived in the Philippines told me about it. And I never would have found out where to get it if a Filipino friend hadn’t told me. There are no signs or anything to indicate it’s available in the grocery store.
HOly crap, that sounds like some 6 year old’s wet dream 
I went to a filipino restaurant a few years ago, and it wasn’t to my taste in general, but their desserts are unbelievable. Yum!
mmm…I think so! Maybe? I was in the Philippines in March. Mostly I ate mango everything for dessert. Oh lord, it was like mango heaven. nomnomnom.
We’ve got a couple of Jollibee fastfood chains in LA. I actually really like Halo Halo… probably the one thing I like red bean in.
The best halo halo will have a scoop of purple taro ice cream on top. I loved it as a kid, but nowadays, if I get the dessert, I always start out loving it and then I feel sick by the end. One thing that disturbs me about Filipino food is the amount of food coloring they use in their dishes. The taro is always Prince purple and other desserts always seem to have unnaturally bright colors. It’s just an aesthetic preference but it always makes the food look vaguely alien to me.
Lucky 13 I’m not sure where in SoCal you’re in, but if you’re near the Los Angeles or Orange County regions, there’s several Filipino chains that serve Halo Halo. There’s Jollibee that Push You Down mentioned, there’s also the Goldilock’s Bakery chain and the Red Ribbon bakery chain. If you’re at Goldilocks or Red Ribbon, try out the mamon pastry as well. It’s a soft sponge cake that has a slightly sticky sweet layer on top, they also have different flavors, including coffee. I can eat 3 of those at a time if nobody’s watching.
Thanks, Tako. I live in southeastern LA county, and I know of at least one Jollibee in Cerritos, but I’ve never had occasion to eat there. I should do that sometime.
The halo-halo I’ve eaten was made with vanilla ice cream, not ube (purple yam) or taro ice cream. It did have chunks of jellied ube mixed in with the fruit cocktail and coconut jelly.
Hmm, maybe I’ll talk my mom into driving to Cerritos to go look for halo-halo ingredients. Not a bad idea.
You’ll also find lots of Filipinos (and therefore Jollibeess/Red Ribbons/Goldilockses) in Carson, Eagle Rock, Panorama City, and Gardena.
Seafood City, a supermarket that caters to Filipinos, has branches in Carson and Eagle Rock, that I know of - you should be able to get Taro ice cream there.
If you’re looking for ingredients, there’s a Seafood City in Cerritos too. I believe it’s in the same plaza as Jollibees. If you’re looking for authentic Filipino food, there’s a place called The Magic Wok a few blocks away that serves family style Filipino food.
There’s also a Red Ribbon Bakery and a Goldilocks in Cerritos as well. By the Godilock’s Bakery, there’s also a smaller Filipino market as well whose name I can’t recall.
I’m from the area, so if you’re going to swing by, give me a holler and we can go get a halo halo together. 
“We visited the ‘McDonald’s of the Philippines,’ which serves spaghetti and fried chicken alongside its burgers — here’s what it’s like”
You sure it’s taro? The purple yam is that colour naturally.
Mmm…zombie halo-halo…
The purple yams are called ube (oo-beh) and they do indeed come out of the ground that color: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/ingredient-spotlight-ube/
The sweet red beans are in fact red and the jackfruit is a light yellow. The jello of course would be artificially colored, though in the Philippines it would be agar and not gelatin. There’s also kaong (kah-ong), which is sweet palm fruit. It’s naturally a translucent white, but may be colored red or green: Kaong: Sugar Palm Fruit of the Philippines!