Razon's Halo-halo

I have seen this controversial halo-halo from a few TV shows before. And, according to the hosts, this halo-halo only has 3 things in it; aside from the shaved ice, it only has banana, milk, and leche flan. Unlike the traditional halo-halo wherein different colors are outdoing each other. But, they also say that inspite of its "lack" in ingredients, the taste is excellent. So, with so much intrigue built inside me, I decided to try and do my own taste-test. Last Sunday, was the big day. My friend and I went to Robinson's Place Manila and after a few rounds of walking, we did our food trip stop over at Razon's. As we are waiting for our turn to the counter, I casually told her about how I heard it is such a delicious one of a kind halo-halo even though it only has 3 things in it. The look at my friend's face was like "what the hell?...", obviously, she has never heard about a halo-halo that only has 3 things in it. She even said that it might not be good. But I told her that everybody who had tried it said it was good.

Then, after a few minutes of waiting on our table, the "Stars" finally came. Two glasses of two-toned halo-halo was served to us. I took its pictures, since I thought of making my review and a photo of it alongside my review wouldn't hurt. After taking pictures, we each took our halo-halo and prepared ourself for the big test.

It has two slices of leche flan on top of it, then the shaved ice, then the sweetened banana at the middle of the glass, and then the last layer of shaved ice. I took a taste of the leche flan first. It is neither too sweet nor too balnd. The next thing I did was to incorporate everything to my glass. My first spoonful was OK. My friend even commented that Chowking's is better than that glass of Razon's, I almost wanted to agree with her but as I was about to, my second spoonful already stopped me. I now understand how a halo-halo with only 3 things in it won over the halo-halo with almost every color on the color wheel in it. Razon's halo-halo was simply the best. Cliche it may seem but really, less is more. Simple is beautiful. A little goes a long way.

Razon's halo-halo has the finest shaved ice compared to those other halo-halo. The milk that poured in it really softened the ice shavings even more that its as if you are eating snow instead of ice. The sweetened banana is also excellent. It is not too sweet. It even has really soft, little macapuno strips. These macapuno strips are not like other macapuno strips because these are soft, and silk-smooth. Small banana chunks and small macapuno strips made up the sweetened banana. I think cutting it in small chunks helped it balance the taste because each bite only gives subtle sweetness, therefore not overpowering the wholeness of the halo-halo. The halo-halo is getting its sweetness from the combined power of sweetened banana and leche flan, and this combination made it simply the best.

Each mouthful of Razon's halo-halo was heaven for me. I did not realized at first that I have been saying "sarap" everytime I take a spoonful in my mouth. Well, thanks to my friend, fed up of hearing me say "sarap", she pointed it out to me as I was taking my heavenly spoonful of halo-halo into my mouth. Well, as shamefully as it may sound, but after finishing my glass of halo-halo, I just could not resist myself. I had to have another round of it. Which, I did. I ordered my second glass and repeated my journey to heaven with each mouthful of Razon's halo-halo.

Indeed, its a one of a kind halo-halo. The best so far, for me.

Hee-ya! to Ranch 88

A small, humble restaurant has recently opened along Dasmariñas Street in Binondo - Ranch 88, it was called. It is just a small place that houses approximately, 12-15 two-person tables. Small but quite cozy,indeed. I got the chance to try it last Saturday with my office mate and the experience was.. well... Good! The food are very affordable, really suits the office employees' budget. Well, I think that is their reason why they opened it in that area, mainly because commercial buildings are everywhere in Dasmariñas Street.

The place is clean, no sticky tables and got really comfortable not too stiff neither too soft sofa chairs. No sticky nor slippery floor also. The comfort room is also clean and as my office mate described it, it was beautiful (only she has gone to the restroom). Only, there is only one restroom for both genders.

As for the food, I ordered their Porterhouse Steak while my office mate ordered their Breaded Pork Chop. Entrees are served with java rice and some mixed vegetables. The Breaded Pork Chop is served also with gravy on the side, while the Porterhouse has its gravy pour on top of it, served on a hotplate. The Porterhouse Steak was a little thin but cut big. It was tender enough but came a little chewy on its meatiest part. The gravy was OK, nothing different from the usual gravy that you will get from sizzling food restaurants. The mixed veggies on the other hand, can do a little more color. I mean, the color was a little pale, maybe they could add a little carrots and green beans. The Java rice is quite good, and not too sour.

And, according to my office mate, her Breaded Pork Chop was delicious too. It was creamy and although it was breaded, was still tender. It was quite a thick cut so the tenderizing process, I guess was really good since it did not become tough to chew. It was, according to her, a real treat. In fact , she ordered another java rice which she does not normally do. They also gave each one of us one Polvoron, which I am guessing, was homemade. I don't know if they gave it to us as complementary because they just opened, since they are also selling these Polvorons. But it is sooo good. The pinipig is crunchy and it is not too sweet. You can just taste its freshness.

But what I am really really amazed for was their Chocolate Cake. For just Php36.00, a real generous serving of heavenly Chocolate Cake will be served. The Chocolate Cake was decadent. I have not tasted such good Chocolate Cake for that price. It was chocolate chiffon cake with caramel filling in between two layers of thick chocolate chiffon cake. The chocolate icing was very smooth, no tiny unmelted chocolate in it. Perfectly smooth. The cream on the side was smooth too and a little sweet, but not too sweet. The Chocolate Cake was so heavenly, as a whole, and per ingredient. Everything goes well with each other perfectly. Chocolatey goodness but not tooth-aching sweet. I just can't stop singing praises to this Chocolate Cake. Oh, did I mentioned it was homemade? Yummy!

Starbucks' Raspberry Mango Cheesecake

I have been to Starbucks last week with my friend to bond over coffee and catch up with each other. I ordered dark chocolate frap and hers was, I think, java chips frap. I am starving at that time since I only had a sandwich during lunch so I decided to order something else to go with my Grande frap. I chose their tomato, basil, & mozzarella cheese bagel and was tempted to also order one of their yummy looking cheesecakes. There were two variants to choose from: Oreo Cheesecake, and Raspberry Mango Cheesecake. At first, I was about to try their Oreo Cheesecake but since it is quite common, I decided to go with the Raspberry Mango Cheesecake.

The bagel was good. It is quite crunchy on the outside but is soft inside. I was expecting a lot of stringy mozzarella but was disappointed. The tomatoes are sweet and generally it is good. After finishing my bagel, I rested for a while to let my palette refresh so that I may taste the yumminess of the cheesecake without compromising it due to the taste of the bagel.

After sips of the cold frap and exchange of stories with my friend, I let the temptation take over me. I started to devour my slice of Raspberry Mango Cheesecake. The cheesecake has a mango filling at the center, with thick raspberry syrup on the surface, and finished with a swirl of white chocolate.

The cheesecake is awesome! I mean, the cheesecake itself is very light, very airy, and soft. It does not have the gelatin like texture that some cheesecakes do (which I really hate). The creaminess is there but not too creamy to the point that it almost coats your mouth with oil. It is neither too sweet nor too bland. The mango filling at the center is just right. But I find the raspberry syrup on top a little sour. Quite sour for the airiness of the cheesecake. It might have been okay if they have added a little sugar on it to make it a little sweet but at the same time, the tartness of the raspberry is not being overpowered.

The final verdict:
I loooveee the Raspberry Mango Cheesecake! The airiness of the cheesecake, the absence of the gelatin like consistency made it my favorite cheesecake. In fact, I think I can eat the cheesecake on its own, without fillings, nor sauces. Just the best cheesecake I have ever tasted.