Aling Foping's Halo-Halo: My Review

Halo-halo is the ultimate Pinoy dessert. As soon as the weather starts to heat up, there is nothing more that most Filipinos crave for other than halo-halo. I, myself, am enamored by this certain level of fanaticism that Filipinos have developed towards halo-halo, especially since I have never really grown a fondness towards this dessert until recently. The combination of different flavors and textures struck me as odd at first. But when I finally decided to sample it, it wasn't so bad after all.

And in the local dining scene, there is no name more well known and talked about as Aling Foping's. Indeed, Davaoenos have equated the word "halo-halo" to Aling Foping's. I had been to Matina Town Square several times before but I was not convinced to visit their humble stall until recently (it took some convincing from the boyf to make that happen).

The main appeal of Aling Foping's halo-halo is the ability to customize. In most restaurants serving up halo-halo, they have a single recipe for all. But this one is different. You get to choose your own ingredients. You will basically fill up a form wherein you can pick from a wide range of available ingredients and then they'd prepare your halo-halo for you! No need to deal with ingredients you don't like because every bite consists of only the ingredients you picked yourself. Nice concept, huh?


The regular halo-halo is currently priced at P85 while a special halo-halo will set you back at P105. Ingredients that you can choose from include the following: gulaman, kaong, langka, macapuno, nata de coco, pinipig, red mongo, saba, sago, white beans, and a serving each of ube and leche flan. Of these, I am crazy about the pinipig and the ube! I never expected that I would love the ube as much but I did!

Long queue on a Saturday night

In comparison though, I felt that Balinsasayaw's halo-halo is better. That is not meant to take anything away from Aling Foping's halo-halo; after all, most Davaoenos seem to adore it and it's not just all hype. I just felt that it is a little too pricey for only six ingredients. This is just my opinion when these two servings are placed side by side. Balinsasayaw's had a larger serving and more ingredients for only about P85 a serving. But they're both equally good in their own respect.

Aling Foping's is located at Matina Town Square, Davao City.

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