The Best Halo-Halo!

This is a super late post.  I should have posted this way back in December but it just got lost over a pile of drafts I made over the holidays.  So, to celebrate my birthday, we went to the miraculous Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Lipa City and on our way home, we made our usual stop whenever we go to Lipa at CasaRap, a wordplay on casa, a Spanish word for home and masarap, which means delicious.

The cafe looks nothing but an ordinary old house from the outside, but when walk down the path, you'll be greeted by the organic garden, cherry tomatoes hanging from the vine, lettuce, and flowers everywhere.  What I like most about this place is they try to grow their own food, no pesticides, no chemicals.  This cafe is owned by former Good Shepherd nun, Emma Alday.  I really love this place and went back a couple of times already for their famous salad with special dressing and their uber delicious halo-halo.

I love the super laid back vibe of the cafe and being a slow food cafe, which might be a turn-off for fast food junkies, I love how you can look around, see the garden, reflect the prayer room, connect with nature and even go down a steep flight of stairs down the river.

This is how the resto looks like inside.  The owner, who obviously loves nature, incorporates plants into the theme.  I also love her advocacy of saving the river nearby this place.

It was still the Christmas season when we go there, so there were hanging Christmas parols.

While waiting for our food, I went ahead and explored the garden.  Found this chocolate tree, yes, chocolates come from trees.  This is a cacao tree, we actually have one at the farm.

Here's another interesting find.  They usually put this on their garden salad.  It is also a natural food dye which I have seen people add to adobo to make the sauce blue.

 I didn't know you could grow broccoli here in the Philippines until I found these!  I even asked the lady there and said that they planted them from seeds that you can buy at the supermarket.  I've got to try growing these babies.

 Walking around the gardens made me think about gardening again.  I love gardening and I miss it so much.  I have been so busy the past year that I had no time to garden, but this year, one of my New Year's resolutions is to start my garden again which had been super neglected, it now looks like a mini jungle in front of our house.

The owner really pays attention even to the smallest details of the cafe.  Here's a small faucet and sink made of cement and sea corals.  She even has leaf-shaped stepping stones, wash room made from bamboo, an old bathtub turned into a pond, and old wood turned into tables and chairs.

 This is a great place to relax and unwind.  They also allowed my two dogs inside the cafe.  Since we were the only customers at the time, the two dogs enjoyed playing and running around.

We ordered pancit and halo-halo.  The pancit was nothing but ordinary, but the halo-halo, I highly recommend this to anyone.  If you have time,  visit Batangas and make sure to try this.

The ice they put on their halo-halo is not your plain 'ol water placed inside the freezer then shaved but, fresh coconut juice!  I love how they keep the ingredients simple.  No nata de coco or sago at gulaman, instead, they've got langka, matamis na ube, corn kernels, pinipig (not the crispy one but the fresh kind), and if in season, my personal favorite, matamis na kondol. You'll also get some bits of shredded coconut meat from the shaved ice.  All these topped with ice cream! Mom said the milk used also tasted like gata ng nyog (coconut cream). Yummy!

The best halo-halo for me!