Bacoor Food Trip: Digman's Halo-Halo

Digman's (top) & Chowking's (bottom)

A week before my visit to Aguinaldo Shrine, I happened to watch a TV program that features one of Pinoy's favorite summer coolers - halo-halo (a Pinoy dessert with sweetened fruits, shaved ice and milk). And one of the halo-halos featured on the said show was Digman's!

Although summer season had passed, temperature is still high, it felt like it still is summer, a delicious halo-halo would be a welcome treat. So after our visit to the Aguinaldo Shrine, we decided to head straight to Bacoor to try their famous halo-halo. Before we left the Shrine, we asked the locals for directions going to Digman in Bacoor. By the way, Digman is one of the barangays in Bacoor, Cavite and not the name of the owner/s of the famous halo-halo shop.

From the Shrine, we took Tirona highway going to Bacoor and turned left at Gen. Evangelista Street. After turning left, we again asked a local if we’re on the right way going to Digman and they said yes. Before I left them and say “thank you”, I asked them how far are we from Digman’s? Their response – “malapit na lang ma’am, paglampas lang ng church” (“it’s near ma’am, just after the church”). But you know what they meant for “near”? It’s more than 2 kilometers from the location of the locals we asked. Yes, locals thought more than 2-kilometer distance is near…haha!

Anyway, the street they told us is so narrow we missed it on our first pass. We had to turn back and really look out for a street with bakery in the corner (locals didn’t mention the name of the street and we forgot to check its name) so we won’t miss it the second time, and we didn't! There were several halo-halo shops in almost every street and every corner in Digman we again had a hard time finding the halo-halo shop featured on TV. But after asking some locals, at last we found the shop we were looking for.

Original Digman Halo-halo and Homemade Siopao

The original Digman’s halo-halo! I know it is the right shop as I saw and remembered the man (the owner, I guess) who was interviewed on TV. Tired and hungry from our visit to the Shrine, we ordered noodles (pancit canton) for our merienda, aside from halo-halo, of course.

After placing our order, I went to the counter and asked permission to take pictures to which they agreed. I was still busy taking pictures of the ingredients in the counter when my friends called to tell me that our orders are already served. Wow, that was fast! So I went back to our table, eagerly mixed the halo-halo and tasted it.  Know what my initial reaction was? "Is this the famous halo-halo I am so looking forward to taste?" Even my friends’ reactions were the same. Digman’s halo-halo is just an ordinary-tasting halo-halo. Though with many ingredients, they are somehow bland, it lacks sweetness, and it’s not creamy. I even asked for additional milk to boost its taste, but nah, it tasted just the same. It’s just like the ordinary halo-halo you can find from almost every street corner during summer, for a much cheaper price.

Digman halo-halo ingredients

But in fairness to them, there were lots of people coming and going when we were there, it seems like it really is famous in the area. I guess because it has many ingredients that the owner boasts were originally prepared by them. Also, Digman's halo-halo is reasonably priced  (PhP55/order), almost half the price of Chowking's, considering the dozen ingredients it has. Still, in my opinion, Razon's halo-halo, though with only a few ingredients, is way better than this one. Actually, even Chowking's halo-halo is better than this one. For me, Digman's halo-halo is overrated! Well, maybe I was just expecting too much because it was featured on TV. Go check it out and taste it for yourself and then tell me your take in the comment's section below.

~oo00oo~

Date of Visit: June 10, 2012

Original Digman Halo-Halo and Home-made Siopao

Barangay Digman, Bacoor, Cavite