Something happened yesterday that made me, well, love Manila even more. I was coming out of my bus on my way home from work, dropping off my stop at Makati Avenue corner Buendia, when I noticed tons of people with cups of dirty ice cream. I decided to look for the source and walked up to the dirty ice cream vendor. It ordered the P20 cup (of course) with all three flavors - avocado, mango, and cheese. Little unusual combination, but nonetheless it's a nice break from all the chocolate ice cream I eat all the time.
Wow. Just, wow. Kuya Nilo's dirty ice cream might just be the best of its kind I've ever tasted. There was just something about it that made me, I dunno, think about when I was a kid and I used to love when the ice cream vendor passed by our house. The ice cream was of course made in the Filipino way, which you could discern from its unique texture and consistency, but the flavors were absolutely fantastic. The flavors tasted like home - you just get the feeling that the fruits used here were bought fresh from the market. This is Filipino ice cream making at its finest. In case you were wondering, kuya changes his flavors daily. So you could run into Melon, Ube, or Dalandan flavored ice cream the next time you go there.
I asked Kuya Nilo, the owner of the stall, why his ice cream tasted so good. He says that it's because it's his own recipe - he makes it in a slightly different way from all the other ice cream vendors out there. He has a specific "timpla," that he's been making every moring since he started. In what way this is, I'm not sure, but whatever it is certainly elevated this particular vendor. He's been doing this every day for the last 15 years; so the next time you stop by this particular corner of Manila, make sure to watch out for Kuya Nilo's cart. read more