‘Dirty ice cream’ to be sold at Times Square, New York in celebration of PHL Independence Day

A Filipino store will sell sorbetes or what is locally known as “dirty ice cream” at Times Square in celebration of the Philippine Independence Day.

On Thursday, a Filipino street food pop-up business named So Sarap NYC released a Facebook video showing a man pushing a yellow ice cream cart similar to the ones seen in the Philippines within the famous New York City landmark.

The video also showed him offering purple- and yellow-colored treats as well as yummy ice cream sandwiches.

According to So Sarap NYC owner and Filipino chef VJ Navarro, they decided to bring out the iconic Filipino ice cream cart for this year’s Independence Day because they wanted to remind people of their childhood.

“Lumaki po ako sa Pilipinas kung saan palagi po kaming nililibre ng lolo namin ng dirty ice cream kapag may dumadaan sa aming kalye. Naalala ko po ’yung sarap ng ice cream habang nage-enjoy kasama ang buong pamilya,” he said.

[I grew up in the Philippines where our grandfather would always buy us dirty ice cream whenever one passed by our street. I remember how good the ice cream tasted while I enjoyed spending time with the whole family.]

Navarro said the project was a collaboration between So Sarap NYC and Kabisera Cafe, a Filipino cafe in New York.

He also said they made sure to create the same “taste and texture” as the sorbetes sold in the Philippines.

“Since my favorite flavors are ube (purple yam) and cheese, we thought of making those flavors first because cheese is not a known ice cream flavor here in the US. We wanted to share it with our non-Filipino customers to try,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Navarro said the dirty ice cream cart would be going around Times Square and in other parts of New York City on June 12-13. – Kaela Malig/RC, GMA News