How’s this for a blast from the past? As a child, I LOVED hopia with munggo or mung bean filling. I don’t recall ube hopias in the late 60’s and early 70’s. I suppose for a kid, the sweetish buttery munggo filling was as good as a protein rich beans were going to get. Fresh hopia purchased on occasional Sunday “paseos” to Binondo with our family were definitely a treat. As much as I loved munggo hopia, I absolutely despised hopia baboy. There was just something about this savory concoction that was a real turn-off. And now that I think about it some more, I think it was a particular Sunday, when in my single digits, I tried this version of hopia, and I got what felt like the most repulsive chunky piece of mushy slow-cooked fat in one of my bites. Without asking anyone, I just assumed it was solid fat, and I decided then and there that I would never again ate a hopia baboy… But here’s the real rub, it turns out that there isn’t much baboy in hopia baboy at all! It seems many recipes call for kundol or wintermelon cubes slow cooked in pork fat or lard. Or in the absence of kundol, sliced onions are sometimes used as an alternative. Now that I know that, maybe that silly piece of fat was in fact a very mushy piece of lard infused kundol! :)
On our recent trip to Coron, after a late afternoon visit to the market where we scored some lobsters, I was on the hunt for some real butter to make a lemon and butter sauce. We stopped at several small stores and they all carried margarine and not real butter. Finally, at one shop, the saleslady said to go find a shop named “Central Bakery” as they were the ONLY ones in town that sold real butter. After a few minutes walk/search, we located the shop and yes, they did in fact stock real butter so we got 1/2 a pound of that. While waiting for the butter to be wrapped up, I noticed a tray of somewhat unusual breads up top. The saleslady said they were hopia baboy, and wanting to overcome yet another of my childhood food biases, I purchased several of these “pastries” and started to walk back to our hotel…
I bit into one of the hopia baboys and chewed. And almost immediately that memory from some 35+ years ago came immediately rushing back. There was no big piece of “fat” in this hopia, but the smell and taste was extremely savory, and oddly, still a turn-off. I am almost certain even the dough of this hopia was made with lard, and the filling was still warm (they had emerged from the ovens less an hour earlier). I forced myself to finish the hopia, but I can tell you it’s not something I will be looking for again anytime soon. It’s so weird how certain foods can elicit such a strong and memorable reaction. And an irrational reaction at that. I mean I love pork lard in many incarnations, I like kundol, I love onions, etc. so there is no LOGICAL reason why I shouldn’t like hopia baboy… Am I the only one who feels this way? Which version of hopia is your favorite?
89 Responses
I just had a Hopia munggo tonight! All the way in Canada! I don’t really know if I have ever tried hopia baboy but the thought of it makes me cringe. And you’re totally right, you can like all the separate ingredients but there is something mighty strange about how it all comes together in a yucky way – and maybe just psychologically yucky but yucky is as yucky does.
I loved (and still do) hopia munggo as a child and despise hopia baboy with equal fervor. I don’t know what it was, but I took one bite of it when I was 7 years old and thought it was the nastiest thing I had ever tasted in my young life. To this day, you couldn’t pay me to eat it.
i love hopia. . . love all those new flavors like ube, langka, pastillas etc. . . but not hopia baboy, which my mom and dad enjoys a lot. . . it’s been a long time i’ve never tasted hopia baboy though, i have to try it again :)
I love hopia – the bakery sa kanto kind, the cube ones, the ones you find in Chinatown… Flavorwise, walang masamang ubeng hopia sa akin… =) I am not repulsed by hopia baboy (I also thought this was made from baboy when I was still young hence I stayed away from it) – in fact, on hot summer afternoons this (plus ice cold Coke) is one of my typical meriendas. I once tasted Pastillas-flavored hopia from Eng Bee Tin and it tasted so good but the diabetic-inside-of-me-waiting-to-get-out flashed warning bells/sirens/lights – too sweet.
Hi MM. of all the hopia varieties, hopiang baboy is my favorite! I remember as a kid chomping down a 6 pack of that with a cold bottle of Mountain Dew on the side. Thanks for this post, definitely made me reminisce my childhood again.
When my husband was still making ligaw and trying to be different, he used to give me hopia with pineapple filling… I actually like it especially when hot…. I don’t know where he he gets it, but since we’ve been married 14 years ago, I don’t remember him giving me hopia anymore… buti na lang, I don’t like them anymore. :)
Thank goodness I’m not the only one who feels this way about hopia baboy! I had the same experience as kid — I still vividly remember biting into a huge chunk of hopia baboy and spitting it out a few moments later. I tried to give it a fair chance later in life, too, but like you, I just can’t seem to get over the memory of my first taste. When my parents go to Manila, they usually bring back a bunch of Holand’s hopia baboy — they just love the stuff. Team Munggo all the way for me!
Always tried any form of hopia I could find. The regular Munggo filling is still on top of my list while the hopia baboy doesn’t seem to move from the bottom though :)
Nowadays, there are a lot of variations from Ube, Ube Cheese, Coffee, Pineapple, etc etc… Kinda distorts the humble lovable original Munggo. But then, to each his own I guess…
Wonder when a peanut butter filled hopia would be available in the market … :)
I like hopiang ube the most but any combination from Eng Bee Tin is okay especially the pandan, cheese and langka. Last time i was there in the Phils, bought several boxes of hopia and brought them here in UAE which a packet is being sold in Pinoy grocery for 7.50 dhs (P90).
Hi MM,
Been a Fan Of your food blog for years,First time to comment, Living Near Seattle & very close to Vancouver, Canada,We are Lucky to have access to all food Asian esp.Pilipino.Yes we can get Hopoiang Baboy ,but can’t get use to the taste of it.Love all HOPIA Except Baboy ,A lot of my friends absolutely love pork hopia, so bad, when I go back home , iI have to have extra Baggage For this goodies!! and yet like you I can’t get use to the thought of chunky pork fat, unlike savory pork empanada i guess it’s the whole mental thing Thank You MM for This Site,coz Everytime, i get homesick, i just log in,I am addicted , in a good way,of course.
hehehe! Looks like we have opposing preferences when it comes to hopia. But of all the flavors, I like hopia baboy and pineapple the most. Have you tried Holland Hopia? (no, they are not from Holland) I like their hopias the most among the available brands – not too sweet.=)
i really do not like hopiang baboy even if they would say it is the best…like you MM, i really do not know why. I can eat hopiang munggo but I will not miss it too.
The current ingredients for hopiang baboy are: bread crumbs, sugar, candied winter melon, lard, butter or peanut oil and chopped green onions. It originally started out containing bits of pork fat but through the years this has gradually disappeared leaving behind its name alone. You might like the ingredients individually but certain combinations just do not go together well (in certain minds) so in your case, it could very well be the suggestion of sugar with green onions that triggers gagging. Remember, food preferences are mostly implanted early, a few among us try to expand our horizon but try as we may we still instinctively reach out to food that comforted us as children to replicate some of the old magic.
Hopia baboy is the last on my list of hopia “flavors” :D But i can still eat it. Favorites are still the classic monggo and pineapple, then ube. Last Chinese New Year, I also chanced upon a different version called “HOPTIK” which is Hopia-Tikoy, and I liked it solely because it has tikoy filling in the Ube hopia. Bought it from Savemore. Thought you might wanna try :)
https://www.mymomfriday.com/2010/02/enter-year-of-tiger-with-lumpiang-tikoy.html
Wow! It’s amazing how many folks aren’t keen on hopia baboy, but lots who love it as well! Footloose, I did write the word “gagging” into my post thinking it was over-reacting, but honestly, when I bit into the hopia in Coron, I immediately gagged and looked for a cold Diet Coke to make things better…
I freakin’ hate hopia baboy too! I love the milky deliciousness of Eng Bee Tin’s Ube Hopia, and monggo hopia is fine with me. But not hopia baboy! And no wonder there’s no any pork flavor in it. It’s just pork lard and sometimes, onions. Yuck.
I like both munggo and baboy hopias..especially if fresh hot off the oven
I also like those little square hopias that you can watch being cooked along Recto and Rizal Ave :D
@tna, wala ring masamang hopia para sa akin.
I love hopiang baboy. It’s the only different hopia for me. I used to slowly peel the hopia to get to the filling—love the taste—pork lard, onion and all.
HI MM. What a coincidence. I just had munggo hopia from La Fortuna (Cebu) and it was so yummy. I ate a piece with a glass of ice-cold calamansi juice. Lami jud kaayo. Then I checked your blog and the topic is about hopia baboy. I’m not always fond of hopia baboy as it is a lot sweeter than munggo and I know that it only has chopped onions and pork lard inside.
The hopia I remember from childhood had a flaky crust and a grey, mushy inside. I don’t know if it’s munggo or baboy :/ What I do remember is sitting around the dining table, with the entire family, enjoying the freshly-baked platter of hopia.
:)
hahha, hopia baboy is my absolute favorite munggo 2nd….now i’m craving for it…yummmm
MM, do try the Hopia Baboy of La Fortuna when you’re in Cebu. Get the original flaky type. They don’t taste as lardy. In fact their flaky baboy version is better than the monggo version. They now also have creamy baboy/ monggo version ala Binondo but find them both inferior.
Growing up on the hopia baboy, I bought same from Ho Land and Eng Bee Tin while studying in Manila and was appalled by their taste. So unlike La Fortuna. So when in Manila, I only eat Hopia Monggo.
My late Lolo loved Polland hopia and as much as kuripot he was, hindi niya pinagdadamot the monggo hopia. He would buy rolls and rolls, keep them in his personal refrigerator and offer us apos hopia and Yakult all the time. Love monggo -the yellow filling not the red or black, do not like flavoured ones, and also ‘No!’ to baboy.
no hopia baboy for me… but then again that’s mainly because I don’t eat pork :) My fave hopia flavors would have to be monggo and ube – especially if cold!
my preference is munggo, and for me, ho-land is the best. baboy, i dont like. maybe it is a childhood memory – my parents would bring home munggo hopia as pasalubong for me, growing up. other flavors for me are just variations, i would eat it if it was there but i would crave for munggo only :)
Like you, MM, I absolutely love munggo hopia and I absolutely despise hopia baboy.
I used to like hopia baboy until I saw on TV a raid on a dirty hopia baboy bakery somewhere in Manila. The lack of hygiene was so horrific it almost made me throw up. Haven’t eaten hopia baboy since then no matter the source, and it has been a couple of years. The clip was that awful.
I also cannot stand hopia baboy. I tried it as child and was on the verge of vomiting – totally disgusting. Whenever I go to sari-sari stores and ask for hopia, the sellers would usually push for these since they cost more (more profit gains?) and perhaps reckon that they’re more ‘elitist’ or ‘sosyal’ because they contain pork meat. But to their disappointment I never get any and simply choose the munggo.
My Dad always bought hopia from Eng Bee Tin (according to him complies with hygienic standards) and we continue to do so. I suppose by now, Eng Bee Tin is not just considered a ‘shop’ anymore, but an institution amongst Filipinos – THE hopia institution.
surprisingly looks like those born from thy 60s & 70s doesn’t like hopia baboy. I love munggo but baboy never. My mom loves it though. I never bothered to know what is in the hopia baboy. will I ever try it again ? I guess still no
this adventurous eater who gobbles up anything remotely edible does not like hopia baboy at all
evevryone in my family loves hopia baboy but me. hopia with red mung beans, i can eat all day with ice cold pepsi.
MM, I love hopia baboy eversince I was a kid and preferred it over munggo which I think is quite plain. My tita lives in Taguig and buys these boxes of “Tipas Hopia Baboy” for all of us to munch in. :-)
Isn’t it fascinating on how our brain triggers certain reactions based on past experiece. MM, if Hopia Baboy gives you heebie-jeebies, mine is canned sardines. Yuck! Growing up, I had a classmate who had sardines for lunch and when she came back to school, she reeked like she bathed in it. Oh, the “langsa” just killed me! From that time on until today, I refuse to touch or eat sardines because in the back of my mind, I would be walking around leaving a trail of “au de langsa”. I know it’s all psychological, but today whenever I see canned sardines, I quickly walk away holding my breath.
Oh yeah, I prefer hopia baboy over the monggo ones. But, I also found out that I’ve been misled all these years; I’ve always thought hopia baboy has pork in it! Tsk tsk. Oh well, I don’t think it would make a difference, I still like it better than the monggo version.
i don’t like hopiang baboy also.. too oily and i flaky.. i love hopiang hapon though, especially the ones from Herran Bakeshop
Hopia baboy is #1 for me, before munggo. I’ve tasted the other flavors from Eng Bee Tin and never liked them.
I don’t like hopiang baboy because I don’t ;ike the idea of getting wintermelon when i am expecting pork. I suspect though that they don’t put real pork because of possibility of the pork going bad in just a few days. Now that you have brought this up, It has intrigued me enough to try crushed chicharon dispersed in a soft creamy medium like sweet potato or any of the local tubers. Does anyone have a fool proof recipe for making the flaky outer and inner hopia skins? Thanks!
I like hopiang munggo and hopiang hapon, you know the cube ones, especially when they are freshly cooked. I don’t like the hopiang baboy too…even though I am a pork meat fan. I remember my Dad buying both kinds in my younger days and the munggo is always the first to go. The other thing about the baboy too is that it gets stale faster than the munggo. As for the new fads in flavor for hopias, I guess the ube would run 3rd from the first 2 I mentioned.
I always remove visible fat from my meat, so just the thought of eating hopia baboy gives me the shivers. Nothing has surpassed the hopia kundol of my childhood though… loved the crunch.
when my husband and i were visiting there last september,
my chinese friend gave me a box of assorted hopia from
binondo. i like the best kundol and the rest i can live
without. hopia and ice cold glass of coke… yummy!!!
we are arriving there again this coming monday and
i can’t wait to go to the beach!
I was born in the 40s, and I remember buyiing hopia as a child, and being disappointed, asking “Anong laman ito?” and feeling really grossed out when the vendor replied “taba”.
I have not tried it since. English mince pies common at Xmas, originally were made from sweetened meat in medieval times.
Yeah, I can’t hopia baboy either. Yucky.
The interesting thing is about your search for butter and only coming up margarine. Is there a misconception that butter and margarine are the same thing in the Philippines? Sort of like Filipinos suddenly discovering that corned beef actually doesn’t come from a can? If there are ways to score queso de bola, I would imagine butter would be easy to come by.
I actually never had it until recently. I grew up tasting mongo and ube hopia. I performed a search for the recipe for my aunt but I didn’t actually like how it turned out. It was a bit strange to me. My aunt loved it but I wasn’t a fan.
i don’t know what’s with hopia stores but Central Bakery of Coron has their own firetruck & volunteer fire brigade just like Eng Bee Tin’s in Binondo. enjoyed Central Bakery’s hot pandesal…i like hopiang hapon too. is this the same as hopiang munggo?
MM – I’m a Hopia Baboy fan as well and I occasionally still get them fresh from one of the local Filipino bakeries here in Sacramento. Growing up, it was an after school merienda staple for me. Although I prefer the non-kundol variety.
There IS something about hopiang baboy that does elicit a love it or leave it. I leave it…
I cringed when I found out your tub of white, ice cream-looking stuff was pork fat. I was amused by your Zubuchon and sisig sandwiches because Pfizer, which makes Lipitor (which has never been prescribed to me), was indirectly getting mileage without paying for advertising. I however prefer hopiang “baboy” to any other kind, and I’ve had this preference for as long as I can remember despite the fact that I don’t even like kundol.
I’ve never tried crusty, folded hopia like those in your picture. Maybe the method of cooking has something to do with my preference. I’ve also been loyal to Ho-land after a friend whose family lives in Binondo told me it’s the original. They also belong to the Chinese Federation of business or something like that. Recently, some old balikbayans requested for Ho-land hopia because, according to them, they’re less sweet. Well, they now have lite versions but I, who have to watch my sugar level, don’t like the lite version of my favorite kind. I have also never sampled the flavored varieties. What a waste of real ube and macapuno to end up in hopia so they’re probably not ‘puro’. True and pure ube and macapuno are best enjoyed with all-yolk leche flan, the combination best eaten at a veranda or section of the ancestral home meant for after-dinner desserts and chit chat. But I digress. I’m so suggestible though that I now want to eat some hopia.
Hmm, maybe McDonald’s picked up something from hopiang baboy when they made their apple pie from sayote. Lol.
MM, I love both hopia monggo and hopia baboy! In fact, I just bought two packs from Ongpin yesterday (freshly baked by Holland)! Yum! Yum! I also bought some tableas from La Resurrection…
Bel, I would have to think that sayote in Mcdonald’s apple pies in the Philippines are a complete myth or urban legend like worms in Jollibee burgers or crocodiles in the sewers.
First of all, they couldn’t legally call them apple pies without apples, and besides, I would imagine they are made in huge factories in countries with LOTS of apples then shipped out to the far reaches of the planet in containerized vans. For a while, there was a discussion why fast food chains called their milk shakes just “shakes”, it was because they contained no milk…
The ingredients list for most fast food items are available on line from U.S. sources, though I do understand there are country specific dishes like spaghetti, fried chicken, rice burgers, etc.
The sayote as apple subsitute was a 1970’s-80’s thing, with all frugal moms jumping on the incredibly plausible suggestion, my mom included. One day, she presented an “apple” pie without comment hoping to fool us all and I distinctly remember it was utterly gross and almost inedible. :)
I don’t eat Mcdonald’s apple pies, so I may be completely wrong, but I wouldn’t bet on it. :)
@ atbnorge : amen! ;-) messy eats with the flakes falling off and all but yummy just the same
My favourite is the hopia munggo. I’ve nmade it using red beans but haven’t yet nailed the green bean kind. I don’t like baboy either- it’s the occasional shred of green onion that turns me off, and although I always knew it wasn’t really pork lard it was just the idea of pork in a sweet pastry that I didn’t like.
Not much into hopiang baboy either. Sweetened spring onions with pork lard filling…oh well, this sweet & savory combo just don’t appeal to me, however, I’ve had it along with other hopia varieties and had no problem eating it…just not my favorite I guess.
cant say i hate hopia baboy , but if there are is another flavor available .. ill definitely go for the non-baboy type. for my taste buds there is something really odd with its mostly sweet with hints of savory flavor… but strange thing is , my taste buds doesn’t find the pairing of ensaimada with ham off putting or the bibingka maalat na itlog odd at all
Ugh, I absolutely hate hopia baboy! I love black munggo hopia (like a cross between hopia and moon cake) but they’re hard to find in regular groceries. Usually I’ll see a package that says, “Black Monggo Hopia” but when I read the list of ingredients — it says red monggo. Frustrating!
same here Mr. MM, i despise hopia baboy but really love hopia munggo!
hello marketman,
the hopia article is the tipping point for me to write a comment for the first time on your blog which i’ve been following lately. i remember my father bringing home those holland hopia munggo and baboy which i really like with a big gulp of soda or cold water. childhood can just be simple and sweet with this hopia….munggo and baboy are still the best ones for me.
I think we all have different taste buds.. for I love that spring-onion combo in hopia baboy. I have to admit though that I preferred fresh from the oven or even a day old hopia.. but 2-day or more.. yikes, the flaky crust just .. flakes.. and the filling loses it’s touch.
i like both munggo and baboy…it’s hopia
Only one out of every ten customer in the shop I ran asked for hopiang baboy. Hence, the contention centered around the mung beans that we used. I distinctly remember a feisty young woman who accused us of substituting camote for the bean filling and another customer who insisted we use camote, just like he missed from back home. Pealed mung beans is traditional and in Toronto, the rich yellow mung imported from Australia had the best flavour and the lowest cost.
As I currently live in a city famous for its hopia, all I can say is that mongo hopia in Manila has too much dry, cardboardy (sic) crust, and minimal filling compared to the babies you find here.
Personal preference is the green bean filling with a cup of strong black tea. But on occasion, I yearn for a sesame seed crusted hopia baboy, with black coffee.
I love hopiang baboy and everytime I would ask as pasalubong the Holland kind. No one makes good hopiang baboy where I live. Sad.
Oh, hopia monggo forever for me! Make that Eng Bee Tin or Holland (Ho-Land?!), please.
And I have childhood memories of going to that hopia store along Echague Street in Quiapo and getting the flaky hopia hot off the oven. Yummy!
I love hopiang baboy! not my favorite though but still I will eat it whenever I could get some. My favorite would still be monggo and ube even though I get it frozen and just heated in the microwave these days…
I have not eaten hopia baboy in 20 years. Never liked it.
i called this hopiang oink oink when i was a kid! yummy!!!
I used to not like hopiang baboy… back when I was younger that is – the thought of hopia being savory instead of sweet — ugh!!!. Then somewhere along the way.. I must have been really hungry with no food in sight but hopiang baboy… I tried one with a very cold glass of Coke … well… that was a turning point for me… LOL! From then on, I began liking hopiang baboy… but hopiang munggo — the flaky one — will always be first in my heart. :)
The hopia shop in Echague was called Kim Chong Tin.
MM – we are of the same ilk – i have tasted hopia baboy once and swore never again. hopia munggo is still my favorite though there’s a lot more hopia variations right now. i’m glad that there is a store here in national city that sells nothing but hopia of different kinds: ube, pineapple, etc.
I love Eng Bee Tin ube hopia. The first timeI tasted it..I became a big fan. On the other hand, I would rather have “baboy” hopia than munggo. It’s probably the combination of sweet with the green onions that makes it unpalatable to you and others who do not like it :)
mongo hopia for me all the way. like you theres just something about hopia baboy that makes me want to spit it out.
i love hopya at any flavor even since i was a small kid but i hated the hopiang baboy as i feel that the whole chunk of fat was inside of it. but lately when i tasted the hopyang baboy sold at a small bakery near taft avenue fronting L Encarnacion florist, its now one of my favorite. they are freshly baked and always they are sold out.
I love hopia munggo! It’s my favorite. When I first learned of hopia baboy I was disgusted and didn’t even wanna try it. I forget now what made me taste it but it definitely changed my mind. For me it was so delicious! I think the hopia that we get from local bakeries are hopia baboy. I just love the spring onions in them. They’re savory but also sweet. A contradiction.
Love hopiang baboy and monggo! I was fortunate enough not to have MM’s experience as a kid eating hopiang baboy. On another note, which one is the original in Binondo? Is it Polland or is it Holland? I used to have my monthly jaunt to Binondo a couple of decades ago and my dad always asked me to buy hopia from one of those. I can’t even remember!
MM, I was challenged by your reply to email McDo Phil., and they replied that they use pure apple and cinnamon. I am not fond of apple pies in general, but can be fond of those that have chunky slices, not gooey mush, so I probably have eaten McDo apple pie 2x or 3x. One of my local faves was that of the now long gone Fat Tuesday in Salcedo Village. If anyone knows where the baking mother of the two not bad-looking guys running the shop is, please holler. As I understood it, they lived in Alabang.
I also bought hopia and read the ingredients. I discovered my fave hopia baboy is made from wax gourd—upo!
Bel, thanks for checking on that, now we all know the “official answer” of McDonald’s… as for the upo, that’s a cheaper substitute for the kundol or winter melon. But I imagine they would have a very similar soft texture and ability to absorb the flavors of pork fat, sugar, etc…
i looooooved sari-sari store hopia baboy (with sarsi) when i was a kid and got reintroduced to it a couple of years ago when i encountered it in some nondescript grocery store somewhere in sta. mesa. saw it behind a glass case, looked familiar so i bought a couple, took a bite, then stars on 45 played in my mind, complete with ticks and pops. hanep! what do they put in these babies that aren’t on eng bee tin’s?!
contrary to most, i do not eat any other hopia except hopia baboy. although the question really needs to be asked…’where’s the pork?’
My fave is hopiang munggo (TIPAS brand) and Sarsi ;)
Masarap naman ang hopia baboy, ah! Kayo kasing mga masasarap ang buhay masyadong mapili sa kinakain nyo. Kahit na sa pagkain kayong mga masasarap ang buhay palagi lang nagpapa-cute-cute, porma-porma, posing-posing, pa-cool-cool, papansin, papogi-pogi points. Hate mo pala ang baboy bakit bumili ka pa?
I live in NY & among the Pinoy goodies I usually ask my family to send or bring over when they visit is hopia baboy. But not just any. The best is that of Po-land (I know, funny name, right?)
The lard taste is SO divine & not cloying. Po-land has a stall right at the entrance of Megamall’s food court. Mmmm…I wish I had a box right now…
now that you know ,, that hopia baboy has actually no baboy ,,
what a relief ,, the original way of making this pastries as i remember it , when we used to
own a bakery was vegetable oil, para makatipid , sibuyas bumbay or shallots boiled kundol or winter melon that was blanched so the procedure would be ,to saute the shallots till it is brown then you put in the flour till you have a roux but it has to be the consistency of a wall paper paste the add in the kundol , i use to remember my muslim friend wont eat this , then he found that there was no baboy or a trace of baboy ,, found out how we made this , , and would eat it ever since but only in our bakery he would eat this ,,
I tried hopia baboy for the first time last year at a little Pinoy bakery in LA where I live, and I actually liked it. I didn’t expect to like it, but I found the salty-savory-sweetness quite appealing and lighter than I thought it would be. Now, learning that it’s usually made with wintermelon, I understand why. It’s still not my favorite hopia, but I definitely enjoyed it. My favorites are still ube and the yellow monggo versions.
hopia baboy is my favorite hopia…and i always bring some before i get on board the ship where i work…it probably depends on the one who makes it…our house is just near Poland bakery so the smell of freshly made hopia always wafts at our windows,,,and Briz hopia regularly delivers hopia to us so no wonder i love hopia specially the baboy version with lotsa onions and sometimes garlic chives inside
To all HOPIA lovers: When in Jersey City, New Jersey or New York City, you may want to savor Casa Victoria’s flaky type HOPIAs. Simply enjoyable.
Nothing can beat the hopia from Eng Bee Tin-love their hopia mungo!
me too, Holland Monggo Hopia for me, never hopia baboy (“,)
There really is this weird taste/flavor of hopiang baboy but I prefer it more than monggo and ube variety. With hopiang baboy, acquired taste maybe ;)
Hi all,
On another note, I was having a craving for ‘lohua’, that chinese snack that’s golden fried(?) to crisp, cylindrical in shape, sweet and with lots of sesame seeds all around it, and hollow inside, about 3 inches long, about an inch or so in diameter that we used to buy in Divisoria. I don’t see it in any Asian store in Washington, D. C. area and can’t find how it is made on the internet (does mention it, though). I tried experimenting on it couple days ago with no luck (used rice flour, baking powder, some sugar), Does any one have a recipe for it?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Joe
Eng Bee Tin Ube hopia has artificial food colors and is banned by US FDA under import alert 45-02 per web page
My husband is an American. He LOVES the HOPIA BABOY. He can eat at least 10 of the large size in one sitting. He even eats my dad’s hopia.