Nestled just south of Camelback Road, Scooptopia is a must-visit spot for ice cream. The tiny shop serves 16 different handmade flavors.
“Ube is one of the best-selling ice cream flavors,” Libria says. “Even though customers are unfamiliar with it, they change their mind from chocolate to ube once they try it.”
But the shop offers far more than scoops and cones.
"Halo-halo is our specialty," Libria says of the refreshing layered dessert drink — a standout treat for cooling off during the scorching summer days.
"First, we put red mung beans, white kidney beans and sweet chickpeas on the bottom, then some crushed ice. Next come the jellies — nata de coco, green jelly, and red sugar palm jelly — and then lanka, which is jackfruit," she says.
The vibrant concoction is balanced with additional shaved ice, then flan, a scoop of ice cream and milk. Finally, the dessert is topped with pinipig (rice crispies) and a striped wafer stick resembling a straw.
“The kids love this, and so do their grandparents — they say it’s ‘masarap!’” Libria says, sharing the Tagalog word for yummy.
The colorful $6.49-$7.49 dessert melts into a scrumptious drink with various textures, offering a surprising experience until its last drop.
Scooptopia also offers three flavors of taho, a warm silken-tofu dessert drink. The traditional taho is flavored with brown sugar syrup, while the other two variations are enhanced with homemade taro and strawberry syrups. The syrup swirls through the tofu, creating a marble-like effect and all three come with sago pearls, much like boba.
The shop's owners, Paul and Gina Halum, often share memories of seeing mágtatahô, the street vendors who sell taho in the Philippines, Libria says. These vendors carry the ingredients for the tofu-based treat across their shoulders using a long piece of wood with an aluminum drum balanced on each side.
In Phoenix, customers can come inside to enjoy their taho. Scooptopia is a modern spot with a mishmash of seating options and tables in a small dining room decorated with sunflowers with matching yellow pillows and starburst wall accents. For many, it’s a popular hangout for “merienda,” or snacks.
Scooptopia serves ensymada, a recipe originally from Spain with sugar and cheese on top.
Gabby Madriaga
“This is ensymada, originally a recipe from Spain,” he says, “but we made it very special to taste like Filipino style. We put a lot of sugar and cheese on top, which is the twist. And we made it extra soft and billowy.”
The yellow-orange-colored pastry sells for $4 a piece and $20 for a box of six, and exemplifies the fusion of Filipino and Spanish culinary traditions.
The Spanish conquered the Philipines in 1565, so many foods and drinks have Spanish names. Pandesal, a classic Filipino roll with a tinge of sweetness, translates from Spanish as salt bread. The ingredients are salt, flour, yeast, sugar and oil.
"I make ube cheese pandesal, which is made with ube flavor and a sweet cheese filling," Monton says of the purple-colored doughy bread. He also makes malungay or moringa-infused pandesal, coconut-filled pan de coco and chicken siopao, a bun filled with savory chicken.
Monton, hailing from Iloilo City in the Philippines, has also brought biscocho, a twice-baked crunchy and sweet bread, to Phoenix.
“Biscocho is a popular giveaway," he says. "Whenever tourists come from Manila to Iloilo, they bring the biscocho back to their place. It’s biscotti, but I made it with a little twist and made it a little chewy.”
With all of the snacks on offer, Scooptopia is much more than just an ice cream shop. But if you're in the mood for a cold scoop, it has plenty to choose from. The ice cream can be served as a $5.29 single scoop or double in a cone or cup, or in pint-sized containers for $10.99. Banana and mango are popular ice cream flavors reminiscent of the islands.
“We also have calamansi sorbet,” Libria says. “I think we are the only ones who sell this flavor in Phoenix.”
Calamansi is a hybrid Southeast Asian citrus that’s squeezed for the popular calamansi juice in the Philippines. The signature flavor, like their other hand-made ice cream and sorbet batches, was a collaboration with the award-winning ice cream makers at Scooptacular in Laveen.
The shop makes a calamansi boba drink as well. For those who love bananas, the team serves a refreshing Banana Con Yelo, featuring sweetened plantains mixed with shaved ice, milk and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Scooptopia’s fifth anniversary will take place on Aug. 10. To celebrate, the shop will feature a $5 special, marking five years of sweet success. Both Monton and Libria are planning for the big day. “We’ll be serving pancit, Filipino spaghetti, and arroz caldo,” Libria concludes. “They will all be $5 per serving.”
Celebrate with Scooptopia on Aug. 10 and beyond to experience the rich flavors that have made it a local favorite.
