Mix Mix Co started as a food truck in 2019, regularly serving customers at Blacktown’s Parklea Markets, where it still trades on weekends. In May 2024, it expanded by opening a store in Rooty Hill Plaza, located in a lively area with other Filipino food businesses.
Halo-halo is Mix Mix’s signature dessert and namesake. Additionally, the menu features a wide variety of drinks and desserts reminiscent of those sold by street vendors in Manila.
Coconut Pandan Crusher ($7.20, + $2.00 for large). It featured coconut pandan cream, milk, boba, pandan jelly, and coconut strips.
The beverage offered a bright pandan and coconut flavour, achieving a pleasant level of sweetness that paired well with the sweet pastries (see below). It effortlessly balanced their sweetness with subtle savoury notes from the coconut and pandan. The coconut strips and pandan jelly added ample texture. The house-made jelly had a delightful gelatin bounce and easily came through the cardboard straw, though its pandan flavour paled in comparison to the drink itself. The quality of the tapioca pearls could have been higher, but this might be due to the high standards set by Taiwanese bubble tea chains.
Turon ($6.00). It featured a caramelised banana springroll served with jackfruit sauce.
The spring roll pastry was about 20 cm in length and had an off-putting sour, sweaty smell, but as long as we didn’t inhale when taking a bite, the taste was good. It was crisp and crunchy, with a caramelised, shard-like texture on all sides. The interior had a mellow banana flavour—gently sweet, with a firmer, starchy quality similar to sugar bananas, rather than the softer Cavendish variety. Paired with the jackfruit sauce, which tasted exactly like jackfruit, it was a delightful bite. The jackfruit enhanced the muted notes of the banana, creating a well-balanced flavour.
Buko Pie ($6.00). It featured a ‘creamy coconut custard in a pastry shell’.
Fried fresh to order, the pastry was light and not greasy, while the interior was creamy with a bright coconut flavour and balanced sweetness. Unlike the blistered, crunchy texture of McDonald’s pies, this pastry had a softer, shortcrust-like texture that was more crumbly than crunchy. Thankfully, it did not have the off-putting smell of the Turon, but it also did not provide sufficient contrast to the predominantly creamy and soft interior, despite containing some coconut strips.
Mango Peach Pie ($6.00). It featured ‘mangoes & peaches in a pastry shell’.
Fried fresh to order, this pie had the same pastry as the previous one, with similar textural issues. The mango and peach filling was soft and mushy, resembling the taste and texture of mango and peach jelly cups found in Western supermarkets, rather than the firmer, bitier fruit from Japanese brands. Consequently, it failed to provide sufficient contrast to the softer, crumbly ‘crunch’ of the pastry.
Overall, we likely won’t return for the pastries at Mix Mix Co, as their textures may require a nostalgic connection for full appreciation. However, we are open to trying their extensive selection of drinks.
Mix Mix Co is located at 5/52 Rooty Hill Rd N, Rooty Hill NSW 2766.