Visiting Philippines? Try this dessert

 My #1 Philippine dessert is not traditionally filipino.

The day I arrived was grey and wet, yet humid. The traffic was a cluttered mess going from the airport. But the start of an authentic Asian experience. It was in September.
I am however not reminiscing about my stay, but the smell of caramalized sugar when I entered the kitchen that following morning.

The Philippines have its traditional dessert like Halo-Halo and Buku salad that is both delectable, must try frozen desserts. But it is neither of the two that made an impression on me during my visit to the Philippines.

I originally began writing this post to share a great delicacy of my first visit to the Philippines.  Being passed off as a filipino dessert, I soon realised that this is not a filipino dessert but, the filipino version rather. It is still the filipino version I prefer, since I had travelled to Mexico, France and South Africa. My finding is that the filipino version referred to as Leche Flan is tastier, dense, creamier smooth and sweeter. It is made with more egg yolk, condensed milk and evaporated milk.

In South Africa it is called a flanby but it derives from france, and is named after the nick name of a french president Francois Hollande.

At some point I read a post from a filipino stating that leche flan was invented when they had used egg whites for building as it was a strong adhesive and because they had no use for the yolks thus leche flan was created. I could not find anything online about this and think that perhaps it is a myth passed down by their elders. Correct me if I am wrong.
But nowhere did I find any confirmation on this other than that it is derived from France, Mexico and Spain and I know that the Philippines was colonized by Spain.

I decided to prepare it myself. Instead I opted for a healthier version with only egg yolk and milk as I was cutting on the sugar. I soon realised that without those ingredients it was no longer leche flan but just a regular caramel creme.

The true traditional version is done with full cream milk, evaporated milk and condensed milk. Its great. But can be too sweet.

In my opinion, since the leche flan did not derive from the Philipines. They most certainly perfected it.