MANILA, Philippines – When two beloved homegrown brands meet for the first time, you know it’s going to be good.
It’s the best of both croissant and ice cream worlds for The Best of Rebel, the first collaboration of Carmen’s Best and Rebel Bakehouse together, available starting September until December.
Aside from collabs with Yardstick and Del Union, this is the first time Rebel Bakehouse is partnering with a local ice cream brand. As for Carmen’s Best, this is its first partnership with another local business.
“There’s no better joy than giving your best,” said Joey Vergel de Dios, Carmen’s Best retail head, echoing Carmen’s Best brand motto.
“We chose Rebel since we see them as a brand that upholds the same values as us in championing local gourmet food. It’s Carmen’s Best’s first collaboration with a brand,” she said.
The sweetest couple
According to Carmen’s Best, the collab just made “perfect sense” and was the easiest “yes” for both brands, since they both pride themselves on using only fresh ingredients, supporting local communities for sourcing, and producing not at scale.
Carmen’s Best uses 100% fresh milk from local farmers and makes everything from scratch — from its salted caramel to its cheese and strawberry ice cream bases; no extenders, no preservatives. Even the café’s sundae bowls, waffle cups, and chocolate syrup are homemade.
“Everything here is no shortcuts,” they told Rappler, as with Rebel, which bakes its famous pastries every day from scratch.
How did they decide which creations to come up with? “For Carmen’s Best, it was pretty straightforward,” Vergel de Dios said.
“We thought of the traditional ways that people enjoy ice cream — as an ice cream sandwich, à la mode, and in a cone. But with Rebel, we elevated it using their pastries.”
It’s always butter when we’re together
The Best of Rebel features three limited-edition items, starting with the Cookie à la Mode (P260), which is Rebel’s chewy chocolate chip cookie topped with Carmen’s Best milky soft serve (which is only available in their cafés).
This is the family-friendly choice of them all and apparently the best-seller because it’s the most familiar and easiest to eat. It’s hard to go wrong with a homemade, ooey-gooey chocolate chip cookie and ice cream on top, with a sprinkle of chocolate chips for added crunch.
On the other hand, the Croissant Soft Serve (P250) is a novel way to enjoy Rebel’s croissant; it’s served cone-style, sugary, syrupy, and indulgently fun. Rebel’s honey butter cone holds up Carmen’s Best soft serve, with caramel drizzled on top. It’s got all the textures you need — crunchy, flaky, and crumbly in the best way, with caramelized sweetness in every bite, mellowed out by the milky soft-serve.
Both desserts come with perhaps the best component of the series: Rebel’s new croissant cookie — crispy, delicate, buttery, and just the right mix of sticky and sweet.
Carmen’s Best told Rappler they wanted to highlight one of their hidden gems — the soft serve.
“We wanted a dessert that highlights our 100% fresh milk in its purest form,” Vergel de Dios said. “As compared to our ice cream, which also uses 100% fresh milk, the soft serve’s taste and texture focus on that.”
Don’t skip on the Ice Cream Sandwich (P250), using Rebel’s famous freshly baked mini golden butter croissant that hugs scoops of Carmen’s Best’s equally famous Everyone Loves Vanilla ice cream (from the pint and not the soft serve). The ice cream inside is topped with more caramel and nuts for crunch.
The consistency of the ice cream here is thicker and creamier, and it’s more vanilla than milk (the soft serve is milkier, so if you like milk, go for that).
If you’re a sucker for hot-and-cold desserts too, this will satisfy — the soft, buttery, and warmed croissant paired with the ice cream makes for a comforting and filling treat; the added crunch of real nuts and a touch of caramel sweetness make it even more decadent (without feeling overwhelming).
You can also choose your own flavors of ice cream to put in the middle — from classic to premium — for an additional price. But Carmen’s Best recommends the pure vanilla so as not to distract from the goodness of Rebel’s croissant.
The inside ‘scoop’
Just a month of R&D went into the collab, with both teams actively present in the conceptualization process.
“We also had limitations — it’s not like we’re going to cook or bake, so it had to be something simple that you can pair with ice cream,” Vergel de Dios said. “If Rebel already had the cone or the cookie, it was just easy to put our own ice cream. It made sense.”
They also didn’t want to make it too complicated. “If we made it too DIY, people would get overwhelmed,” she explained. “We wanted it to stay simple, familiar, and indulgent.”
The three items are available at Carmen’s Best Rockwell branch until the end of the year.
Currently, Rebel Bakehouse Podium has the Croissant Cone and Cookie à la Mode, while Rebel Bakehouse Glorietta has the Croissant Soft Serve, Cookie à la Mode, plus an exclusive affogato item made with Rebel’s coffee and Carmen’s Best soft serve.
Founded in 2011 by Paco Magsaysay, Carmen’s Best began as a small family business using excess fresh milk from their father’s dairy farm in Laguna. Named after Paco’s daughter, the homegrown ice cream brand quickly gained popularity for its rich, creamy texture, gourmet branding, and refined flavors made with 100% fresh milk, pure cream, and no shortcuts.
Rebel Bakehouse started in Baguio City in 2022 as a commissary-café known for its buttery croissants and inventive pastries. Founded by Donna Aldana and Danica Santos, Rebel Bakehouse also gained a cult following for its fresh, flaky pastries daily, using premium ingredients and traditional French techniques. They have since expanded to Metro Manila. – Rappler.com