If Japanese has their Ramen, Koreans has their Ramyun, Vietnamese has their Pho, Chinese has their Wonton, Iloilo – a province of the Philippines has its Batchoy. It is a special noodle soup made extra special with ingredients like pork crackling, pork liver, chicken meat with spices and seasoning.
It started at the heart of LaPaz, Iloilo City and there were too many articles on the web with regards to its history, who is original, who is the most delicious, and so on and so forth. But this guide is not about any of that. Take this as a guide article that will help you in choosing the batchoy place whenever cravings hit you. I am listing below the batchoy places I have personally tried with my personal recommendation also.
Ted’s LaPaz Batchoy
It is the batchoy place that is quite familiar in the ears of Ilonggo. Ted’s in one of the institution when it comes to batchoy service. I like it because every bowl looks like a celebration – complete in ingredients and seasonings. They have branches around the city – and my favorite is the one at the MaryMart Center.
Teodoricos by Ted’s
It is also the same as Ted’s surprise. But I call this an ‘upscale’ Ted’s. It is located at Festive Walk Parade with everything just upscale – the menu layout, the tables, the chairs, the ambiance, the price – of course. But every bowl gives me a thrill of my favorite bowl.
Netong’s
Another name in batchoy industry that rings a bell. It is able to maintain its heritage setup at LaPaz market, same old setup and same old taste. However, same as Ted’s, Netong’s also have its version of an upscale branch. You can also taste the same bowl at their branch at The Atria Park District.
Toto Batchoy
Toto may not be a famous as the first batchoy places I listed but I can say that the taste and quality can compete with them. It is located near downtown area and very accessible to people whenever they crave for some warm soup.
Batchoy Outside the City
I am extending this crawl even to famous batchoy places outside the city. Surprisingly, Iloilo towns have their version of batchoy and we went taste them.
Batchoyan ni Jasmin (Sta. Barbara)
Sta. Barbara (a town in Iloilo) is not just famous for having the biggest flag in the Philippines but also people from different towns and provinces are going in there to have a taste of their batchoy version. If you want to come to this place, come early, there are really a lot of people coming from different places and you might not able to have some. Batchoy is selling like hot cakes here.
Lola Di’s (Inayan) Barotac Nuevo
Aside from being the football capital of the Philippines, Barotac Nuevo is also housing another good place to have some batchoy. Their batchoy has a twist - they serve this with ginamos (shrimp paste).
Batchoy as Fusion
Through the years, new elements are also infused with Iloilo’s original batchoy recipe. This shows the creative side of Ilonggos when it comes to culinary. The tangy and savory taste of batchoy is incorporated to other ingredients.
Lars Buko Batchoy
Batchoy with coconut juice as its soup. This is the batchoy that you can have here. Instead of tasting a little salty, the bathcoy here tastes a little sweet – because of the buko juice mixed in the soup. Furthermore, your batchoy is served on a coconut which served as the bowl. Coconut meat is also shredded like noodles.
Ramenchoi
Noodles of a ramen with a soup of the batchoy. This is the batchoy that you can taste here. The theme is majority Japanese but with a fusion of the Iloilo’s batchoy. There were a lot of choices in the menu and my favorite is their salted egg ramen. You can also pair it up with takoyaki and tonkatsu.
Batchoy has its “one true pair” you can always choose your battle – puto or pandesal. Batchoy is only one of the many thing Iloilo is famous for. It is exciting to see the institutions to maintain their decades old recipe and it is also exciting to see what the future of Batchoy will be.