La Paz Batchoy Restaurant

Location: C and R Bldg, ground floor, Escoda Street. Ermita, Manila.
House Specialty: La Paz Batchoy


La Paz Batchoy is a local noodle soup typically consisting of miki noodles, beef and pork clear broth, topped with slices of beef and pork (meat and liver), chopped green onions and crushed pork rinds. Not to be confused with the Tagalog Batchoy variant in which broth has pig's blood, uses only pork meat and with miswa noodles instead of miki.

A bowl of hot batchoy! Presented as is, no touch ups. I am not much of a food stylist and I am just using a PS Vita camera.

Here in the Ermita district of Manila, I frequent a small eatery named after this well known dish that originally came from the southern province of Iloilo. It is run "mom and pop" style with relatives of the proprietor acting as store manager and cashier at the same time. They first opened the joint way back in the early 80's. My family's business is near the place so we were one of the first customers and I feel lucky having grown up eating their awesome batchoy.

The La Paz Batchoy place is "hidden" in the ground floor of the C and R commercial building. Somewhat like a secret foodie place because of a minimal and homemade signage outside the building that you can easily miss. But ask locals in the area around Pedro Gil LRT station (specially in Escoda st.) and they will right away give you directions. It is a dine in restaurant in a building which is occupied by several clinics, a herbal shop, a flowershop, a photocopy store and a bakery. Their place looks like a typical Karenderia but cleaner. Once you are in there, you will sense how old the establishment is because they are still using the same canteen table and have not done any major renovations in the past four decades since they opened.

Clean and respectable batchoy joint. Their menu and Puto steamer in the background.

Their simple menu consists of special and super batchoy, desserts, and the obligatory softdrinks. Here in the Philippines, a lot of people drink softdrinks like water does not exist hehe. I prefer to drink water instead of high sugar carbonated drinks. For a long time, the price of their batchoy was pegged at a low and affordable price. Every lunch and dinner time their place would be packed to the brim that we just order take out (to go) during those times. But sometime during the mid 2000's they were forced to update their price to reflect the changing times and the decline of walk in customers because one of the jeep terminals in the area was relocated by the local government to a far away street to ease traffic decongestion. Their joint still manages to survive though but not that busy compared to their heydays.

Although the orginal cook already passed away, they still serve a mean bowl of batchoy. It consists of a savory broth, topped with crushed chicharon (pork rinds), green onions, generous meat and liver portions, and miki noodles specifically made for their small restaurant. The noodles are not too salty unlike if you buy it directly from the local market. They taste just right. You also have an option to have a raw chicken egg dropped in your batchoy for an extra 10 pesos to jack up the protein value of your meal. The difference between the "special" and the "super" batchoy is that the super has more meat/liver and and extra innards toppings. for the dessert, they serve these delicious slices of puto (white fluffy rice cakes). At some point they had siopao on their menu but I think they ditched it to simplify inventory (I told you they are a mom and pop establishment). The Ilongo (as what people from Iloilo is called) owner does not want to branch out as what other successful food establishments and instead prefers to be content with taking care of this establishment and handing over the managerial duties to her close relatives. Owner must be doing well in her other businesses.

Price for a bowl of batchoy as of writing is 65 pesos for the special and 75 pesos for the super. 10 pesos for the rice cake and since I really do not want to promote softdrink consumption, just drink their service water or just buy bottled water if you are not from the neigborhood and your stomach is not used to the local tap water.

Authencity? Now as this is my first review, let me tell you about what I think about reviewing or judging food based if it is "authentic" or not. I believe if you want to eat food that is authentic, you go to eat the food at the same location it originated from, same people who made the food, and same source of their ingredients. If you don't do that, you are eating guess what: THE SAME DISH. I don't believe bringing over imported cooks from Japan just so you can label your ramen as "authentic" will make the food more respectable and worthy of your top money. I find it silly when people rave about this food joint being "authentic" because it is owned by foreigners or the ingredients were flown in from abroad or being disappointed because the owner of that french bakery is asian. I do not think it is necessary to check if the food is authentic. As long as the food should taste the way it should be, that's fine with me.

Directions: After getting off at LRT Pedro Gil, just walk north bound along Taft Avenue. Walk past the Aglipay church until you reach Llanes Escoda St. When you see L Carlos flowershop at the corner, just walk along the block until you reach C and R bldg. There will be a small lobby there at the entrance where you can see or smell their house specialty. If you have a car and there is no more parking space left, you can use the nearby Aglipay church pay parking.

Service: A well maintained small casual restaurant. Homey environment. No security problem as the building maintains a roving security force in the premises. Not airconditioned as what most small eateries in Manila.

Menu: Their house specialty is good enough to stand the test of time.

Value: You really can't complain about it. For the same price, you'll just get a small burger meal in a fast food restaurant. And you do not have to drink an extra glass of water just to fill full haha. Serving size is just right for regular appetites.

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