Iloilo’s Best – La Paz Batchoy

Last updated on November 8th, 2018 at 11:46 pm

Batchoy is a well-known noodle soup made up of pork entrails such as liver, kidney, intestines and lungs, with the addition of crushed pork cracklings or chicharon, shrimp, chicken stock, vegetables and round noodles. Some uses pork and some prefer using beef instead. Its origin is said to be in the district of La Paz, Iloilo City Philippines that is why it is commonly called as La Paz Batchoy.

Batchoy’s real origin is absurd or inconclusive. Some documented accounts for its history includes the following:

1938

Federico Guillergan was known to invent Batchoy at La Paz market. His recipe was originally made up of noodles, mixture of broth, pork and beef. As time passes by, it keeps on evolving until it reaches its present form, which popularized Iloilo City’ s most famous dish. Federico Guillergan, Jr., which is the son of the inventor of Batchoy says that his father first called his dish “bats”. His father then added “choy”, which came from the vegetable dish chop suey.

1945

Teodorico Lepura opened his very first Batchoy Shop located at the La Paz market. Managed by himself, his wife and his children, the soup shop was sold back then at the price of 20 centavos per order. Back then, before 1945, when Lepura was only a teenager, he worked in a Chinese merchant and there he learned the concoction of making the basic La Paz Batchoy. Because he loved the taste so much, he made his own version of the dish, which made his own business successful.

Other version of its origin states that Batchoy came from a Chinese community in La Paz.

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][yumprint-recipe id=’28’][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

The Food Diary

I am pure-blooded Pinoy food enthusiast who happen to be an aficionado for good food and great experiences.