La Paz in a Bowl

CEBU, Philippines - Just when I've finally left Ilo-ilo and shipped all my stuff back to Cebu, I'm starting to crave for La Paz Batchoy really, really bad. I was quite lucky to have lived along the Jaro-La Paz border, at E.Lopez Street which was just a stone's through away from La Paz Public Market and downtown La Paz. This happened once upon a time. La Paz Batchoy has become a bad habit to break for me because it was just too good to give up. It was an afternoon habit, it was my refuge after negotiations gone wrong, a de-stressor, a rainy day mate, it was celebratory food for deals sealed, ti, it was my best friend (Ilonggo accent here). Amu guid na ya.

I am obviously not talking about the kind that comes in a paper bowl that cooks in three minutes after you pour just enough boiling water over. I'm talking about the traditional La Paz batchoy with the not-so-thick noodles bathed in meaty stock and chiken broth, sprinkled with shreds of pork meat and organs, shrimp and vegetables, and topped with my favorite crushed pork cracklings. You won't find this kind of La Paz batchoy anywhere else but in La Paz. Believe me, I've tried getting my fill from La Paz batchoy houses in other parts of the Pinas but none of them measure up in terms of flavor, presentation, and all-in goodness.

The origins of La Paz batchoy are many and rather inconclusive. Some say that it was a concoction of left-overs from chop suey straight from the Chinese community which was converted into a broth soup and dubbed ba-chui.

Others believe that this bowl of heaven dated all the way back to 1938 when it was first made by an enterprising culinary maestro named Federico Guillergan Sr. Federico, or Deco as he was fondly called by those who knew him well in the public market circle in La Paz experimented by mixing noodles, beef, pork organs, pork cracklings, and garnishing it with herbs and spices on top. 

His soup became an instant hit, becoming a crowd drawer in the already crowded La Paz public market. After tasting his son's concoction, Federico Jr., Deco's father playfully called the soup “bats” when his son asked him to suggest a name. Later, Deco added “choy” after the vegetables that were mixed with the broth which came from the famous Chinese vegetable dish chop suey. Business was so good that the tiny market stall that sold the first bowls of La Paz batchoy grew to become one of today's most famous La Paz batchoy houses named after the inventor. And the dish? Naturally, it became one of the Ilo-Ilo's signature dishes. 

There was also a young man with whom a considerable many believe gave birth to the first real bowl of La Paz batchoy. It was somewhere during the 1930s when a teen-ager called Teodoro Lepura, the son of a poor peasant in Ilo-Ilo juggled odd jobs just to stay alive. Teodoro, at that time, worked with Chinese merchants who exposed him to a variety of Chinese dishes. That was how he stumbled upon the Chinese version of La Paz batchoy and eventually discovered his flair for the culinary arts. During his spare time, Teodoro would experiment with the dish, adding, removing a few ingredients here and there until he came up with the kind of La Paz batchoy that we know and love today.

With only Php 10.00 in his pocket after the ravages of World War II in 1945, Teodoro could not forget how much the crowd loved his concoction of broth, meat, organs, and vegetables which he tried his hand at selling before the war broke out. Using what meager savings he had, Teodoro and his wife opened a small market stall at the La Paz Public Market and sold their La Paz batchoy at 20 centavos a bowl. Today, that bamboo market stall has grown to become Ted's Oldtimer La Paz Batchoy which will give you a taste of Ilo-Ilo anytime, anywhere where there's Ted's.

You needn't have a degree in the culinary arts to be able to fix yourself a good bowl of La Paz batchoy. All you need are pork liver, spleen, kidneys, and heart all chopped into shreds, crushed pork cracklings, vegetables, shrimp, beef loin, shrimp broth, chicken stock, and miki or round noodles. Heat the oil in a stock pot, and stir fry the pork organs, shrimp, beef, and chicken for around a minute. Add soy sauce, then simmer the shrimp for a few minutes. Pour the broth into the bowl of miki, top with leeks, sprinkle pork cracklings all over and finish off with a raw egg.

However, before fixing your own bowl in the comforts of your house, I highly suggest taking a trip to Ilo-Ilo and sampling out the original straight from the heart of La Paz. Believe me, Ilo-Ilo has never been this delicious. You don't have to wait for Dinagyang to drop by for this. It's just too saboroso to resist.