The Hunt for the Best Batchoy in Town

Having lived in Bacolod all my life, there are some specific foods that I really miss. I try my best to look for something that's remotely close to their taste here in Manila. Sometimes I get lucky, but more often I'm disappointed. No matter how far that restaurant is, I will usually go to it just so I can get a taste of what I was missing.

I have compiled the list of these restaurants and dishes I especially love from them. Click here if you want to take a moment and see these... The Best Eats in Bacolod

Last year, Bob's opened a branch in Manila. I was very happy with this because I no longer had to wait until I could go home before I could eat Sate Babi again! What's good about it is that they opened their branch near Paranaque! I'll be posting about that next time.

Because we are pure Bacolodnons, people often ask us about our Inasal. But other than that, there are some people who do not know the difference between Bacolod and Iloilo. Just because we share a common tongue does not mean we are one. We are usually asked about the Batchoy. Although we do have our fair share of restaurants that have batchoy in Bacolod (21 Restaurant), we cannot deny that the originators of the dish are really the Ilonggos from Iloilo.

Now that we are in Manila, there are times when we crave for this dish. I remember growing up, my mom used to tell the driver to go to Lola's Batchoy to pick up her order. The driver would then come home carrying at least 3 tubes of the Mayonnaise package that you can buy in bulk. We would then eat batchoy during the rainy season.

For those who are unfamiliar with Batchoy, it is like Chicken Mami but it has intestines, liver, chicharon, and a different noodle.

Since it's been raining like crazy here in Manila, my family and I looked for the best place where we could eat Batchoy.

1. Ted's


Commonly found in malls, Ted's is one of the "original" batchoy places in Bacolod. It is said that they are the top competitors of Deco's (the original La Paz batchoy). I found this in SM Sucat. I did not like their batchoy though. It was all soup and just a few spoon servings of noodle.

2. Freska


My sister in law and I ate in Freska, RCBC Plaza last week. We were really shocked at how big each serving was. We were expecting each serving to be just a small bowl good for one, so we ordered 2. We did not know that each serving was huge!

At first, we were enjoying it. But after a while, I noticed a number of patches of oil flowing with the soup. Since they pounded the chicharon, the oil from the skin mixed with the soup. I had a headache so I stopped eating.

3. Deco's


The Original La Paz Batchoy since 1938.

At first, my sister and I thought that their restaurant was located across NAIA Terminal 2 (Cebu Pacific) because there was a huge advertisement there. When my dad and I decided to eat there, the parking attendant told us that it was just an ad. They did not have a branch there.

I saw their website www.decoslapazbatchoy.com and visited it. I found out that their branch is in Alphaland Southgate Mall, in Pasong Tamo Ext. corner EDSA.

Last Saturday, Bubot, Ronnie and I were rushing home from SM Megamall since it was already raining hard. We did not want to get stuck in case there will be a flood. But since we were still unable to do our grocery, we decided to go to Alphaland to do our groceries there.

Since we were already in the area, we decided to try Deco's batchoy.

We were shocked with each serving! Knowing Manila, we thought that the batchoy served to us would be all soup and contain only a few servings of noodle and meat. We were really shocked when we found that each serving was more than the soup! But don't worry, you can still ask for more soup (caldo). They'll give you this for free! ^,^

So what do I say about the hunt for the best batchoy in town?
Case closed. ^,^