La Paz Batchoy

Visayas·Medium·1 hour active + 2 hours resting

Iloilo's noodle soup with miki (egg) noodles, pork offal, chicharrón crumbles, and bone-marrow broth — invented in the La Paz Public Market.

Egg

La Paz Batchoy is most commonly traced to butcher Federico "Deco" Guillergan Sr., who set up his stall at the La Paz Public Market in Iloilo City around 1938 and is credited with coining the name; he combined Chinese-Filipino (Hokkien) noodle technique — the name 'batchoy' itself derives from Hokkien 肉碎 (bah-chhùi, 'minced meat') or 肉水 (bah-chúi, 'meat broth') — with Filipino pork-organ traditions. Its origin is disputed, however — rival stalls Inggo's (claiming 1922) and Ted's Oldtimer (1945) also claim the original. The defining elements are: thick fresh miki noodles, beef-and-pork bone broth simmered overnight, slices of pork liver and meat, a top crown of chicharrón (fried pork rind) crumbles. The dish has spread beyond Iloilo but the original remains the benchmark.

Spoon down through the bowl: chewy egg noodles, peppery clear broth, slices of just-cooked pork and liver, runny soft-boiled yolk, a final crunch of chicharrón from the top. The Iloilo touch is the offal — it makes the bowl ring with mineral umami.

Roasting bones before simmering develops Maillard compounds that contribute amber color and roasted depth — without roasting, the broth stays pale and thin. The chicharrón sprinkle at the end is crucial: it provides fat-bound umami that won't dissolve into the broth as it would if cooked from the start.

Variations

La Paz Iloilo original uses pork liver; Bacolod version uses chicken; Ilonggo home cooks add shrimp paste — three Visayan noodle traditions.

On the Palate

Where La Paz Batchoy sits in the Filipino flavor cloud

Cook to learn

Roast the bones hard before they ever hit water — that browning is what turns the broth amber and gives it roasted depth; skip it and you get pale, thin soup.

Techniques

Roasting Simmering

Ingredients

Serves 4

1kg bones + 200g loinPork Belly

200gPork Liver

500g bonesBeef Shank

4Egg

400g fresh miki noodlesWheat Flour

How it's made

5 steps · 1 hour active + 2 hours waiting

1
270 min
Make bone broth: roast 1kg pork bones and 500g beef bones at 220°C for 30 min. Transfer to pot with 4L water, 1 chopped onion, 4 garlic cloves, 1 tbsp salt. Simmer 4 hours; strain.
Watch out
Bones should come out of the oven deeply browned, not just warmed — that char is the whole point.
2
15 min
Slice 200g pork loin, 200g pork liver, 100g chicharrón (set aside). Soft-boil 4 eggs (7 min); peel, halve.
3
5 min
Bring strained broth back to simmer. Cook 400g fresh miki egg noodles directly in the broth for 3 min (or boil separately).
4
3 min
In hot broth, blanch pork loin slices 2 min and liver slices 1 min — they should be just cooked through.
Watch out
Liver is done the instant it loses its raw red sheen — a minute at most, or it turns grainy.
5
5 min
Assemble in bowls: noodles first, broth ladled over, pork loin, liver, half soft-boiled egg, scattered chicharrón crumbles, chopped scallion. Serve immediately.
Watch out
Scatter the chicharrón only at the table so it crackles into the first spoonful.