Batchoy Festival 2023

Look: a glimpse of Batchoy Festival at SM Southpoint, SM City Iloilo. In its third year, the Batchoy Festival is part of the annual Dinagyang celebration. Participating Batchoy brands include Ted's Original LaPaz Batchoy, Popoy's LaPaz Batchoy, and Inggo's LaPaz Batchoy.

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Batchoy is a noodle soup made with pork organs, crushed pork cracklings, chicken stock, beef loin, and round noodles. The origin of batchoy is traced to the district of La Paz, Iloilo City, and is often referred to by its iconic name, La Paz Batchoy.

Tracing the roots of batchoy, one origin came to existence in 1938 when Federico Guillergan Sr. concocted a dish made by mixing noodles, broth, beef, and pork. When asked for the recipe’s name, the inventor would usually say ‘Bats’ and, later on, appended ‘-choy’ from chop suey, a popular vegetable dish. Moreover, another origin tells that the first batchoy shop was put up in the district of La Paz by Teodorico Lepura in 1945. Back in the 1930s, Lepura concocted his own version while working for a Chinese merchant. The earliest price was 20 cents a bowl.

Popular batchoyans in Iloilo:
-Ted’s La Paz Batchoy
-Deco’s La Paz Batchoy
-Inggo’s La Paz Batchoy
-Netong’s La Paz Batchoy
-Popoy’s La Paz Batchoy

Read about Batchoy: