lomi iti banga in laoag

Thick and hot lomi in Laoag city.

I love lomi when it's thick, tasty, savory, spicy, creamy... thickened, especially, thick, even when it's getting cold. Of course, lomi is also popular amongst noodle-hungry Ilokanos because we're all Pinoys here obsessed with pancit although we somehow detest real pasta the Italian way (that's why we have sweet spaghetti, for instance, courtesy of the popular fastfood chains, hmmm. Lomi, and/or other noodle dishes like canton, bijon, is as sikat as, say, Ilocos miki or hi-bol.

I found this lomihan (lomi house) one rainy afternoon, its a small hole in the wall-type eatery wedged along rows of carinderias near the corner of Gov. Primo Lazaro and Gov. Julio Agcaoili Streets in Laoag City, just across the new GMW Bus terminal. The lomihan has no visible name or I might failed to see it because I only mind my extreme hunger, of the cold as I was soaked by the rain. I was curious because of groups of people, mostly college students I presume, gathered infront waiting for their turn at the few but fully occupied tables inside the steamy lomi house. And yes, the invitable aroma of something palatable wafting from the boiling lomi being served in cute claypots (banga). This is lomi iti banga. And it's only served in a banga, unusually not in bowls, so much so that when I placed an order, being alone, I was forced to try to consume a serving of lomi good for 3 to 5 persons, which is kind of cheap because it's only PhP60 or so, way cheaper than the lomis at Savory's and/or Leng-Leng's in Tuguegarao City.

Well, my lomi is served steaming hot and yes, extremely thick with the apparent egg-fused soup. It's topped with fried garlic which I guess is native Ilocos garlic because of its distinct aroma.

The noodle is just as good as a lomi pasta should be, sweet and creamy and delicious. The whole lot of the thick soup/broth is so comfortingly good because of the kikiam  (que-kiam) which added more flavor, and those hints of other bits of I guess is ground pork meat.

Besides adding the obligatory calamansi squeeze to sour it a bit, I spiced my lomi with some chili to take more advantage of its heat-generating capabilities to induce more sweat in me, as the cold rain pours more intense, mercilessly outside.

I might have eaten just 3 bowlfuls out of the banga and I'm full, filled to the brim. Sorry, but I can't finish it all off to the bottom of the claypot, it's a torture, I'm suffused with sweat and my tummy is so heavy and all I want is to settle in my reserved bus seat and sleep all night on the way home to Cagayan.

Verdict? Read it all again and relive my lomi adventure in Laoag. I highly recommend it to all lomi lovers.

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