pancit chronicles, episode 3: batil patung @ eva's panciteria, tuguegarao city

Pancit Batil Patung @ Eva's Panciteria (Annafunan Panciteria), Tuguegarao City.

Eva’s Panciteria (a.k.a. Annafunan Panciteria) is one of the most famous panciterias in Tuguegarao City, it being one of the most secluded that only the pancit batil patong “addicts” in the city can easily locate to satisfy their pancitly urge. Seclusion, or perhaps even secrecy (they don’t even have signages or billboards), made some panciterias in Tuguegarao the more popular as only the so-called real pancit connoisseurs bother to reach or are challenged to find these literal holes in the wall noodle houses. And I mean literal houses. Like the equally famous and secluded Lamud’s (or ECP, whatever) Panciteria in Barangay Cataggaman Nuevo, that panciteria in Barangay Annafunan is a noodle nook right in a residential house painted yellow (it was mentioned as a “green house” in Claude Tayag and Mary Ann Quioc’s Linamnam: Eating One’s Way Around the Philippines. Yes, Eva’s Panciteria (as Annafunan Panciteria) is listed in this culinary travel book, one of the only three batil patong panciterias mentioned, the two others being Lamud’s Panciteria and ECL Panciteria [in Barangay Carig]).

Batil patong time, past 3PM, with some pancit gourmands, at Eva's Panciteria.

And this is Manang Eva, the famous batil patong cook, dubbed and crowned as “Batil Patong Queen” in the city by her loyal pancit eaters and followers:

Just like most panciterias in the city, the kitchen and the cooking of the batil patong that you ordered is open for the curious (and envious) to gawk or observe upon. Here, you can watch the skills of a bating patong cook, and here, Manang Eva is really exceptional and impressive she could be a pancit chef in the White House alongside Chef Cristeta Comerford:

And so, after about 15 minutes of waiting, here are our orders, plates runneth over with heaps of carabeef meat, pork liver and egg toppings:

Pancit batil patong pure goodness topped with sautéed ground carabao meat and pork liver adobo and poached egg. No other fancy toppings of lechon carajay bits or pulverized pork cracklings, no veggies either, sorry, but it’s this simple and basic enough. A really gorgeous pancit, if you ask me:

The poached egg is just as perfectly rare or medium rare:

The egg oozing over the whole of the batil patong. And of course, the obligatory chopped raw sibuyas:

And with the accompanying egg soup. And yes, with the ubiquitous Tuguegarao-made “Malabon” brand soy sauce. In Tuguegarao, batil patong is not batil patong, if not flavored by this unique soy sauce. It maybe an acquired taste, but we so-called pancit aficionados in Tuguegarao swear and attest that other soy sauce brands won’t just fit in, they spoil the batil patongness of the real Tuguegarao batil patong, amen:

The egg reigning over. Extraordinary, this batil patong, is:

Spicing it a bit, with cracked paminta:

Enjoying the batil patong is naturally messy, it’s a required way to relish it, you can’t get away with all the sauces and juices, flavor and aroma fused to serve you all the goodness of a real batil patong. And here, Eva’s Panciteria’s version will not fail your strict expectation and craving for the original one, the all-meaty essence has only enhanced the pancitness of the whole pancit thing without any extra veggie flavor to intrude the taste and deliciousness. The miki or noodles is just cooked perfectly right, the sautéed meat to meet and please even the most finicky who can’t bear the intense and distinctive carabao meat smell (angdod, anggo):

And I can’t help but to finish off my plate, my cup of soup, and that saucer of onions with calamansi and sili. For sure, I’m one satisfied suki from hereon, Eva’s Panciteria will be among my list of must-be-there panciterias in the city, I’m one lucky bastard who finally found it, it’s a real quest, a literal one, what with the numerous wrong alleys and turns before finally finding the place, it’s a gastronomic el dorado of sort:

Be there, experience the quest, too, if you’re a pers taym adventurer, search it along the crooks and crannies of Annafunan East. It’s at the end of Aquino Street if you’re from the main road in Annafunan going to Barangay Linao, the street right across the Catholic church. Or take the interior road from Atulayan Norte going to Linao, passing Sunshine Valley Homes II, turn to a small street entering through some bamboo thickets along the main road. Sounds challenging enough, go!

UPDATE: As of this blog post, Eva’s Panciteria has moved to a separate sort of a building of its own, bigger and more spacious, located in the same compound in Annafunan East, just beside the old yellow-painted panciteria. I’ll be posting a part two soon about my new batil patong experience in the new Eva’s Panciteria. New place, but of course, the same phenomenal pancit batil patong that only Manang Eva can create:

More pancit batil patong stories:

• Pancit Chronicles, Episode 1: Batil patung @ Triangle's Panciteria, Tuguegarao City
• Pancit Chronicles, Episode 2: Batil patung @ Lamud's Panciteria, Tuguegarao City

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pancit chronicles, episode 2: batil patung @ lamud's panciteria, tuguegarao city

Pancit batil-patung @ Lamud's Panciteria, Tuguegarao City.

2013. And I want my first blog entry of the new year to be more on and about pancit, the batil-patung variety of Tuguegarao City. This is to continue chronicling my own pancit escapades in the city and elsewhere in and out of Cagayan Valley. And yes, of course, I opted for a pancit post just for the heck that pancit denotes or assures longer life, more years to come, not for the blogger but moreso with this blog.

And so, I continue my batil-patung adventure to one of the most popular panciterias in Tuguegarao, the popularity not only it being one of the best batil-patung "promotor" but because of its trademarked "elusiveness,"  its being a recluse panciteria, literally, because Lamud's Panciteria is not readily visible, not even along the road or in the centro of the city, it's as if a kind of hideaway for a few batil-patung aficionados who wanted to enjoy their favorite pancit secretly, away from some gluttons who might attack and consume all the delicious pancit that's there and their's alone.


Like most panciterias in the city, Lamud's is almost unmarked, no signage whatsoever, so I didn't find its reported name ECP Panciteria written or painted. Lamud is it, its famous monicker of mouth. Lamud's is a typical panciteria which offers pancit in three servings with PhP10 differences that actually varies only on the quantity and quality of toppings (ground meat, liver, etc.) 

What's truly different from among the equally popular panciterias in Tuguegarao is that Lamud's batil-patung is exclusively topped with freshly ground beef--not carabeef (nuang, carabao meat, which is the signature topping of most of the batil-patungs in Cagayan) or pork. According to the cook, their meat comes right from cows they exclusively slaughter on their own just for the pancit (he gestured me a nearby stable in the front yard  with some cows masticating on dried corn hays).

While waiting for our PhP80-orders, I mixed in the obligatory chopped onions and calamansi, with soy sauce and fermented chili--and oh, they've got a chili oil even! I love the way the condiments are presented atop the tables, the hot chilis particularly not in the usual catsup bottles but plastic containers bound together in set of threes (with the soy sauce).

Our batil-patungs are served, and boy, it's heaping! The toppings are so generous it runneth over: sauteed/stir fried ground beef and cabbages and carrots, and of course, the signature egg. Makes the pancit-eater in you seems to have premature ejaculatory craving just by the way it looks and smells (the aroma is, of course, so overpoweringly beefy, distinct to the other batil-patungs with that traditional nuang scent) you just can't wait to take a bite at once.

But before anything else, I spiced up my batil-patung as is the ritual: with soy-onion-calamansi mixture and with chilis, fermented and in oil.

The devouring... Okey, I just love it, the beef, which separates this pancit among its peers in the city. What I found out is that the noodle, the miki, the pasta, is thinner than the other mikis used in other batil-patungans, and it's more like a canton both in appearance and more so in taste or flavor. This is my first time Lamud encounter so maybe I'll have yet to acquire a taste of it as I'm used to the others. Lamud's for me, for now anyway, is a pancit canton but with pancit batil patung toppings and condiments.

I'm not complaining, this pancit is so delicious, we finished our heaping plates clean up to the last morsel signifying our satisfaction. I'm convinced now and I understand why people keep on coming and spreading the news of Lamud's uniqueness--both on the pancit and the panciteria itself. I'll surely come again and indulge.

Try it, and tell us what you think. And oh, by the way, going to Lamud's is a little tricky, but just ask tricycle drivers in Tuguegarao City, most of them are familiar with it and know the way. But if you want a little adventure, try to find it yourself, it's at #79 Gunnacao St. in Brgy Cataggaman Nuevo. Just be cautious of the unpaved, gravelly one-lane alley going inside its compound.

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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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pancit chronicles, episode 1: batil patung @ triangle's panciteria, tuguegarao city

Pancit batil patung a.k.a Pancit Tuguegarao (Triangle Panciteria version)

Pancit batil-patung is Tuguegarao City's most loved food and arguably Cagayan's most famous delicacy and the province's (and yes, Cagayan Ibanag's/Itawes') own noodle pride in the list of famed Philippine pancits (like pancit malabon, pancit habhab, pancit molo, pancit lucban, etc.). So much so that pancit batil patung is also called "Pancit Tuguegarao" or even "Pancit Cagayan" and "Pancit Ibanag" (although of course, the equally famous and sumptous Pancit Cabagan of Cabagan, Isabela is also an Ibanag pancit, for that matter).

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