Lapaz Batchoy

After reading all the reviews, I was excited to finally have some legit batchoy while in the mainland since last memory I have of it was back home on Guam. We stopped by here on the way to a friend’s in Daly City. We were greeted by a lady at the counter whom I asked for two orders of the XXL Batchoy. I was hoping that it would taste similar to what I remember but I was a bit disappointed in the flavor. Now I don’t mean to bring them down, but I think the broth can use some improvement. Tasted almost commercial, as well as the noodles that were used. I hope they improve on that, so I can finally get some legit batchoy… The lady was nice, and the atmosphere brought back memories of the little restaurants you’d see back home, but the flavor is lacking –for now that’s the missing piece.

Yum! Yum! Order the adobo so good! I love this restaurant and it’s owned by a Filipino military recruiter! They play the TFC channel while waiting. The wait is a little bit long but it’s worth it! I felt like my grandma was cooking me home cooked food but restaurant style also. The best dish would be the Adobo and the lumpia silog. It’s super cheap too!

One thing that I did not inherit from my mom is her Chinesey cheapassness genes or as she would like to call it, her «frugality methods». If she knew the amount of money I spend on dining out, she would whip out her draconian feather duster and chase after me while screaming, «It’s just going to hurt even more if you keep running…» I guess this was her «retail therapy» without dropping a dime.
Yesterday, I read about a new app called Table8 (
) that made me shudder. I guess my Chinesey cheapassness gene was always there but just repressed.
The app helps you «score» last minute reservations for the «hottest» SF restaurants like Aziza, La Folie, Slanted Door, and Spruce… all for a fee of $ 20 for a party of two and $ 25 for a party of four (the app startup and restaurant split the fee ⁵⁰⁄₅₀). Obnoxious much? I’ve been to 11 of the 12 currently participating restaurants and I never had a problem getting reservations (Danko, Statebirds, and French Laundry are not participants). Sounds more like an app for rich people with poor planning skills if you ask me.
$ 20 may not seem a lot but after eating at Lapaz Batchoy, I realized just how far a Jackson can go here. For $ 20, you can feed a family of four with a drink. Hell, I can’t even remember the last time we spent less than $ 50 much less than $ 20 for a meal for two people.
With just 5 tables, a small open kitchen, TFC playing on the flat screen, several titos and lolos just chilling, and the owner’s warm smile that welcomes you at door, Lapaz Batchoy is like walking into someone’s home. It’s definitely one of the better hole-​in-​the-​walls I’ve been to. The food is about 4 stars but I’m throwing in an extra star for their dirt cheap prices, cleanliness (no sticky tables), and for the super nice owner.
A simple menu with silogs, several daily specials, and their namesake soup: Lapaz Batchoy, nothing is over $ 6.50. Stick with one of their silogs and you can get a filling meal for $ 5 including a drink! Menu:
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No msg is used in their food (yay!) and CC’s are accepted.
Since they’re are known for their Lapaz Batchoy (Large — $ 4.25), we decided to share an order to start:
. Lapaz Batchoy is an IIoilo noodle soup that’s typically made with pork offal (liver, heart, and intestines) and topped with chicharonnes (pork rinds). The owner serves a more Americanized version by leaving out the intestines and binaganoon (shrimp paste) so it’s much lighter than the original version.
Lapaz Batchoy is not really my cup of tea but it would be something I would crave if I had a hangover. It reminded me of a poor man’s ramen. I did like the clean tasting broth and the chicharonnes for a nice crunch though.
What I would come back for again and again is for their $ 3.50 silogs (choice of protein served w/​a fried egg and garlic rice).
Our silogs:
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I ordered the Bangus Silog: half a milkfish, a fried egg, and two heaping mounds of steamed rice topped with fried garlic. The bangus was perfectly cooked and tender with a deliciously crisp and fatty belly. A [Filipino] breakfast is only as good as its egg and this fried egg oozed out like lava upon cutting into. Best $ 3.50 I (he) ever spent!
Mr. NSS ordered the Spam Silog which came with 4 thick slices of Hawaii’s favorite meat, and the same perfectly fried egg and heaping mounds of steamed rice topped with fried garlic. He really liked his silog but I’m sure he loved the price even more.
3 dishes, 1 skewer of BBQ (owner threw in a 2^nd one for free), a soda, and coconut juice came to a whopping $ 15 including tax!
«If we eat like this more often, you just may get that ring sooner than you expected», says Mr. NSS.
SOLD! HomeTown Buffet (and hypertension), here we come…

The best Chicken Adobo in town, for me. Love their Shanghai roll too. Price is very wallet-​friendly. Clean. The owner is super friendly and fun to talk to. Homemade stuffs!
I want to try their flan and the batchoy next time I go there! Jo, i’m coming!

After reading about this place in The Great Noodle Place (
) I finally cycled down to Daly City to try a new noodle soup (new to me at least). It’s a hole in the wall on busy Mission St just up the hill from the bart. Upon entering you’ll have to make your way to the counter in back past the regulars hanging out watching Filipino soap operas. The owner is super nice and friendly. He noticed immediately that I was there on a mission. The noodle soup! There are bowl samples to the side so you can see how much you can order. I went with the x-​large for $ 5.50 + $ 0.50 for an egg. It’s about the size of a small phở to give you a comparison. It only took a few minutes to come out. The noodles were thin like ramen noodles but were only mediocre. The soup is really about the toppings — chopped chicken, pork, beef, pork liver and crumbled chicharrones. The egg wasn’t necessary. It was just poached and I’m not sure it enhanced the soup. The broth wasn’t bland as other reviewers have said, but it was mild in a similar way that phở is mild. It’s slightly sweet which was different.
While I’m glad I came here to try the soup I’m not sure if I like it enough to return.

I’ve eaten here twice. If a real batchoy tastes like this, I guess I’m not a fan.
Everyone knows that a good soup has to have good base, the broth. That’s where all the flavor should be. If it’s not there, it’s not a good soup. The batchoy broth lacks dimension to me. All I can taste is saltand some sweetness and nothing else. I was looking for layers of flavor but it wasn’t there. Soup is cheap and noodles we’re just done right.
2 stars for the service. But other than that, I’ll stick to other noodle soups.

Not even Filipino. But def some good comfort food. Especially when hung over :)
I’ve only tried the batchoy but it seems as though they actually have a good selection of Filipino breakfast as well. Super cheap and tasty.
Only thing is they’re a little small… (Claustrophobic? Don’t come here.) but it you want some solid noodles in broth, or are really hung over and don’t know what else to eat (and on a budget) I definitely recommend you check them out!

I have always wanted to come here since I was curious about how Filipino noodle soup would taste like. My friend and I came here on a rainy day and the owner was super awesome and welcoming.
We had the lapaz batchoy and the karioka. The noodle soup was interesting to me because it was my first time trying Filipino noodle soup ever. However for some reason, the soup and noodle tastes bland to me, compared to many different noodle soups I’ve had. Karioka of course would be good since it’s fried and sweet!
It was a gloomy and rainy day when we came here but a good experience since the owner was friendly and I love trying new foods. If you’re an adventurous foodie, come try! If you’re Filipino, you’d be more of the expert of the taste and quality of the foods here.

I am learning a new Filipino dish called batchoy.
What the heck is batchoy? Basically it’s a noodle soup with liver, pork and beef and chicharon.
The owner is super nice, friendly and adorable. It’s impossible not to like this guy.
$ 4.25 for large and $ 5.50 for small but the portion is small.
The soup is kinda bland for me but maybe it’s supposed to be like that? That was my first time eating batchoy so I didn’t know what it’s supposed to taste like. I texted the picture to my Pinay friend and she said it looked good.
Go early since Lapaz Batchoy closes early at 6:30 pm.
3.5 stars!
Lapaz Batchoy is kinda yummylicious!

I reaaally wanted to love this place because I’ve waited so long to try it. My mom actually suggested that we eat here because her coworker said that the Lapaz Batchoy is very good, so we visited on a Sunday afternoon and luckily there was parking right in front of the restaurant. The atmosphere is similar to those hole in the wall type restaurants with the mismatched furniture and the sem-​dim lighting. I’m all for it because the hole in the wall type establishments are the best! The owner, who was very pleasant, told us to take our time and ask if we had any questions. He then explained that the Lapaz Batchoy he sells is a «healthier» version of the one from Illoilo, which I assume is where Lapaz Batchoy comes from. I was excited because my boyfriend is part Illongo! I ordered the small Lapaz Batchoy with no liver and warm puto while my mom ordered a medium Lapaz Batchoy with a coke. The total was $ 11 which is pretty cheap, in my opinion.
Lapaz Batchoy — Okay, I admit it. The only Lapaz Batchoy that I’ve had was from those styrofoam containers similar to top ramen that you buy at the Asian supermarkets. I looove the pre-​made Lapaz Batchoy and thought this one would taste similar, if not better. Unfortunately, it was underwhelming and lacked flavor. The noodles were a bit on the chewy side and the broth was just bland.
Although the Lapaz Batchoy was disappointing, I’ll be back on the weekdays because they have the turo-​turo type plates. I’m giving Lapaz Batchoy 2 stars, but hope to change it in the near future.

OMG OMG OMG.
First off. i am half Ilongga — and damn proud of it.
The boyfriend and i were heading to the city for my birthday weekend and he was craving some good ol’ homecooked style Filipino food. of couuuurse i resulted to Unilocal it. cuz it’s not like we were near my house or anything. ;)
I haven’t had some good batchoy since i was last in Iloilo City — which was back in 2011. I was effin ecstatic to find out that there was actually a batchoy spot around these parts — i was like WHAAAAAT!!! You mean us Ilonggos finally had the balls to put up a restaurant?!? HELL YES.
Joe is a sweetheart! Turns out he also is my sister’s old military recruiter! lmao.
The batchoy was sooooo good, it took me way back to my homeland, i couldn’t get over it. I was even happier to see that my boyfriend (who’s family is from Bicol and Bulacan) was just as happy as me. He loves «sabow» so this was right up his alley. It had the perfect amount of garlic in the broth and i loooove me some chicharron! ;)
Everything else was pretty good — i like that the ‘silog wasn’t oily/​greasy like most other filipino restaurants make it. I also appreciated the crispy fried garlic pieces on top of my rice — that was a nice touch. ;)
I could eat that batchoy all day, son …
I like that this is a hole in the wall spot — i honestly would hate for it to blow up TOO much, simply because i appreciate that it’s a small home-​y spot that cooks from the heart. If anything, he deserves a bigger venue! Then the titos and lolos can have a specific and designated kick-​it spot in the restaurant and the customers can have their own chill spot as well. 1 star off for that — otherwise, BOMB ASS FOOD. I will always find a way to come back here or slide through when i’m in the city.

You can blink and miss this place. Passed a couple of times and never thought anything about going in. But today was different, it had a Santa dancing out in front. So me an my Auntie decided to try it. We where not disappointed. Food Delicious, Prices super cheap, portions perfect. We will be back ASAP. SOP.

The best La Paz Batchoy ever in town… take note Unilocalers, they have one of the best Adobo also. The owner/​cook/​server is very nice and cool. I love this place and you can also request without liver on your batchoy and the owner is from Iloilo also which make his La Paz Batchoy as authentic as it can be.
The ambiance is really nice also… it’s like an internet café/​restaurant.

A great little joint in Daly City. My first introduction to Filipino cuisine, was not disappointed. Joe is really friendly and was happy to explain how everything worked. The tocino was awesome!
Will definitely stop by again in the future.

If you are Ilonggo (from Iloilo or Negros in the Philippines), you bleed batchoy. And if you need a Ilonggo soul transfusion, this is the place.
Joe — the proprietor — is a great guy and the real thing: grew up in La Paz, across the street from the market, where the funkiest batchoy can be found.
«Do you like ‘utok’ (bone marrow) in your batchoy?, Joe asks. He recognizes me to be a homeboy, therefore he knows we likes it funky ;-) I get a huge glob and reach for the Lipitor.
In fact, my only dig on Joe’s batchoy is: perhaps it’s not funky enough. Batchoy, after all, is not for the faint of heart — it’s like menudo to Mexican culture. So I suggested that he should give customers the option to have the authentic, extra-​funky original version right out of the wet market of La Paz: with guinamos in the caldo, kidney and intestine, bone marrow or calf brains, and even more garlic. Offer this on weekends, when old homeboys like me need it most. Now THAT would be this homeboy’s cure for the blues (or a vicious hangover)!
I’ll be back, Joe!

I stumbled upon this hidden gem looking from some good eats aside from Jollibee and Philams. It was like a «karinderia» in an «eskinita» kinda place, dont look with you eyes look with your nose.
I walked in and was greeted by Joe, very nice guy. Sat down, opted for the Batchoy and couldnt decide what size to get. Small… um nah Xlarge oh wait I’ll take the Large instead. Being a skinny guy ahem a lean guy I played it safe. Waited 3 minutes and bam the smell of the broth was salivating and partnered it with 5 pieces of hot and soft pandesal I was undisturbed for 5 minutes. I should have opted for the XXLarge! It was just that GOOD!
I must tell you guys and gals, I am hooked. The broth was perfect, not too oily. The chicharon crumbs delicately melts in your tongue… ohlalala. The noodles was soft and easily slurps down, some chewing required and the meats was perfectly boiled down.
This place answered my dream of retiring early, I am now on Plavix blood thinners hahaha. Well it will soon be now that this place is on my favorite lists of good eats.

Stopped in again a couple days ago. I had the large batchoy and my wife had the bbq chicken and pork. We had that, 2 sodas and 2 leche flans all for like $ 17.50, you just can’t beat prices like that! Like always, the food was on hit! The owner Joe is great and my wife and I really like him. He’s always so friendly. I like going there and talking to him and the old school filipinos that hang out there, esp when they trip out when I speak tagalog to them. I will always stop in here whenever my wife and I are in the bay area.

ok engat po hirap hanapin kung saan masarap dito sa america babalik po kami dyan!

A true hole in the wall.
Military memorabilia line the walls along with a coffee menu in the back. Bantering Filipino OG’s watch Filipino game shows on TFC, everyday is Saturday to them. There’s also 2 computer workstations inside. Oh and the food’s pretty good. And cheap. It’s a restaurant, coffee shop, and internet café all in one. The result of an ex-​Air Force recruiter starting a new career.
Joe, the owner, says the shops been open for 2 years and opened it by request to start selling his Lapaz Batchoy, a type of regional Filipino chicken noodle soup.
Ordered a small batchoy ($ 3.75) and a bangus plate for ($ 3).
The batchoy is Americanized since it’s made with chicken, pork, and liver, as opposed to entirely being made of offal. With it’s bihon noodles (like spaghetti), the taste is homely and uniquely Filipino. This will never be the new ramen. (
)
The value for the bangsilog w/​the cooked to order egg is unheard of. Even with old school Super Star down the street. This version of garlic rice just sprinkled on garlic chips. (
)
Joe, obviously with the gift of gab from his recruiter days is upbeat, calm and confident even when he says there’s days with little to no customers.
You might be able to find cheaper bargain bites, but not sure if you’d find a more unique experience. Well worth the $ 7 lunch tag.

5 stars for the authenticity, from the TFC playing on the tube, to the feel of being at your unlces house chopping it up with the family and having merienda.
I got to sample their batchoy soup and one of their silog plates and still got to get 2 small leche flans all under $ 15 this spot is better then the old school Superstar on the mission!!! Yes I said it and that is a bold statement because I believe they still serve two pork chops at superstar under 5 bucks, portion wise for what you pay for is excellent garlic rice is bigger portion then most filipino spots, meats and fish wise on the silogs are decent I recommend getting a bowl of batchoy and a silog plate to make it a full meal
The owner is a Vet cool and down to earth friendly and has pictures of all the places he has been deployed if not been too, If you have ever eaten or been invited to a traditional filipino’s house this spot is dead on like home, down to the design, smells and feel, only thing missing that I did not see was the large wooden spoon and fork on the wall.
batchoy soup has chicken, liver, beef, chicharrones, thin noodles, green onions, broth, no msg legit soup just like my parents make.
the silog plate I sampled was the longanisa plate their version was not traditional longer slimer version of longanisa that has juiciness on every bite, I also sampled a lil of there bangus, it was just like a few of my aunts would make, enough tanginess and not super fishy and not deep fried.
the leche flan was thick and not too sweet for me that is just right. definitely will be back for some good eats for a very affordable price.
food ***** close to home, literally close to home haha
price no dollar signs required that is how cheap
service ***** owner is the one stop shop he does everything
ambiance ***** hole in the wall, literally walk in and you feel like you are at your uncles house for merienda!

Bookmarked this place several months ago, but somehow forgot about it… until my cousin posted it on her FB.
Geesh, and it’s only like a five minute drive from our place. So after running our dogs, Maxie & Francine from the dog park, we came here for brunch. One good thing I like about Daly City is that there is plenty of parking on the street; unlike in San Francisco.
As we entered, there were 2 huge wide-​screen monitors blasting with 2 old Filipino dudes watching. One was on TFC while the other was on GMA. I thought that scene was hilarious which perpetuates the typical stereotype among Filipinos. I was waiting for them to bust our the Magic Mic and start singing Karaōke.
We were greeted warmly by the owner, who we quickly realized was a US veteran by all kinds of military decorations on the walls. Much respect, sir… much respect to you. He showed us the menu and gave us his recommendations. The ubiquitous silog dishes in all Filipino Restaurants are just $ 3.00 and everything else on the menu was very cheap.
We ordered 3 Lapaz Batchoys and 1 Longsilog. These Batchoys are Iloilo style and are on the sweet side. No worries, there are plenty of condiments and sauces to mix the flavor to your liking. The Longsilog is very typical and nothing extra ordinary but you can’t beat the price.
All in all, it was satisfying and a good place to hang out if you wanna watch the latest news on TFC and GMA.