My Iloilo Sober up food

My trips back home to Iloilo will not be complete if I didn't get drunk. Of course I save a lot from drinking since I get drunk easily. During my last trip home, I had to sober up at Ted's Old Timer Lapaz bbatchoy and Luna's Arroz Caldo.

After my first night of drinking, we headed over to the new Ted's along diversion road since Deco's in Smallville has been closed. This Ted's has Dulgie's inside as well. I'll blog about Dulgies another time. I had the Super Special batchoy which has liver in it. To any Manila folks, batchoy is NOT Beef mami. Beef mami orginated from...actually I have no idea where this came from but batchoy definitely came from Lapaz Iloilo city. This consists of Noodles, usually meke (but you may choose to have bihon or sotanghon), boiled pork, beef, so sort of laman loob, liver and topped with crispy chicharon. The smallest bowl which is Special starts at 55 PHP, Super Special at 65 PHP and Extra Super Special at 70 PHP.

The batchoy at Ted's drastically improved since it's now tastier. My fave is still Deco's Lapaz branch since their chicharon remains crispy. Ted's is still good enough for me to satisfy my batchoy cravings and they're open 24 hours which makes them a good place to go after being drunk. You can get all the soup you want as well.

Another option I had was Luna's Arroz Caldo along Lapaz. This seems to be the only branch left. If there are other branches though, kindly let me know as I'm afraid of the Lapaz branch since it's beside a funeral home and I'm scared of dead people.

I had to concentrate on the Arroz Caldo though. The toasted garlic they placed on top made this very tasty although the caldo was already well seasoned in the first place. They use native chicken which is very tender. You can have some add ons to your Arroz Caldo for an added fee. My cousin Bibay and I chose to have Atay and Baticulon Arroz Caldo while my sister Titit opted for the Chicken Arroz Caldo Each bowl cost 55 PHP. We also had puto manapla with it at 15 PHP.

There are still other places to sober up in Iloilo considering Ilonggos have this great love for soup. There's nilaga everywhere in the city or you can head out to the Iloilo fishing port to have the fresh catch of the day made into delicious soup. It all boils down to preference.


Ted's Lapaz batchoy has several branches. The 24 hour branch is found along Diversion road. Luna's Arroz Caldo may be found in Lapaz before Gaisano City.