METRO MANILA | That Pancit Batil Patong in Kamuning
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Where to find a dish of pancit batil patong in Metro Manila? That was our question after having a taste of the famed noodle specialty in Tuguegarao City. Food is almost a bit like life experiences itself, it’s very hard to forget, especially if it’s something that really made an impact on you—or in this case, your palate. You can’t stop thinking about it and you start to crave for it, every single day.
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| PANCIT BATIL PATONG IS LOVE |
And so it was that not even a few hours after getting back from Tuguegarao City, I immediately scanned the interweb if there are restaurants serving pancit batil patong in Manila (this was before I got to try Pancit Center in Pasig). I got a few hits indicating a small restaurant cum carinderia somewhere in Kamuning—Bruno’s Tuguegarao Pansit Batil Patung.
Plans were immediately made to visit the said panciteria.
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| TYPICAL OPEN-AIR CARINDERIA IN METRO MANILA |
Getting there was a breeze. From EDSA, we simply walked along Kamuning Road before making a left turn at T.Gener Street. From there, we asked a few locals where Bruno’s Tuguegarao Pansit Batil Patung was but got blank responses. I restated my question; would they know where the pancit Tuguegarao eatery is? They eyes lit up and they immediately led us to Bruno’s.
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| BRUNO’S PANCIT BATIL PATONG IN KAMUNING |
The eatery is much like most carinderias in Manila. It’s basically a house’s front yard retrofitted with an outdoor kitchen and set with a few tables and chairs. Bruno’s Tuguegarao Pansit Batil Patung started serving this traditional northern dish two years ago and has become one of the go-to places for pancit batil patong in the metro.
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| POACHED EGG ON TOP OF THE NOODLES |
So what exactly is a pancit batil patong (or patung as some call it)? It’s a concoction of thick Cagayan-made miki egg noodles mixed with carabeef (carabao meat), liver, and veggies. The pile is then topped with poached egg (patong) and crushed chicharon (pork rind). It’s then served with two side dishes—an egg soup (batil) and a platito of diced onions.
Bruno’s serves it in three variations—Regular (₱60.00), Special (₱70.00), and Super (₱80.00). The difference between the first two being its size—special is actually good enough for two already. As for the Super, it has an added chorizo topping, a variation to the hotdogs being added to the ones in Tuguegarao City.
For take-outs, they have Fiesta Bilaos starting at ₱400.00 which is good for five persons, to ₱600.00 good for eight persons, and ₱800.00 which can feed at least ten hungry souls.
►MORE: CAGAYAN’S BEST PANCIT BATIL PATONG
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| LEGIT CONDIMENTS |
It’s simple enough to eat. First, pour a bit of soy sauce, spicy vinegar, and a dash of calamansi on the onions at the side. Then you dig in! Mix a few teaspoonful of the onions to every forkful or so of pansit to keep your taste buds from being overpowered by the carabeef taste (although the best pancit batil patong doesn’t have a strong ma-ango carabeef taste).
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| THE COMPLETE SET |
So how does Bruno’s Pancit Batil Patong fare?
For my first taste of batil patong outside Tuguegarao City, it is actually not bad. The things I noticed was that the egg was not poached right (too firm), there were no crushed chicharon to top the dish, and there’s absolutely no sign of vegetables within the mix. The taste was quite strong due to the carabeef .
It’s a good enough alternative if you’re craving for pancit batil patong, but I’m crossing my fingers that I can still find a more subtle and a more authentic version of this noodle dish in Metro Manila.
UPDATE 2014
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| GOING BACK TO BRUNO’S FOR A SECOND TRY |
I recently went back to Bruno’s Pancit Batil Patong in QC to give their noodles a second try. The place looks basically the same as the first time I visited it. The wooden chairs and tables painted in yellow are still there. And apparently even the suki cops who frequent the place were still there.
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| PRICE HIKE ALERT |
The only difference I saw was the rates of their pancit. Prices now starts at ₱60.00 for their Regular which strangely goes without egg (the horror for a pancit batil patong dish!), ₱70.00 for Special, ₱80.00 for Super, and₱100.00 for Hataw. Adding chorizos (₱20.00) is optional.
Besides the irregularity of their Regular having no egg, the only difference between the remaining three are their serving sizes.
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| FOUND THESE CHICHARON RIGHT BESIDE BRUNO’S |
After ordering two Specials, one with chorizo and one without, we bought a bag of what looks to be home-made chicharon (₱50.00) at a stall near Bruno’s. Since the batil patong we tried at Tuguegarao has a sprinkling of crisps—albeit made from kropek—we thought it might add a bit more flavor to their pancit.
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| THE VERDICT, IT’S STILL THE SAME |
And after a few minutes of waiting, the second moment of truth arrived.
Our pancit batil patong looked the same as our first visit. And unfortunately, even with the added chicharon and chorizo toppings, it also tasted exactly the same as before.
Bruno's Pansit Batil Patung FACEBOOK
Address: 17 Scout Ybardolaza St. cor. Scout De Guia, Brgy. Sacred Heart, Kamuning, Quezon City
Contact Number: +63 (968) 436-4620
Email: batilpatungsakamuning@yahoo.com
Opening Hours: 8:00AM-7:30PM
GPS Coordinates Map: 14.627198,121.0362975
18 comments
Which is better, this one or the one in Rizal?
ReplyDeleteHi Robbie, I'd like to know where is the one in Rizal that sells Batil Patong located? Could you give me the name and location please? Thanks
DeleteWhich is better, this one or the one in Rizal?
ReplyDeleteRobbie, for me the one in Rizal is still the best. Although I've also tried a pancit batil patong resto in Munoz that's also pretty good
DeleteWhere in Munoz?
ReplyDeleteHi Edser, check this link for that pancit batil patong in Munoz
Deletehttp://www.lakadpilipinas.com/2014/04/pancit-batil-patong-quezon-city-rapsatodits.html
Anyone here knows the name of the resto and location in Rizal that sells Batil Patung? Your input would be much appreciated, thanks - Jimi
ReplyDeleteWhat about this place on Quirino and Angel Linao? Might be worth the trip.
ReplyDeletehttp://patandbea.tumblr.com/post/27763899559/batil-patung-in-manila
I want to try this dish without having to travel to Tuguegarao, but the only one you recommended, Rapsatodits on Sto. Nino Munoz, seems closed for good. Hope you can review this place. Godspeed.
Mpr
Hi Mpr, will try and review that batil patong place in Quirino in the near future :)
Deletehow to go there in brunos paciteria inkamuning?thank you
ReplyDeleteTo get to Bruno's from Edsa-Kamuning, ride a jeep and asked to be dropped at Gener Street. :)
DeleteChie chie's pancit batil patung, 3rd floor food court. Taft Centrale Exchange mall at the corner of buendia and taft sts with connecting way from buendia lrt station..Try it! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi George, went there a week ago, sadly closed na :(
DeleteBatil patung is a modified recipe of the original Pancit Cabagan. Pancit Cabagan was actually introduced by Chinese restaurant owners in Centro Cabagan, Isabela. the noodles or "miki" are usually prepared using a manually operated machine. Miki then was cooked with few ingredients...predominantly "hibi" (dried shrimp)
ReplyDeleteor pork, and soy sauce (tauyu)...that's it.ganon ka-simple ang pancit cabagan...the "miki" should be air-dried and this may last for a month. "batil" in IBanag means to mix..patung is to put it on top...so Batil patung means putting the mixture on top of the pancit
That is very informative Nancy! Thank you so much for that :)
DeleteLet me tell you all about my not so good experience with this resto. First of all, I made two trips to Bruno's, one last year, and one just a few days ago.
ReplyDeleteThe first trip got me impressed after I witnessed 'tons' of people going there to make orders either for dine-ins or take-outs. Myself, I was qeueing up with other people for seats. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait too long.
I ordered the Hataw (which took sometime to arrive) and to my surprise, it was really huge. But is this all to the story? Nope. After ingesting a few bites, I realised there was nothing I could make out of the 'taste' (which was almost like eating bland food), except for the noticeable 'lansa' of the carabeef, which was slowly getting to my sense of smell. I thought about leaving the food and just go 'cause I couldn't seem to take any more of the lansa and the bland food. Instead, I had the thing packed hoping to let my Ilocano friend to try it and give me his verdict, just in case I was 'missing the point' of the dish. He didn't come so I had to recook the food to suit my taste instead. I ingested a few more just to see if it improved. It was hopeless. I gave the rest to the cat to eat but it wouldn't even eat it (I guess it was also disgusted?).
Anyway, a year later, I brought my two Ilocano friends to Bruno's, put in a good word for the dish so one of them would develop a curiosity and come along (the other one says he's already familiar with the dish).
Unfortunately, the resto shifted to another location and left a sketch for people to follow. However, the street to where they moved to was undisclosed and the sketch was all we had. I ahd been living previously in Kamuning for 20 years so I thought that the sketch was a no brainer. IT WASN'T! Apparently, the sketch was so wrong, it was as wrong as telling people that Kamuning is IN KAMIAS. We took a jeepney from the original location and got down a block before EDSA, as indicated in the map. WRONG AGAIN! As it turns out, it wasn't even the right road so we had to walk around the long road in the sketch and keep asking people if they knew the resto and it's location, for 30 minutes! Finally, it dawned on me that the new location was just two big blocks away from the original site, and if the sketch artist put in the name of the street, it would have been a breeze going there. (Are they escaping from tons of angry people which is why they didn't write the street's name in their sketch? lolss)
We arrived and saw this lady seated behind the order counter who didn't seem concerned that people are getting lost because of that sketch (and that I was furious for being lost for 30 minutes!!)
We ordered two Hataw's and one Special for me (as a precaution in case I couldn't eat it all up. In fact I should have just ordered the tiniest one lols) Our orders took almost two days to arrive (sarcasm) but a lady who'd been there before us was almost in tears of anguish after her order (resembling a tiny parcel) finally arrived. She said she's been there waiting close to an hour, and yet she'd been quiet sitting there the whole time (shame on you Bruno's!!).
Now for my friends' verdict. One of them said exactly the same thing I said during my first experience, and I hadn't even told him anything beforehand, even putting in a good word for the dish so that he would want to come along. He noticed the same disgusting lansa of the carabeef and how the food was almost bland - there was neither the smell nor aroma nor taste of any spices, no sweet nor spicy elements to stimulate one's palate, NOTHING!! Some Ilocano dishes are known for the predominance of either bawang (garlic) or onions, but this batil patung had none.
Lastly, all the staffs, most particularly the one who preps and cooks all the pancit, are NON_TUGUEGARAONS and NON-ILOCANOS, (except for one really friendly Ybanag waiter-busboy who hails from there and tried his best to welcome us and attend to our needs. He spoke Ilocano well too). Does this explain the sad, sad outcome of the dish? The other staffs would not even give us their undivided sttention, let alone give us tissues and cutleries. That's really poor service. The lady behind the order counter (I wonder if she's the owner or what not?) didn't seem too concerned about the delays in orders as she sat there comftably in her zone, texting whoever might be MORE worthy of her attention, rather than their customers.
DeleteTo those who read this, my intention is merely to call the attention of the blogger of this dish/resto, and to give fair warning that if they did not truly experience what we actually personally experienced, that it could backfire on them and they lose their credibility as a result.
Did you actually read my article?
Delete