Every morning, our measly complimentary breakfast meal at the Holiday Plaza Hotel Tuguegarao always left us wanting for more. So after finishing our breakfast off in a single minute, we’d head over to the nearby Dim’s Resto, a tapsihan near the hotel, to continue our meal.

SIMPLE INTERIORS AT DIM’S RESTO

One would think that finding a tapsilog place in a bustling city like Tuguegarao would be a piece of cake, well, we thought wrong. Here, panciterias rule. It took us quite a bit of hunting to find a place selling good old tapsilog. During our three-day stay, we only found a single eatery selling our favorite morning fare.

Dim’s Resto is a simple carinderia along Blumentritt Street. It has no air-conditioning and has a bare concrete floor complemented by colorful wood furniture. It seemed popular enough with the locals, so we instantly sat down to check their menu.

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LONGSILOG MADE FROM CARABEEF

We knew they have the elusive silogs we were looking for, but what’s better, they have local versions of them. We asked for a plate of longsilog and tapsilog, both of which were made from carabeef. Most panciterias in Tuguegarao uses this meat for their pancit batil patong and we were curious how it would fare as longanisa and tapa.

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CARABEEF TAPSILOG

After more than a few minutes of waiting, we got to have a taste of Tuguegarao’s version of our favorite morning meal. The tapa was perfectly tender and was very flavorful. The longanisa on the other hand was of the garlicky kind and has an orange atsuete tinge. It wasn’t cooked to my liking on first bite, it was a bit malabo, so I requested for it to be refried to a crisp. It was perfect when it came back.

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DIM’S RESTO’S VERSION OF PANCIT BATIL PATONG

Even though Dim’s Resto is a tapsi place, it also serves Tuguegarao’s pancit batil patong. We were of course unable to resist and tried it out the next day.

Their miki, made from flat noodles, is quite different from the ones we’ve gotten used to. The carabeef were chunkier than usual and there were shallots mixed in with the beansprouts and poached eggs. The usual side dishes of soup and onion dip were present.

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CHUNKY CARABEEF

The dish looked appealing on presentation but we were a bit let down by its flavor. It seemed a tad too greasy and maanggo for us. Although we saw not a few locals dining on this pancit, its flavor simply wasn’t working for us.

My recommendation, head over to Dim’s Resto for their tapsilog and longislog, then move over to the nearby Jomar’s Panciteria if your tummy is demanding for a plate of pancit batil patong.

Dim’s Resto
Address: Blumentritt cor. Aguinaldo Street, Centro 6, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan
Contact Number: (078) 844-0531
Open Hours: 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM
Menu: Click Here
GPS Coordinates Map: 17.612361, 121.729056