Must try food in Cagayan

Posted by Ian Galliguez in Eat and Drink | 0 comments

For those who say they love to travel can also say that they love food. The best way to experience the culture is to try the food. Eat where the locals eat! Don’t ruin the traveling experience by going to a new place and eating the same kind of food you’d eat in Manila or wherever you came from. And while you’re in the Cagayan region, try these:

1. Pancit Cabagan – Pancit has been introduced to us by the Chinese immigrants when they settled in the country. Pancit Cabagan is the specialty of the province of Isabela from the town of Cabagan but you can pretty much get it everywhere in Isabela, and I mean, EVERYWHERE! From the humble panciteria on the side of the road to posh restaurants in hotels. We got ours at the Queen Jennifer restaurant in Cauayan, Isabela.

Pancit Cabagan is made of miki noodles (egg and flour noodles, usually made fresh), quail eggs, vegetables like carrots, spring onions, snow peas and chinese cabbage. It’s topped with thin slices of liver, pork meat, lechon or lechon kawali and crushed chicharon. It also has a wonderful sauce that keeps the entire dish moist and juicy. Most places would serve the pancit with flat miki noodles but we had our noodles round.

It’s a very delicious and filling meal and not bad for the price as well. A single serving would cost 50 pesos and is actually good enough to share with another person. The smell is very sweet and tangy. Squeeze a couple of calamansi all over and mix well and you’re good to go. I personally love this pancit and could not get enough of it.

2. Pancit Batil Patong – Another specialty pancit of the Cagayan region is the Batil Patong. Batil, in the local dialect/language means egg and patong or patung means to put on top, hence the name for the famous pancit.

You can get your batil patong fix at any panciteria in the Cagayan region. We got ours at the Eyyahyyo eatery at Tuguegarao. It’s basic ingredients are miki noodles, carrots, chinese cabbage, ground meat (not sure if it’s pork or beef but guessing with the taste and texture, it’s got to be beef. However, there are some places that replace the beef with carabao meat), slices of lechon kawali and a sunny side up egg on top. You can ask them to make it “special” by adding thin slices of liver on it for an additional 10 pesos. I don’t like liver so I opted out of it. The egg actually cooks from the heat of the pancit so I suggest you mix it in and mix it well. They also serve it with a side of chopped onions, calamansi and egg drop soup.

Unlike the Pancit Cabagan, where the ingredients are actually already pre cooked and put on as toppings, most of the ingredients (with the exception of the meats) in the Pancit Batil Patong are half cooked or raw. The heat from the pancit cooks the vegetables into a nice crunchy texture and the egg into a creamy mix. Perhaps this is why most Cagayanos prefer the Pancit Batil Patong. This pancit usually costs about 50 pesos, 60 if you want it special and 70 if you want it super special.

3. Alcala’s Milk candy – These sweets are made in a sleepy town called Alcala but the brands/distributors are different. There’s the more famous Teano’s and then there’s the smaller La Vina. Either way, it’s still delicious!

What makes this sweet different is the texture. It’s very soft and it’s made from carabao milk – very similar to pastillas.  Pastillas was introduced to us by the Spanish. It’s a fairly easy enough to make sweet – with milk and sugar boiled together until it’s thick enough and then it’s either rolled into logs and rolled in granulated sugar and packed in wax paper.

Alcala’s milk candies are not your typical sweet because other than the main ingredient being carabao milk, it’s also flat. Each pack costs P35 and comes in a pack of 12. It could be a little deceiving because when you look at the pack, you’d think that it’s just 4 pieces. But each “piece” is actually 3 candies in one.

You can buy Alcala’s milk candies at the public market or in stores. I got mine at the bus station.

A trip to Cagayan is not complete if you miss out on these food. Make sure you try them before you trek on home.