Metro Manila - Traveling around the Philippines with Pancit Center's Regional Pancit Dishes

We, Filipinos definitely love to eat and celebrate. In every birthdays, there will always be a pancit dish prepared to signify good health and long life. Growing up, I am only acquainted to only 2 pancit varieties, Pancit Bihon Guisado and Pancit Canton. That's the only pancit I know until I fell in love with traveling and discovered other pancit varieties from different provinces in the Philippines.

Two of my favorite pancit came from the northern Luzon, namely, Pancit Batil Patung (from Tuguegarao) and Pancit Cabagan (from Isabela). Whenever I visit Tuguegarao City, I make sure I have a serving of their famous pancit, which you could find in every corner around the city. But there's still so many pancit dishes from the the different regions of the Philippines that I haven't tried.

Good thing my friends shared to us a restaurant that serves different kinds of pancit dishes coming from around the Philippines. Located in Pioneer St. Cor. Shaw Blvd., Kapitolyo, Pasig City, Pancit Center is a haven for noodle lovers. They offer more than 20 sumptuous pancit recipes from the provinces all over the Philippines. With more than 30 years of cooking experience, Pancit Center is definitely "The 1st and only Pancit Specialist" in Metro Manila.

Together with my travel and food-lover friends, we went to Pancit Center last weekend to embark on a food journey with the different pancit dishes offered at the restaurant. We sampled on 11 different regional Pancit from different provinces! Tara! Travel with us!

First on the menu were the Hot Bowls Regional Sampler composed of Bantangas Lomi, La Paz Batchoy, Pancit Miki and Kinalas. I've tried La Paz Batchoy and Batangas Lomi before, but the Pancit Miki and Kinalas are new to me.

Hot Bowls Regional Sampler

Batangas Lomi from Lipa, Batangas is made of fresh miki, pork meat, liver, meatballs and kikiam. "Pagka-sarap eh!"

Batangas Lomi

La Paz Batchoy from Iloilo City is made of thin miki noddles with guinamos (Ilonggo bagoong), liver, pork meat, garlic and chicharon. "Namit!"

La Paz Batchoy

Pancit Miki from Batac, Ilocos Norte is made of thick miki noodles, atchuete/annato for coloring, eggs, chicken and chicharon. "Naimas!"

Pancit Miki

Kinalas from Naga, Camarines Sur is made of thick miki, pork meat "na kinalas sa buto", special sauce and eggs. "Masiram!"

Kinalas

All four dishes are really good especially when served hot and paired with their special puto. But among these four, Batangas Lomi is my favorite.

Special Puto

Next is what they call "Three takes on Pancit Guisado", it is composed of 3 pancit dishes, namely Pancit Bato with Dinuguan, Efuven Guisado and the more popular, Pancit Habhab.

Three takes on Pancit Guisado

Pancit Bato with Dinuguan is a recipe from Bato, Camarines Sur. It is made of Bato noodles, vegetables and topped with dinuguan. I like this one. The flavors of the dinuguan is so good on the pancit. This is definitely a must-try!

Pancit Bato with Dinuguan

Efuven Guisado from Iloilo City is made of Efuven noodles, stir-fried vegetables toppings.

Efuven Guisado

Pancit Habhab from Lucban, Quezon is made of Lucban noodles, sayote, pork meat, liver and white onions. Best eaten with vinegar.

Pancit Habhab

All three are good. But the runaway winner for me is Camarines Sur's Pancit Bato. It's best paired with their crunchy Lechon Carajay. Sinful, but who cares, minsan lang naman... Hehehe!

Lechon Carajay

Next is their regional renditions of Palabok (will be launched / available on July 28, 2013)

Pancit Marilao from Marilao, Bulacan is made of bihon noodles, topped with Bulacan okoy, kamias, eggs and mixed with their special Corrie's Palabok sauce.

Pancit Marilao

Spabok from Balanga, Bataan is made of spaghetti noodles topped with their home-made chicharon, tinapa, eggs and mixed with their special mix of Corrie's Palabok sauce.

Spabok

Lasty, the best sellers (and also my favorites)

Pancit Batil Patong, a specialty dish from Tuguegarao, Cagayan. It is made of noodles, poached egg yolk, vegetables, ground beef, liver and chicharon. Best paired with Batil (egg soup) and added with onions. So yummy! This is my favorite pancit! Eating it here in Manila brings me back to Tuguegarao as they have captured the real taste of it. Very authentic!

Pancit Batil Patong

Pancit Cabagan from Cabagan, Isabela is made of miki noodles, caldo topped with quail eggs and lechon carahay.

Pancit Cabagan

"Dining at Pancit Center feels like traveling around the Philippines with all the different Pancit varieties they offer. It's a culinary "adven-tour" you must try!" -Pinoy Adventurista

This is it! Pancit!

Pancit Center's Other Products

All-time Favorites:
Pancit Malabon - original Corrie's recipe since 1978
Pancit Palabok - same sauce, different noodles & toppings
Bihon Guisado
Canton Guisado
Sotanghon Guisado

Other Regional Favorites:
Cavite's Pansate
Manila's Pancit Puti
Batangas' Pancit Langlang
Cebu's Bam-i
Quezon's Tamis Anghang Chami

Other Hot Bowls:
Chicken Mami
Lomi soup (Tagalog version)
Pancit Molo
Bihongke (new) Tagalog version of Sotanghon soup
Kalandrakas (new) Cavite's chicken soup w/ macaroni shells & vegetables

Filipino Spaghetti
Special Baon sa Dahon - chicken & pork adobo + longanissa + egg + tomato + rice wrapped in banana leaves
also available: chicken adobo, daing na bangus, spare ribs, dory tocino & dory longanissa

Other Sides Dishes:
Crispy Buntot (ng tuna)
Crispy Tadyang (ng baka)
Pork Barbeque
Lumpiang Shanghai
Dinuguan
Fresh Lumpiang Ubod

For the full list of their menu, visit www.pancitcenter.com/menu.

Website: www.pancitcenter.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Pancit-Center/116969045048672

BRANCHES

For Dine-in and Take-out
Pioneer Branch
Unit 1 Pioneer st. cor. Shaw Blvd (beside Caltex) Kapitolyo, Pasig City
(02)634-3090

Take-out Only
Rosario Branch
#388 C.Raymundo Ave., (in front of Dona Juana hall) Rosario, Pasig City
(02)642-6981

Manggahan Branch
#305 A.Rodriguez Ave (in front of Selecta-RFM) Manggahan, Pasig City
(02)681-4899

Greenwoods Branch
Maple st. cor. Dogwood st. Phase 2, Greenwoods Executive Village, Pasig City
(02)368-3996

More photos on Pinoy AdvenTurista's Facebook Page, click here.