Passing through Padre Garcia

Padre Garcia is a municipality in the province of Batangas bounded on the north by Lipa City, on the east by San Antonio, Quezon, on the south by Rosario, and by both Lipa and Rosario on the west. Padre Garcia is a landlocked area and the town's main source of income is agriculture. In fact, the town hosts the biggest livestock auction market in Southern Tagalog, and for this it has earned the title "The Cattle Trading Capital of the Philippines".

The town market

Last week, my husband and I passed through Padre Garcia on our way to Tiaong, Quezon from Batangas City. There is not much to see in this town but the rows of verdant trees along the road is truly a refreshing sight. You can also visit the retreat facility The Faith Farm in Brgy. San Miguel and learn about farming and enjoy organic food.

Along the stretch of Batangas-Quezon Road (Tiaong-Lipa Road) are many eateries that offer lomi, mami, and goto. Before we entered the province of Quezon, we spotted a goto-mami-lomi house in Brgy. Castillo and decided to try their Batangas goto.

Signage like this is common in the area

Batangas goto is unlike regular goto or rice porridge. Batangas goto is soup made up of, of course, beef tripe, skin, liver, heart and other innards. The ingredients are boiled together for about two hours, resulting in a tasty, protein-rich gelatinous stew. The woman tending the eatery served us our Batangas goto with fish sauce, toasted garlic, chopped white onion, calamansi and red siling labuyo. I ordered sweet pan de coco to complement the savoury beef soup.

Batangas goto served with condiments

If you have the chance to pass through Padre Garcia on your way to other towns of Batangas or Quezon, try Batangas goto.

Read more about Padre Garcia from this DILG site.