Cebu Food Trip: The Search for the Best Cebu Lechon
Cebu Lechon at Carcar City Public Market
I’m doing a month-long series on my Cebu Food Trip last year. Today, I’m writing about a Cebu specialty, which is also celebrated Filipino dish.
If I have a foreign friends visiting the country and they can only eat one Filipino food, without hesitation I will tell them to eat Lechon. While there is a debate between adobo (stewed anything) and sinigang (a kind of sour soup) as the country’s national dish, and some even advocate for pancit (a Filipino noodle dish), I truly believe that lechon is the quintessential dish of the Filipino cuisine.
So what is a lechon? If Bali (Indonesia) has Babi Guling and Spain has Cochinillo Asado (or simply cochinillo), then the Philippines has lechon, the country’s take on roast suckling pig (many Spanish-speaking countries also use the same name). This amazing pork dish is usually served on special occasions and fiestas. It is first flavored (ingredients vary per region; more on this later), placed on a bamboo or metal pole, and cooked over charcoal, hand-turned traditionally or mechanized for commercial purposes. It is typically served with a dip of liver sauce or vinegar (again, depending on the region).
Look at that piggy goodness!
There are 2 known ways of preparing and eating a lechon. The first is the Luzon (northern region) or Manila method, in which the pig is simply flavored with a few ingredients like salt and pepper. Truth be told, lechon cooked this way lacks in flavor, especially when compared to its Visayan counterpart. But what compensates for, quite frankly, the blandness is the sweet liver dip, which is a blend of pig liver, brown sugar, vinegar, and other ingredients. You’ll find a strong concentration of Luzon-type lechon sellers in La Loma, Quezon City.
Lechon displayed in a street at La Loma, Quezon City
The second is the Visayan (central region) method, in which the pig is stuffed with a ton of ingredients, with garlic and tanglad (lemongrass) as the most common. Visayans claim that their lechon is malasa (flavorful) and doesn’t really need a dip. (What they really meant by malasa is maalat or salty. To balance this out, a vinegar dip comes to the rescue.) Cebu lechon falls under this category.
I like the Visayan lechon better and the best ones (and perhaps in all of the Philippines) is in the province of Cebu. It is believed that Cebu is the origin of lechon, as Spanish colonizers first entered through the island and passed down the recipe. However, historical documents reveal that the natives were already roasting entire pigs even before the Spaniards came. It was only the colonizers who gave the pork dish its name. Nowadays, lechon sellers abound in the island, especially in the cities of Carcar, Cebu, and Talisay.
But just how good is a Cebu lechon? Here are notable comments from my favorite foodies:
Upon seeing his order of an entire lechon, Mikey Chen of Strictly Dumpling said that it’s the greatest thing he has ever seen (although he might have said that many times with all the food he has eaten! LOL!)
Sonny Side of the Best Ever Food Review Show called it as “one of the best foods [he has had in his] life”
And of course, the late and legendary Anthony Bourdain said that it’s the best pig ever!
As a Filipino and a foodie, I just can’t miss out on tasting Cebu lechon. So on my trip, I did a crawl to find the best one. I went to a total of 4 spots (I didn’t include Rico’s Lechon and Zubuchon as they have branches in Manila.), 3 are located in Cebu City and 1 in Carcar. My criteria is simple: The skin has to be crispy and the meat has to be rightly flavorul (not overly salty), juicy, and tender, with a right ratio of meat and fat. Starting with the first spot:
CnT Lechon
In my research, CnT Lechon always shows up in every list. The is hailed as having one of the best, if not the best, lechon in the city. Even friends have a good review of it. So for my first lechon, I had to visit this spot.
CnT Lechon V. Rama Branch
I had high expectations of CnT’s lechon. But to my dismay, the skin is a little too salty and even soggy. The meat is tender but it lacks juice. I also noticed that the meat is too lean (I prefer to have some fat in it). In other words, I’m underwhelmed. I don’t want to judge quickly. After all, friends and even Mikey Chen have good things to say about CnT’s lechon. I still would want to give CnT another shot next time I visit Cebu. Maybe I just went on a bad day.
CnT’s Lechon (1/4 kg.: P150)
By the way, since my visit to CnT, I learned to request for a crispy skin. That saved me a lot heartache. I didn’t want this crawl to be disappointing.
CnT Lechon has several branches. Check them out here.
House of Lechon
Established in 2015, House of Lechon is a fairly new lechon chain in the Cebu City. Yet it is already recognized as having one of the best in the city. The chain uses Carcar recipe (more on this later).
At House of Lechon Robinsons Galleria Cebu
Since I learned my lesson, I requested that I be given crispy skin. The waiter was honest enough to say that he can’t guarantee for it. However, I was graced with crispy goodness, with a nice layer of fat sticking to it.
Lechon at House of Lechon (1kg.: P795)
The meat is flavorful and tender. In true Carcar fashion, I was also given a bowl of lechon drippings or juice. If you want some saltiness (like how the Cebuanos like it, I guess), you can drizzle it on your lechon. With rice, it will be tolerable.
House of Lechon has several branches. Check them out here.
Ruthy’s Lechon
The neighboring city of Talisay also has its own take of the roasted pig. It even has a street full of lechon sellers, which are interestingly named after women. That’s because the women of Talisay are the providers of their families and selling lechon is their usual livelihood. Some famous lechoneras of Talisay are Leslie Enhambre of the Netflix-featured Leslie’s Lechon and the late Mila Garces of Cebu’s Mila’s Lechon (this is different from the famous lechon seller in Manila also named the same).
At Ruthy’s Lechon
I didn’t get to visit Talisay. But I went to Ruthy’s Lechon, which is run by the descendants of Mila Garces, preserving the matriarch’s recipe. The skin of their lechon is crispy at the first bite. After a few munches, it gave a nice chewiness.
Lechon at Ruthy’s Lechon (1/4 kg.: P150)
The meat is juicy and tender. But like all Talisay lechon, it is salty. In fact, it is the saltiest of all the lechon I tried. So you will need to dip it in sinamak (coconut vinegar) to cancel the saltiness.
Mabolo Branch: Pres. Quirino St., Kasambagan, Cebu City | Operating Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10:30AM-9PM; Saturday & Sunday, 9AM-9PM | Facebook
By the way, Ruthy’s Lechon still retained their Talisay branch. But it’s open only on Sundays.
Carcar CITY Public Market
A Cebu lechon crawl won’t be complete without a side trip to Carcar City, which is an hour drive from Cebu City. Finding sellers isn’t too hard because they’re all concentrated in the public market.
Carcar City Public Market
Even before I flew to Cebu, a friend warned me that Carcar sellers had become rowdy and rude. They would chop lechon for visitors and force them to buy it. They would even fight with one another just to get customers. I still went anyway; I’m after the experience.
Upon arriving, this is what I found:
Some stalls are closed down by the City Hall
Since the City Hall closed many stalls, the remaining sellers were kind and peaceful.
The Lechon Section of Carcar City Public Market
So what makes Carcar lechon different? There are at least two distinctives. First, it is served with lechon drippings or juice, along with the ingredients stuffed in the pig. I just find it overly salty. But if you want an intense saltiness to your lechon, then pour it to your hearts content. Second, Carcar lechon uses additional ingredients such as pineapple juice, lime soda, and a local herb called patiotes, which originated from Mexico.
The lechon at the public market is regulated, sold at an incredible P400 per kilo (at least at the time of my visit)! I didn’t do any research on what stall sells the best lechon. But my bet is that it’s good wherever I get it from. I got a quarter kilo, brought it to a nearby carinderia (eatery), bought some rice, and slammed on my pork.
My First Carcar Lechon
The skin, although flavorful, was soggy (I still haven’t learned my lesson when I went to Carcar). The meat was on the salty side because of the lechon drippings. However, it was the juiciest and most tender lechon I have ever tried in my life. How tender? Pillowy like a marshmallow! I don’t know what sorcery the lechoneros did to make that happen! Well, it might just be the soda, which acts as a tenderizer.
But I’m not satisfied. I just can’t accept that the skin is soggy and the meat is salty. So I went to another vendor, bought another quarter kilo, asked for crispy skin (learned my lesson!), refused the lechon juice (to avoid the saltiness), and paired my lechon with puso (hanging rice) this time. And I had the best lechon experience!
Gotta have a second round! LOL.
The Winner
Certainly, all the lechon I tried are better than the ones I had in Manila (although a strong contender to Cebu lechon, for me, is General’s Lechon). I guess you can’t go wrong with any lechon spot in Cebu. But I have to pick a winner. Without a doubt, it’s Carcar lechon! It has everything I’m looking for in a lechon!
And while you’re there, don’t forget to grab some chicharon (deep fried pork rind), another Carcar specialty.
Chicharon at Luis Chicharon
But if you don’t have time to drive out all the way to Carcar (which is sad), you can just go for House of Lechon.
Which of the 4 lechon spots have you tried or would like to try? What other lechon spots should I try next? Comment them below!
Other entries in the Cebu Food Trip series: Trying the Local Dishes of the Queen City of the South