Cebu is known as a great culinary center in the Philippines. In fact, a lot of the Philippines most beloved dishes orginate from Cebu. When I was preparing for my trip to Cebu. I have heard of the culinary expertise of the Cebuanos and being the foodie that I am, I needed to be able to try them, even if it is only for one meal.
One of the most famous dishes in all of the Philippines is the pit roasted pig or lechon. The lechon however is not unique to Cebu as a lot of different provinces of the Philippines have their own variations of this very sinful delight. If you happen to have lechon in Manila, it would disappoint you to know that Cebu Lechon is much better than that. I have a friend who has a friend working in Cebu and I wanted to know where the best Lechon Cebu is. Her answer was simple: “There can be only one – CnT Lechon”.
So now that I am armed with this most useful knowledge, I needed to find where this place is. She said CnT Lechon is somewhere near SM City Cebu. Actually, it turns out there is a CnT Lechon in SM City Cebu itself. But their main restaurant is just across the street. It was a pretty long street since SM City is after all one of the biggest malls in the world. After a few questions later, I found the place.
The main restaurant is a very native style house made of straw and bamboo. Inside the restaurant is no different. There was no air conditioning but the straw construction of the hut made it quite cool inside. There were several tables along the way right in front was the place you order. Actually, CnT Lechon works much like a cafeteria. There, food is all prepared in front of you and you just pick the ones you want and the move along the queue.
The lechon on the other hand is already pre-roasted and there is a huge piece of pig just lying on the side of the table. A lady would be chopping up the pig right in front of everyone. I can also be a spectacle to see them chopping up the pig.
So what did I do? Of course I ordered the lechon! I ordered the 1/4 kg lechon, but I thought that it was a little too small, so I order some crab to go with it. Not exactly the healthiest meal I ever had but I can tell you that the lechon was the best lechon I’ve ever had. The meat was overflowing with flavor. Normally, lechon comes with some liver sauce, but in this case, the meat was so tasty that you do no need any sauce at all. The skin was a little letdown since the lady didn’t really give me a nice piece of pig skin. Normally the skin will be roasted just right that it will be very crunchy and lechon afficionados will always ask for crunchy skin.
CnT Lechon also allows for take-home lechon. They have this sealed packaging that will keep the flavor in while travelling. This is perfect for people from other places like Manila to bring home to their folks. Now that I have tasted Cebu’s Lechon, I can say that it is the best roast pig in the Philippines. In fact, just recently, Anthony Bourdain went to Cebu to sample Cebu echon and was delighted by it, naming it the “Best Pig Ever”.
Now that I know what kind of food Cebu can offer, I am also sad since I was travelling alone and thus could not order as much food as I want. The Cebu Lechon is just scratching the surface of what Cebuano cuisine is all about. I would probably want to spend a little more time here in Cebu next time.
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they already have a new cnt lechon building across sm city cebu… pls check it out…
i’ll be sure to drop by the next time i’m there! thanks for visiting!
Hello. Just to clarify some facts, the lechon which Chef Anthony Bourdain declared “The Best Pig, Ever” was not from CnT as is suggested by your post, though not explicitly stated, and readers might be misled… I was the host of Mr. Bourdain during his lechon segment in Cebu, and we cooked him the lechons featured in the program. There are lots of great lechons in Cebu, but to be accurate, it’s best to be clear which ones were mentioned on the program. Thanks. 🙂
thanks for pointing this out. yes, Anthony Bourdain’s “Best Pig, Ever” was not CnT lechon. as seen in numerous videos on youtube, the lechon with you and Anthony in it was the official “Best Pig, Ever”. i think the point of this post was to point out that the “Best Pig, Ever” was a Cebu lechon, though not the one from CnT. i apologize for this confusion. thanks for visiting too!
I DONT LIKE THE SAUCE
skin wasn’t that crispy either, not to mention how bad it is for you.