Zubuchon vs. Cebu’s Original Lechon Belly vs. CnT Lechon

Last weekend I headed to an island via passenger ship to eat a bunch of roasted pigs called lechon, a word derived from the Spanish word for, well, roasted pig. Luckily the ship also provided bunk bed accommodations. I felt like a kid again. I love bunk beds.

Where was I going? To Cebu, to taste for the first time what Anthony Bourdain had called “the best pig ever”, referring to the lechon he was introduced to via Filipino food blogger and restauranteur Joel Binamira of MarketManila.com and founder of Zubuchon.

Since that Anthony Bourdain episode, Zubuchon’s lechon has been on the top of my list, with their backyard-grown pigs stuffed with organic ingredients and cooked on bamboo poles over charcoal. But why restrict myself to one restaurant while there? I googled further and added a 2nd stop on my list, Cebu’s Original Lechon Belly with their uber-spiced, de-boned, and slow-roasted lechon bellies. For my third and final spot I decided to try an older Cebuano lechon establishment called CnT Lechon founded in 1987, a restaurant that had been a long time favorite in Cebu City. If I had stayed longer I would have searched for more up and down the island, like Rico’s or lechon from the Cebuano province of Carcar. And what about what is considered the “lechon capital of the Philippines”, La Loma in Luzon? All these other lechon destinations will have to wait another day.

Zubuchon

I visited the first Zubuchon branch that opened more than a year ago, located at One Mango Ave. It just so happens that it is also down the street a ways from one of Cebu City’s largest BBQ markets, Larsian.

After walking for what seemed like 30 minutes and asking guard after guard where Zubuchon was, I started to see “lechon mirages”. There was a sign in the distance that I thought had said “Lechon”, but when I moved closer to the sign, it wasn’t lechon after all.

Despite that, I finally found my first destination in my lechon pilgrimage, Zubuchon. A name that merges an old name of Cebu, “Zubu“, with the word “lechon”. I could have ordered 1/4 or even a half kilo of chopped lechon, but decided to save some of my capillaries and go with their Zubuchon “Fast Meal” or a personal serving of “Zubuchon” (P150/$3.75) which is the name they give their lechon as well as being the restaurant name itself. It comes with a side of rice and atsara (also spelled and pronounced atchara, a traditional Filipino pickled salad of fresh green papaya). To drink I had their Kamias shake made from sour Kamias fruit.

What makes Zubuchon’s lechon different is their lechon skin which is pricked or “acupunctured” as some people have described it, so that it blisters and “bubbles” to a crisp when cooked, similar to the crisp skin of “lechon kawali”, a variation of this Filipino dish that is fried instead of spit roasted.

It was juicy and tasted fresh (it didn’t feel like it sat under a burner somewhere). But the leaner, white meat, the parts distant from the spices and ingredients stuffed alongside the darker, fattier meat in the belly, lacked flavor to me. But let me tell you about the skin. It was the best skin ever! It was not only the crispiest lechon skin i’ve ever had, with its beautiful “bubble-like” texture, but it was also the most flavorful. I don’t think I’ll look at smooth, “un-pricked” lechon skin the same way again. After that I had each bite of meat “escorted” with a piece of crisp flavorful skin, and my initial gripe with the meat’s subtle flavor suddenly disappeared. For my next visit here, I definitely have to try their version of boneless lechon belly. Until then, I was off to my next lechon stop, a shop specializing in just that: lechon pork belly.

Cebu’s Original Lechon Belly

Despite having had lechon just hours earlier, I was drooling over slabs of lechon belly as they were waiting to be sliced, weighed, and then chopped at one of Cebu’s newest lechon shops, located at Parkmall just east of Cebu City’s main piers. As they sliced and weighed each slab of belly I couldn’t help but notice all the ingredients and spices that they packed inside them. Below is a photograph of a 1 kilo serving before it was chopped.

Once again at the request of my arteries I ordered a personal serving, or what they called here a “Budget Meal”. It includes 100 grams of chopped lechon belly and two pieces of “puso” for P60/$1.50 (I ordered the spicy version which was 10 pesos more, P70/$1.50). Puso (also the Filipino word for “heart”) is rice steamed in intricately weaved palm leaf pouches which is also known as “hanging rice” due to them usually being displayed in shops hanging down from above.

Holy smokes the meat was flavorful. The spicy version has a nice subtle heat to it but not enough to make you cry out your nose and skin. Unfortunately like most lechon that is served long after it has been roasted, most of the skin had gotten soft, save for a few crisp spots here and there. Despite that, I felt that the meat’s rich flavor was a nice surprise, contrasting my experience at Zubuchon where it was the other way around; the lechon skin being crisp and flavorful and the meat just a bit sub par. I also wish more puso was included in the deal, they were too small and by the time I was almost done with the rice, I was only half way through the lechon. And since there were some pieces that I found were a bit too salty and spicy, and the “budget meal” at 100 grams wasn’t enough to fill me up, I figured I’d order a 1/4 serving of their non-spicy lechon belly instead for P125/$3.15. The next time I visit of course. Below is a photo of their kilo servings, 1/4 kilo in the foreground, and the 1/2 kilo in the back.

CnT Lechon

The next morning I headed over to CnT Lechon’s branch at SM Cebu City mall, located in front of SM supermarket.

I went ahead and ordered a 1/4 kilo of lechon meat (P115/$2.87) with one puso on the side (P8/$0.20), which was way bigger than the puso at Cebu’s Original Lechon Belly. Altogether it came out to P123/$3.07. As I watched my serving getting chopped I immediately noticed that the skin wasn’t going to be crisp once again, but I guess that’s expected when you’re at a mall where the lechon has to be delivered to after having been cooked elsewhere. I later found that CnT Lechon has a stand alone branch that has a bigger space nearby. The next time I try CnT Lechon, I’ll definitely head there.

The flavor in the meat was just right to me, there were no salty parts like I had found at Cebu Original and no bland areas like I had found at Zubuchon. The puso had enough rice to carry me all the way through the meal because as you know, you must always maintain a consistent meat-to-rice ratio, which unfortunately is difficult to maintain with Cebu Original’s “Budget Meal”. The thing is, unlike Cebu’s Original, my serving had the bone in, and it wasn’t until I looked up at the menu on the sign that they provided boneless lechon as well. Yup, all I need are more reasons to come back and have more pig.

The best Cebu lechon?

So what was the best of all three? I’d say I would visit CnT Lechon again first. The 1/4 kilo serving I had, along with the huge puso of rice filled me up just fine. At P123/$3.07 it seemed to have the most bang for my buck. As for Zubuchon, their skin is so good I plan to make another visit, and while P25/$0.62 more than what I had at CnT Lechon, its still worth having that skin plus a side of atsara to balance out the pork in-between bites. Plus, their Boneless Zubuchon “fast meal” is P110/$2.75, P13 cheaper than the CnT meal I had. Gotta come back for that one. As for Cebu Original Lechon Belly, I think its a great place to bring large groups of people, at least at the open-air Parkmall location. Other than that, I have to return once more to try their non-spicy version by the 1/4 kilo before I can truly make a final verdict.

But what if you took the blistered-to-a-crisp lechon skin from Zubuchon, placed it on top of a slab of dark, flavorful lechon meat from CnT Lechon, and added the extra flavors and a little spice from Cebu’s Original Lechon Belly? That, I’d say to Mr. Bourdain, would probably be the best. Pig. Ever. Until such a cacophony of roasted pig components exists on one plate, do what I did and visit all three. And then visit them again for whatever reasons you can come up with.

(Check out my blog post on Cebu’s Larsian barbecue eatery here)