Cebu lechon and beyond

As the Supercat was approaching the docking berth in Cebu City, one couldn’t help but feel the excitement and romance of travel hying off to some exotic island somewhere in the South Pacific. It beats landing in a ubiquitous airport any time. After all, ours is the second-largest archipelago on the planet. What better way to explore the country than through the inter-island vessels, barring, of course, maritime disasters? Had leis been placed on us upon arrival, it would have been a perfect welcome to the fourth World’s Best Awards 2009 among Asian island destinations (according to Travel + Leisure magazine).

Mary Ann and I took the Supercat from Tagbilaran, Bohol to Cebu City. It was an impressive first time experience to see the catamaran very clean, comfortable and modern, not to mention its punctuality. For P500, one reaches Cebu in 90 minutes, and for P200 more, you get to sit on wider and leatherette seats in the upper deck. We had a smooth sailing all theway, enjoying the calm, deep blue waters of the Bohol Strait.

Continuing our quest for the so-called Holy Grail among the best of Philippine regional dishes for our book project, we have relied on our friend, my kabalen and long-time Cebu resident Maricris Encarnacion and her network of friends to give us leads on the best local grub there is. Many a times, they’d accompany and share with us a memorable meal, but sometimes we’d explore the nooks and crannies of this oldest city in the country by ourselves, serendipitously discovering some guilty pleasures along the way.

1. How the west was won — this is the lechon that won the heart (and stomach) of Anthony Bourdain, declaring it numero uno in the world, replacing Bali and Puerto Rico by his books. The Cebu resource person, top-blogger Market Man of Market, Manila and his staff took all of 10 pigs before getting the result he wanted — a blistery golden red-skin lechon. It is stuffed with an assortment of spices and herbs, then pricked a zillion times with a pin (acupuncture, he calls it) and basted with olive oil and local sea salt. Towards the last stages of roasting, it is sprinkled with water to make the skin rupture and bubbly crisp. When we got to the scene of the crime, it was about to be taken off the dying charcoal embers, with all its glorious golden-red skin and its aroma wafting in the air that could be sniffed some 20 feet away. I felt like Wimpy with wobbly knees floating on air ready for the kill, with the lechon begging to be devoured. Zubuchon is the brand name for this unique style of lechon and was coined after the original name Zubu for Cebu island in 16th century Spanish and Portuguese maps of the Philippine archipelago.

2. Better than best — it’s the ribs that have absorbed most of the flavors from the aromatic stuffing clinging to its undersides. In addition to the usual Cebu-style stuffing of lemongrass/garlic/leek/whole peppercorns/salt, added are red and white onion, fresh rosemary, thyme, lemon, red bell pepper and chili peppers. Market Man recommends lechon is best eaten within 15 to 30 minutes after it has been taken out of the roasting pit. A.k.a. inasal nga baboy in Cebuano, it is often served with puso or the heart-shaped boiled rice contained within a fist-sized woven pocket of coconut fronds. Generally, Cebuanos favor dipping the already salty lechon in spiced vinegar rather than the sweet liver sauce popular in Luzon.

3. A truly Visayan tradition — anywhere in the Visayas and Mindanao, wherever the Cebuanos have migrated and settled, balbacoa will always be present. It is a cow or carabao trotters soup/stew, midly flavored with tausi (fermented soy beans), sangke (star anise), red bell pepper and achuete. At the NL Café, the rich flavorful soup is thickened from the trotters and cheeks gelatinous skin and buttery tendons.

4. Diners at Esmin’s Tinola are greeted by its open kitchen, with large vats of four kinds of fish soups (more like stews) still cooked with firewood. It is open from early dawn to lunch time. Located at the back of Pasil fish market in Cebu City, considered the largest market in the Visayas as the main bagsakan or drop off point for fish and seafood in Cebu island.

5. Esmin’s lapu-lapu head tinoa (tied in a bundle), nilarang nga tagotongan or puffer fish (upper right), and nilarang nga pugapo or grouper (lower right). Nilarang is the way of cooking fish by simmering with garlic, onions, ginger and tausi or fermented black soy beans. Tagotongan is the poisonous pufferfish (fugu in Japanese, one of the most celebrated and notorious dishes in Japanese cuisine due to being lethally poisonous if prepared incorrectly). They are served with a white corn grit mais, still the favored carb of choice by a lot of of Cebuanos.

6. Sabel’s Pocherohan — called pochero in the Visayas (a.k.a. bulalo in Luzon), this beef shank has been slow cooked for more than 10 hours. It is served with corn and bamboo shoots, with its melt-in-the-mouth skin and fall-off-the-bones meat tasting like corned beef. Sabel also serves other popular carinderia fare.

7. Grilled fish stall at Carbon market

8. Heart of the matter — cooked puso, the heart-shaped boiled rice contained within a fist-sized woven pocket of coconut fronds, ever present in a Visayan meal on the go.

9. Which came first, the chickens or the hens?

10. Heart to heart — puso making at Tabu-an market.

11. Daing to know you — Claude facing off with a dried grouper at the Tabu-an market.

12. They’re not daing, they’re dead — chef Tessa Fernan (left) of Casa Escano B&B inspecting the dried fishes at Tabu-an market.

13. Too hot to handle — Rico’s Lechon latest baby, overloaded with red hot siling labuyo (bird’s eye chilies) and onion leeks.

14. La Marea’s deconstructed Brazo de Mercedes, which traditionally comes log-shaped, but is just as good with its rich yema or yolk filling and caramel sauce. With the name meaning “the tide” in Spanish, La Marea has an ultra sleek interior with two antique bancas jutting out of the wall like spaceships from another time and dimension. True to its promise, the desserts are out of this world made by Dette Gallego.  Architect husband Ed designed the interior. Other best-sellers are the warm Brownie Cup, Mango Cobbler, Royal bibingka, and warm apple pie.  

15. Guitar bai?

16. Talisay Sunday food street — One has to drive south some 30 minutes outside Cebu City, passing through the scenic Osmeña Highway. The destination is this narrow street near the beach, with food stalls on both sides selling lechon, lechon manok (P140, P180 for native chicken), pork, fish, dinuguan, roasted kamote, several kinds of seaweed kinilaw (i.e. gusô, lukót and lató at P10/serving), sunlutan or sea cucumber (P30) and other delights from the sea. Lechon is sold by the cut. One simply points at the desired portion, a price is set by the vendor, and one haggles for the final price. Puso at P5 each. One can eat on the bamboo picnic tables set on the premises or walk some 100 meters to the beach where nipa gazebos can be rented

17. Can’t get any fresher than this — kitong or samaral (rabbitfish) simply grilled at the Talisay Sunday food market.

Directory:

Casa Escano Bed &Breakfast — 94 Juana Osmeña St., Cebu City. Tel: 032-253-5563.

Esmin Tinola and Nilarang — Flores and Tupas Sts., Pasil Market, Cebu City

La Marea — Crossroads, Archbishop Reyes Ave., Banilad

NL Café — 8A Wilson St., Lahug, Cebu City

Rico’s Lechon — 032-344-0119; 0917-407-2033.

Sabel Pocherohan — 1490 Villalon Drive, East Capitol Site. Tel: 032-255-2779.

Talisay Sunday food market — Burgos corner Garces Sts. Open only on Sundays.

Zubuchon — to order a whole lechon, call at least three days in advance: Edrid or Beverly (M-F 9am-4pm). Tel. 032-236-5264 or  0917-622-1572. Free Delivery within 15 minutes drive of the Capitol building. Price is based on the size of pig, from P4,000 to P6,000. Also sold by the kilo at Banilad Town Center’s Sunday Market at the Lobby (10am-1pm) at P385/kilo. It  airfreights whole lechons to Manila!