LECHON is found all over the Philippines but Cebu’s version of lechon is considered the best tasting of all.
But wait—there are about as many versions of lechon in Cebu as there are localities and lechoneros. Which is the best of them all?
When Pages Holdings Inc. decided to open House of Lechon, its chairman and chief executive officer Bunny Pages said:
“We decided on offering Carcar lechon because it is really tasty, with the taste permeating throughout the roasted pig.” His daughter Cheryl P. Alba adds: “The sauce is also different. Aside from the herbs put into it, the vinegar and the soy, there is also the drippings of the lechon while it is being cooked which we gather and use in the dipping sauce.” This makes the tasty lechon even more tasty.
House of Lechon opened in November 2015 along Acacia St., Cebu City. Late last year, it opened a second branch on the ground floor of Robinsons Galleria, offering the same tasty lechon and an array of well-loved Filipino dishes.
“We would like to change the concept of a typical lechon restaurant which is often only a chopping area where you buy the lechon. We wanted a restaurant where foreigners and locals can gather and dine in together. For those who just want to buy the lechon, we do have separate takeout counters along the airport road in Pusok, Lapu-Lapu City and in Doña Carmen Bldg. along Gov. M. Cuenco Ave., Cebu City,” said Cheryl.
For the Galleria branch, Cheryl, a self-confessed frustrated interior designer, said she wanted to the restaurant to have a bamboo feel. The walls are dark gray and “bamboo” poles from the sides arc upward toward the ceiling as a handy hanging place for the tiny lamps that light the whole area. The food offered is not just lechon, plain or spicy, but also a wide array of well-loved Filipino dishes like utan’g monggos, pancit, tangigue kinilaw or sinigang, garlicky squid balls, grilled tuna belly, oyster sisig, gising gising na kangkong, lemon butter shrimp, calamares in strips, pancit Cebuana, banana puso salad, baked scallops, ngohiong.
There’s really a wide choice of food besides lechon available so that Cheryl says she encourages her vegetarian friends to come, check out the place, and they will find out that the other food choices are all as delectable as they should be: the lowly monggo soup can be enough reason to go back there.
House of Lechon is doing so well that Cherry reveals the group is opening another branch, this time in Talisay City, as well as another takeout counter. Its success is following the success of Pages Holdings’ other food ventures like Thirsty, Lantaw and Mooon Café.