An early Father’s Day pasalubong (gift) was a box containing several kilos of CNT Lechon (roasted pig) flown in from Cebu. I have seen so many passengers claiming these boxes at the baggage carousel in Manila over the years and have always wondered how the lechon could possibly manage to survive a one hour trip in a 45 degree Fahrenheit cargo hold, not to mention the pre-departure wait in the bowels of the Cebu airport… But before we get to the contents, I would like to have a little fun with the box itself. My wife 
always sniggers uncontrollably every time she has a CNT box sighting. It very proudly states CNT LECHON, “The Taste of Cebuanoâ€!!! Hahaha! Is there a roasted Cebuano inside the box? What is the taste of Cebuano, someone giving us a verbal preview of the dialect? Hahaha! I jest of course. I know what they mean, and so do most of you with ties to the archipelago. But someone really has to correct their English, don’t you think?! I mean, Hello, Marketman to CNT owners… THE TASTE OF CEBUANO???. Frankly, I could go on and on with this… The Taste of Cebuano… does that mean you only taste a male from Cebu? Are the female specimens not as tasty?! Do you chew it or drink it? Okay, okay, enough already (particularly since my own English skills aren’t fantastic either)… :)
Ever since I was a teeny tiny tot, I have eaten lechon cooked in Cebu and flown into Manila (my grandmother used to send lechons for major occasions such 
as birthdays and Christmas). I recall the skin ALWAYS being rubbery and the meat being much tastier than Manila lechons. Therefore, the crisp skin is a lost cause, but the meat IS worth the effort. The same is true for the CNT lechon… no matter what anyone says, the fact that you have stuck hot steaming meat into a cardboard box for several hours before re-opening it means you get soggy swine, got it? And remember, no liver sauce comes with lechon from Cebu! Hahaha, I could have a heyday with that fact as well… Finally, our chocolate labrador is ready for her taste of Cebuano…
52 Responses
is there anyway we can order directly from CNT? those look soo yummy.. i envy your lab for he gets to taste it.. hahaha!!
i’ve also tasted lechon from aklan and they also make their lechon like in cebu, they place lots of herbs in the stomach cavity and smother it with something to make the skin crisp.. after cooking it was packed and sent to manila thru plane, it arrived still hot and crispy.. it was home cooked actually.. i can say it also is good and delish but i am curious about cebu lechon.. hope you can give me info on lechon makers in manila that would be the same taste as cebu lechon.. thanks!
there’s also good lechon from Cagayan de Oro. i ordered one for my mom’s birthday and the unusual thing was that there was a hint of ginger in the herb stuffing. our cook, manang, also said that there was an herb there that they use in ilocos.. she couldn’t give me the tagalog name (and i forget the ilocano name)but the lechon had an unusual flavor different from ones that i’ve tasted from Cebu. like the Cebu lechons it didn’t have any liver sauce!
happy father’s day. :)
Hi MM! Happy Father’s Day =) For those going to Cebu anytime soon and want to taste this without ordering a whole roast, CNT has a restaurant in Guadalupe that sells the lechon by kilo, among other dishes. The numbers and address are posted in the box in the picture above =)Personally,nothing beats the original Cebu lechon from Talisay and i also like the taste of Rico’s lechon and surprisingly, it travels well. I have never been dissapointed with their lechon. The skin is still crisp and the meat very tasty. Very convenient as well because they can take your orders and send it through air cargo and you just pick it up at the airport.
Oh, and Cebu Lechon is best paired with Pinakurat vinegar! (available at the Iligan stall in Market market)
Happy Father’s Day! Interestingly enough, the lechon that my sister sends me from Bob’s Bacolod has always stayed crispy! the key is to tell the lechon makers what time the flight the lechon will be sent. They then cook it just with enough time to spare for it to cool before packing it. Have ordered lechon from them about five or six times already and never pa pumalpak. :)
Great way to celebrate your DAY with festive and delicious Cebu lechon. Mrs. M knows what really close and dear to your heart that hits the spot for your big day. No more secret it’s known fact the famous lechon can handle coast to coast travel – thanks to modern day aviation and the lechon’s endless demand. How about if they poke holes on the box to let the steam out rather than confine the steam inside the box – to act as a ventilation might help to save the crispy skin? You think the airlines will let the poked box in? HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!
mmmmm. . . lechon paksiw, if there will be leftovers. . . hehe
Funny you should mention liver sauce, because no self-respecting Bisaya would ever consider smothering lechon with that vile gooey stuff — it’s good vinegar or none at all. In fact, I have never, ever, seen lechon paired with gravy-like sauce (I instantly think Mang Tomas, ugh). Maybe because our lechon is well seasoned and tastes great from the get-go, so there really isn’t any need to mask the flavor with any ‘savory’ sauce.
Anyway, your post got my gastric juices worked up at nine in the morning. Whew! How about a Philippine lechon tour, MM? It’s amazing how the taste differs from one province/region to another, let alone how the dish features in local culture. Ever consider how lechon is always the centerpiece for parties in the Visayas, but not so in Luzon (at least in my limited experience)?
TOPING, a lechon tour would be material enough for a WHOLE book. And a great book it would be, I might add. I recently had the privilege of watching a lechonero go from live little piggy to crisp lehon skin…I was saving the information for a chapter of a book on pork if I ever wrote one…but it is utterly fascinating. And the stuffing for the stomach cavity differs quite a bit from North to South… yum! Wil, you got it…I like paksiw more than the lechon!
personally, i always go to a small carinderia-type place called willy’s for good cebuano lechon. it’s in the vicinity of the lapu-lapu market and it represents for me what lechon cebu really tastes like. and none of that liver sauce either please. it’s suka with garlic, salt and chilies. daog na!
and even my mom’s paksiw na lechon did not have sarsa. it was really pure paksiw: vinegar, garlic, brown sugar, laurel leaves. daog na pud!
choy, you are so right re the paksiw. The first time I ate paksiw in Manila was at the Landmark (I think) food court, so imagine my surprise when the meat came swimming in gravy. Gross, not to mention unpalatable! Reminds me of the lechon paksiw kuno that comes in cans. Yikes.
I remember a guy in Cagayan de Oro,, way back in the 70’s, Billy Agan. He got rich transporting lechon from CDO to Manila in those PAL BAC-111 planes before. Last time I heard, he is already in Europe. and I remember his lechon- super, a taste of Kagay-anon?Hehehehehehe
I’m from CDO, and the people in our Makati office are always asking us to send them lechon airport-to-airport! And no liver sauce. Our lechon is good enough to eat plain.
I noticed 2 or 3 new stalls selling Cebu Lechon in Pque and Alabang area. I wonder if they tastes the same…well, I’m sure not exactly but they said that it’s the Cebuano way of roasting lechon. Also, has anybody tried the fatless lechon sold by one of the stalls in the meat section of Makati Supermart in Alabang? I never knew that in VisMin, paksiw na lechon doesn’t have sauce. Cebu lechon makes a perfect paksiw though..especially paired with a bottle of Shiraz.
Steaklady, would you have the contact number of Rico’s?
Waah, it’s 6 AM and you’ve just made me crave lechon soooo badly! I would love to cook all that skin into paksiw, the Cebuano way! NO LIVER SAUCE! Of course I know many would disagree… :)
love the lab and her excitement.
“A Taste of Cebuano†is not as bad as a jeepney labeled “Katas ng German.” Double entendre? Of all the “Katas” labels i have seen, this is the most intriguing.
there’s a ‘parada ng lechon’ fiesta next week :)
I love CnT lechon! The best in Cebu that I’ve tasted. We sometimes have lechon from Cebu shipped to Manila for special occasions, and my sister-in-law shares that they must be whisked off to the airport only shortly before departure. It hasn’t failed us yet — our lechon arrives Manila still very crisp and a little warm.
If you’re in Cebu, you can also get CnT lechon from their store near the SM mall. The best lechon to eat are those that are still so hot, you can’t even touch the flesh! Best with puso and ngoyong (did I spell that correctly?) Yum!!
The lab is gorgeous….look at that face! ((((HUGS)))!!!
Am speechless! I love lechon de Cebu and in the few weeks that I was based in Cebu, I developed a “taste of (for) Cebuano”!! Har har har! Our hotel was just walking distance from a CnT restaurant so we had access to lechon morning,noon & night!! Talk about pigging out!!!!
Hi Corrine! Rico’s Lechon can be reached at (032)344-0119 and 0917-4072033. Price starts at Php 2,500- Php 4,000 and freight charge of Php 600 through Pal cargo.
Hello Corrine,
We order lechon from Rico’s too whenever my sister-in-law based in Manila would need one for their special occassions. I called just now to make sure that the numbers haven’t changes. Here they are : (032)344-1343 or 344-0119.
This is my first post by the way so I would like to thank MM for keeping this blog for all of us to enjoy, learn from and share.
“the numbers haven’t changes” suppose to read “the numbers haven’t changed. Sorry about that folks.
Hi MarketMan! My friend, Imma who’s a Cebu native recommends this to all of us! My friend from HK went to Cebu last week and unfortunately – she was at the shop too early – the people said for her to wait for the lechon to arrive. When she came back – the leachon were all sold out. Sayang..
Toping,
I think eating lechon with or without the liver sauce has to be an acquired taste. I grew up eating lechon with liver sauce and ate the same as paksiw na lechon the following day. So i would never dream of eating lechon without the sauce. Just like Kare-Kare, i wont eat it without bagoong, would you?
Incidentaly when my Brother’s family went to Cebu and stayed at the Shangrila hotel, they ordered lechon and he was wondering how come it didn’t come with the sauce. Of course he didn’t know that Cebuanos or Visayan’s dont put sauce on the lechon either, and he insisted to have a bottle of at least “mang tomas” or he would not pay for the lechon. So guess what happened?
Ted, did they manage to find Mang Tomas? That’s like insisting that McDonalds give you ketchup in Europe…it isn’t free, you have to buy it! I think the whole sauce discussion is regionally based. While I was born in Cebu and eat lechon the Cebu way in Cebu, I do gladly have the liver sauce in Manila. Also, I like it with just a good patis as well…
MM, Since my brother’s family was booked in that hotel for a week, the manager asked my Brother to come back the following day and promised the sauce to be available, and they did have a bottle of “mang tomas” the next day ;-)
all i could say wished am home ,,,,
MM,
Correction please… It’s not ‘”A” Taste of Cebuano’, it’s ‘”THE” Taste of Cebuano’. I know that you somehow know the connotation here but frankly, I think it should be “The Taste of Cebuanos”… in my humble opinion anyway because it’s not just for one Ccebuano but for MANY Cebuanos, right?
LT, you are right, THE Taste of Cebuano, either way, not exactly what I think they mean… One would typically refer to the place rather than a persons personal or collective tastes… I think… at any rate, I find it amusing.
I think it could either be “The Taste of Cebuanos” or “A Taste of Cebu”
yummy!!!lechon cebu the best! Talisay to lapu-lapu lechon taste marvelous..good with suka with sili..sus kalami jud!!!
^_^ I guess Cebu is like davao in their lechon…whenever we buy lchon we always have to provide our own sarsa (Mang Tomas to the rescue!).Most of the time lchon is dipped(or smothered )with catsup…I prefer mine dipped in kalamansi,toyo,and sili!My grandparents would always tell the men tht roat their lchon to brush the pigs’ skin with coke or pepsi to make the skin crunchy and relly reddish…it dos work and the stuff the belly with lots and lot of tanglad and ginger.Hmmm…makes me crave lechon at 11 p.m.!
CNT is the best! I go there everytime, I go home. Who cares, about the english! its the inside that counts! hahaha… By the way, its not nice to blast other filipino. Thats so wrong! What happen to the saying ” magkaisa ” ?! No wonder, why Philippines is so f@#k up, its because of people like you. I wont be visiting ur site anymore, and believe me I will tell the people I know. Goodluck!
People say rico’s lechon is the best. i don’t think so. they use baboy bactin, which doesn’t reach the pigs mature taste. and they aren’t salty enough.
I airfreight lechon de cebu together with my business partner in cebu. The lechon skin does get soggy if it is not packed well enough. The grammar needs to be corrected though but then again it did serve its purpose, now CNT is known not only for their lechon but also for their wrong grammar hehehe talk about marketing their brand well. You guys may get in touch with me if you want to order lechon de cebu at my mobile num 09156712209. Oh and before i forget, you may choose to have mang tomas or not with the lechon de cebu. To each their own as they say
They have the worst service ever! The waitress wont answer if uve got questions and they will hide the lechons i dont know why it seems they dont want to sell it. Celia’s lechon is way better.
Try Naldo`s lechon also in cebu. It`s very good as well. Contact number 0917-6300-888 or 346-0202. My family have ordered there 3 times already. They said the lechon and the dinuguan is the best. My family should know because they`re huge “lechon eaters”.
Dannng Lechon.. CNT “Coronary Narrow Trap” heehee at any rate i will devour and enjoy the Happy pig with or without the sauce.
Hey MM, did he come with an apple in his silly mouth? whats up with that?? and your Dog heehee looks like a One Happy Camper!!
Sa Cebu pako wa jud koy laing lechon nga kaonon, CNT ra gyud, mingaw na kaayo ko sa Cebu labi na CNT lechon. The best lechon jud ang CNT, wa nay laen pa! Greetings from cold Germany…
Hmmmmmm… i got hungry! Well, i’ve tried the http://www.lechoncebu.com aside the fact na masarap and crispy ang lechon nila its very convenient, i can pay it online through credit card.
We discover this guys when my parents from US surprised us one time on my birthday. They ordered Lechon and paid it online, to my surprise i was contacted to pick up the lechon all of the sudden to the airport.
Now, we keep ordering from them even as we go to cebu just to para mag beach, they deliver it there kung saan kami nang family within cebu. Pwede rin pala bumili din nang Puso “Hanging Rice” Chicken and Barbecue basta within Cebu, Wow! convenient talaga!
Just sharing maybe gusto nyong subukan.
Wendyl of Makati
Try Lechon de Cebu ni Memon. You don’t need to go to Cebu, its here in Manila! Guaranteed malinis, bagong katay, bagong luto! Place your orders for this coming holidays! 0927-5878730 09275878731 (02)4549051 Pls look for Christy or Sarah
How do I order on line CNT lechon? I love CNT too, when I was assigned in Cebu for 3 years, 10 years ago.
were can i buy the cartoon packaging, that you are now using for your whole lechon? pls mail me asap….tnx!
or you can reach me thru this nos. 0917-3263074 / 0922-7446244
got orders comin from manila, i need it asap….tnx!
i arrived from cebu last night. i was there for 5 days and had 4 separate meals of cebu lechon. 2 at CNT, 1 at Nora’s and the other one fed to us by the city govt. all i can say is “i need hot tea” haha. i brought home 1.5 kilos and hope to be back soon :)
Wow kabaliw ang lasa talaga ng AYER’s lechon Cebu..kakaiba ang sarap di nakailangan ng sarsa…..super lutong ang balat….native lechon talaga, buti nalang me website na sila kahit sa Manila ka nagdeliver sila…..www.ayerlechoncebu.com madali pa payment nila, pwede sa Globe G-cast at Smart money, me pay-pal at bank deposit din…..
If you want to get an authentic CNT Lechon thru airport to airport just text me 0905-311-3460.
I think it says “THE taste of Cebuano”…. which is correct, describing the standard of the Cebuano’s taste. It’s not “A taste…”