Food: Places to Eat in Cebu City

Here's one of my overdue posts: a review of the foods we had and the places we dined in while we were in Cebu City.

To be honest, I wasn't all that excited to stay in Cebu City, having learned that it looks just like Manila. Citylife is what we're escaping from, so I think it beats the purpose of having a vacation if we'll stay in the same environment. But staying in Cebu City can't be helped so I shifted my attention to the food that we'll eat, rather than places that we'll go to.

Here are the places that I put in my list of Cebu-City-must-eats.

1. Zubuchon or CnT Lechon or both
2. Mooon Café
3. Casa Verde
4. Larsian
5. Feria Restaurant (Radisson Blu)

But as fate would have it, things didn't go as planned: we weren't able to stay in the first hotel that I planned to stay in, and we were only able to eat at Larsian, Mooon Café and CnT Lechon.


Larsian

Pork Barbeque, Pork Liver, Chicken Isaw, Grilled White Marlin

A glorified barbeque-han, Larsian is a cluster of carinderias serving mostly barbequed meats. When we entered the compound, we were overhelmed by the number of barbeque stalls to choose from and the peddlers who were trying to sway us in their directions. I wasn't able to research which stall serves the best barbeque. It was still early and most stalls were empty, so we ended up choosing the one that already has diners.

Pork barbeque comes in cheap at P5.00 per stick, but once you see how small and thin the meat slices are, you'll realize that the price isn't really that much different from that of your neighborhood barbeque vendors. Other meat skewers range from P10.00-P50.00. Some also offer fish slices which are more expensive.

Eating is kamayan-style (you eat with your hands), and our server gave us plastic gloves to keep our hands clean while eating (but mine was punctured by the stick, so goodbye clean hands) . Taste is generally good.


Mooon Café

It's a Mexican-inspired restaurant, with colorful rustic interiors that play well to the Mexican theme. Think color-blocking: Orange, blue, yellow, green  I love the vintage-looking fountain inside the restaurant! The branch where we ate is at the Ayala Terraces. Service was fast and friendly. Food was very good and prices were reasonable.

Since it was our first time to eat here, we went safe and ordered the bestsellers. Although I'm not sure how authentically Mexican the food is (it doesn't claim to be a true-blue Mexican restaurant anyway), I love the combination of flavors and spices that are prominent in many Mexican-inspired dishes.

 

Fish Mozzarella Melt: Love the cheese!



Spaghetti Ala Gamba: This is my favorite. A nice combo of garlicky, salty (Parmesan cheese), and buttery flavors.

 

Jalapeno Diablo: Waiter said it's just mildy spicy, but it packed a punch.
For non-chili lovers: You'll survive if you skip the slices of Jalapeno peppers.

Mango Juice with Mint leaves

CnT Lechon

Cebu is famous for their lechons (roasted pig), and among the popular Lechon Cebu purveyors is CnT Lechon. Since I haven't had any other Cebu lechon, I can only compare it to Manila-stye lechons. And I can definitely say that it is much, much better.

Cnt Lechon, or what's left of it. We were so hungry I forget to take a picture before we eat.

From SM City Cebu main entrance, we crossed to the opposite of the road to the yellow building with a sign that reads Cnt Lechon. But we're not sure where to enter, the place looked like a parking space. A kid told us that there's a stair leading to the second floor. Ayun naman pala.

What greeted us upstairs was a canteen-style restaurant with a small mob of people who looked like they were calling out their bets (1 kilo! 2 kilos! 3 kilos!). The counter is divided into two, a dine-in order area and a take-out counter but we couldn't figure out where the take-out line ends and where dine-in line begins. So I just asked D to fall in line and bahala na, while I took a table and waited.

The wait was long because there were so many people and I couldn't see the line moving at all. And when he finally arrived with our lunch - a half-kilo lechon and pieces of puso rice - we were both famished so we wasted no time in devouring the famous lechon.

My first impression was it's saltier than what I'm used to. Well, that's what the vinegar dip is for. In Manila, we are used to having lechon with a pork liver gravy sauce (sarsa ng lechon) because the meat is bland. But in Cnt Lechon Cebu, the meat is salty so you have to counter it with vinegar.

Actually, I wasn't impressed with my first authentic lechon Cebu and couldn't see what people are raving about. But when I had another lechon in Manila a few weeks after we came from Cebu, that's when I began to appreciate Cebu lechon. The salty meat is really not just salty, but it also had absorbed the essence of the stuffing used during roasting, so there other flavors, albeit faint. It tasted fresh, and you can eat it on its own without the sawa factor.

As for the lechon that we bought in Manila, we weren't able to finish it. It's not good at all. The reason why D bought it was he was subconsciously hankering for Cebu lechon, and thought that any lechon can satisfy the craving. But he's wrong and we know now why the authentic Cebu lechon is superior than most lechons in Manila.