My Cebu Gastronomic Journey

Aside from beautiful beaches, various historic sites and export quality handicrafts, the Queen of the South, Cebu  is also a great place to indulge in food.

With Spanish and Chinese influences added to the fact that they're blessed with natural resources, they surely know how to make good eats.

When down South, here are the basics of gastronomy in Cebu:

magic is made in this factory

 1. CNT Lechon : Two brands kept on popping up when I asked the locals. One was Rico's and the other one was the more popular CNT. CNT has 6 branches spread around Cebu City. For those looking for it at SM, they've closed shop and reopened it adjacent the end of the street that the mall is on.

add 15 PHP for a travel box to pack your lechon in

I went to 2 of its branches and visited the factory. I swear, the lines at the outlets are craaazy long! For those who want to bring this Cebuano treasure, they can pack it for you in travel ready boxes that will guarantee a no-smell trip.

lechon packed and ready for delivery to CNT outlets

 

at the Guadalupe Hts branch where there were 10 people cued ahead of me and 2 were there to hoard roasted legs and head :P

finally, just 5 people ahead of me on a busy lunch hour at the CNT across SM Cebu. These ladies are mighty strong when it comes to hacking. The odd spots are the oil spatters on the glass divider

there's my 1 kilo for home and soon my 1/2 kg for lunch :D

 It costs around 400/kilo and priced slightly higher for the feet and head. All CNT branches also have other viands in their restaurants. BTW, Cebu lechon is much much tastier, both skin and meat, compared to the way we do em up north.

lechon, puso (rice in a coconut leaf pouch) and sinamak (spiced vinegar) + soy dipping sauce

In fact, lechon sauce (Mang Tomas) is not a basic condiment down south, a soy and sinamak mix is what they throw in when you buy this pork delicacy to balance the flavors. You can do away with the dipping sauce too.   The CNT lechon we sampled was also soooo tender, low in fat and just all around good :)

2. Dried Fruits: for the longest time, I've always associated sweet mango products with Cebu, and with reason. Nowadays, their dried fruits offering has diversified. At 3 for 100 PHP these make excellent treats to bring back home or save for snacking.

3. Pastries: it's probable safe to say that the folks in Cebu love their bread ( with a bakery within reach in every area). They also know how to make pastries:

puff pastry, slightly sweet, light and flaky

thin rolled wafer with a slightly sweet paste of casuy, peanuts and honey filling

Ube piaya- flaky unleavened bread stuffed with sweetened yam

regular piaya - unleavened bread stuffed with raw sugar

the smells of the dried fish tend to cling on to your clothes,  even WITHOUT touching...for real!

4. Dried Seafood: for all your dried sea food needs, check out the Tabo-an Market. You can haggle, buy by grams and have it sealed and packed well so you can bring it in the plane. You can also find other Cebu delicacies and souvenir items in the area instead of going to the Carbon Market.

dried pusit (squid)

danggit (rabbitfish)

5. Sausages - as much as possible, I try to sample the local sausage for the laces we visit in the Philippines. I don't normally like hamonadong longganisa (sweet smoked sausage) but found the sausage in the area to be a good mix of sweet, savory and smoky. You can pick up some at the market and also have it travel ready in no time.

must be refrigerated as soon as you could

Speaking of sausages, try grabbing a pack of Chinese sausage. Great as an appetizer or an added ingredient to you fried rice, stir fry or noodles :)

6. Dried Meat/Seafood snacks : I wasn't able to get my favorite local version of beef jerky, the ready to eat beef tapa this time. What I did pick up was ready to eat spicy calamari and squid flakes.

7. Carcar Chicharon and Ampao -  if you happen to pass by the City of Carcar, which is about 2 hours away south of Cebu City, try their special chicharon and the local rice pop (pop rice in Baguio) aka ampao. Nami jud!!!

ampao at 20 php a pack..cheap yummy treats :)

liempo chicharon: need I say more?

There's so much more to discover and eat in Cebu, but sadly, I did not get the chance to eat the local dishes except for puso. Maybe next time I could try the local sinugba and butong with crabs or attempt to cook it myself :P

so much food..so little time

From TMW, may all your wanderings be better than ours!

apparently my haul (see above) wasn't enough... :P