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If you love roast pork, this is the best place in the world

By Brian Johnston

If you’ve ever roasted pork, you’ll know the smell fills your house and sets your stomach rumbling in anticipation. Manila’s roast pork is next level, though. Its aroma fills an entire neighbourhood. People come from far away, battling the city’s notorious traffic, for a whiff. Or a bite. Or actually, a whole pig.

I’ve come from the port with two-dozen fellow travellers, and the smell is almost making us lick the coach windows as we gaze out at roast pork galore. Rows of spitted piglets run like crazy picket fences along a street lined with open-fronted eateries whose interiors are blackened with charcoal smoke.

Noodles with roast pork, a popular dish in the Philippines.

Noodles with roast pork, a popular dish in the Philippines.Credit: iStock

I’m on a shore excursion with Regent Seven Seas Cruises and, while the cruise line provides the best food at sea, I’ve been tempted to explore beyond the Philippine capital’s standard sights.

Where better to go than La Loma, a district in Quezon said to produce sprawling Metro Manila’s best roast pork, or lechon? La Loma was declared the nation’s lechon capital, and has been named an official tourism district thanks to its pork prowess.

Who knows if the lechon here really is the best? Any lechon in this country makes you gluttonous. The late American chef and TV traveller Anthony Bourdain claimed – twice – that the Philippines produced the world’s best roast pork.

The pigs are roasted whole over a pit filled with charcoal, or sometimes coconut husks. In the central Philippines, they’re stuffed with herbs, pungent lemongrass, tamarind and garlic.

In the northern Philippines, including Manila, fewer flavourings (mainly salt and pepper) are used. Added flavour comes from sarsa, a dipping sauce made with liver, vinegar and brown sugar.

The Manila neighbourhood of La Loma is full of grill shops that specialise in lechon, or roast pig, one of the favourite dishes in the Philippines.

The Manila neighbourhood of La Loma is full of grill shops that specialise in lechon, or roast pig, one of the favourite dishes in the Philippines.Credit: Alamy

La Loma is devoted to the art of lechon production. A steady, slow-rolling queue of cars comes through here, as if to a drive-through, to pick up whole suckling pigs. No celebratory feast in the Philippines is without one.

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New Year’s Eve sees the biggest lechon sales, followed by Christmas, but lechon is featured at christenings, weddings, graduations and other events.

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To some, the sight of a baby pig, mouth stuffed with an apple, ears perky but charred, feet curled up, might be off-putting. However, as we scramble off the coach and into a lechon shop, none of us are. The smell makes us shameless gluttons.

Our guide takes us through the process. The lechon barbecue cooks have to keep a watch on their coals to ensure the heat is right and the meat is not cooking too quickly. The spits are constantly turned. The skin should caramelise to an orange-brown sheen and parchment crispness.

Care to try some? La Loma’s famous lechon restaurants include Mila’s, which has been running since the 1960s and is particularly noted for lechon with crispy skin; Ping Ping’s, where the paper-thin skin is slightly charred, and Monchie’s, whose crackling has a salty sweetness from its basting in soy sauce and honey.

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The best dipping sarsa is at Mang Tomas, which is owned by the daughter of Tomas De Los Reyes, the first lechonero in La Loma. He set up shop in 1951 and began serving pork to men at the neighbourhood cock-fighting arena. Now his bottled sauce retails internationally, including at Woolworths in Australia.

You can buy an entire suckling pig for PHP 1200 ($33), though unfortunately I can hardly haul one back to my sophisticated suite on Seven Seas Explorer. Fortunately, a sample plate goes for PHP 300 ($8).

My lechon has crispy skin, a layer of melt-in-your mouth white fat, and soft and juicy pork beneath. I hardly have to chew. The sarsa gives added flavour, but I reckon the pork is exquisite without. No better pig-out, anywhere.

THE DETAILS

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CRUISE
Luxury cruise line Regent Seven Seas Cruises sails several Asian itineraries that visit Manila, such as a 61-night Grand Asia Exploration from Auckland to Tokyo departing on January 12, 2026 and a 14-night Allure of Asia cruise between Singapore and Hong Kong departing February 5, 2025. The latter costs from $18,210 a person including pre- or post-cruise land program, shore excursions, beverages, speciality dining, Wi-Fi and gratuities. See rssc.com

The writer was a guest of Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

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Original URL: https://www.theage.com.au/traveller/inspiration/in-the-home-of-the-world-s-best-roast-pork-you-might-turn-into-a-pig-20240423-p5flxc.html