Dinner at Six Thirty: Food Stall: Zubuchon Lechon

Monday, May 2, 2011

Food Stall: Zubuchon Lechon

What started as a simple business venture seems to be doing quite well now. And what was only available on Sundays at the lobby of Banilad Town Center is now available every day of the week. Zubuchon (Lechon Baboy) was made popular by Anthony Bourdain's visit to Cebu which he described as "the best pig ever". Zubuchon takes pride in using only natural ingredients and herbs; definitely no MSG or vetsin here. It's been doing quite well and I even hear talks about the opening of not 1 but 2 Zubuchon restaurants in Cebu!

It is our family ritual to go to Banilad Town Center on Sundays. We go to their Sunday Market and buy breads and pastries from our "suki". After shopping, we like to have our family lunch at Banilad Town Center. If our schedule does not permit it, we bring home take-out food.

Yesterday, we decided to bring home a kilo of Zubuchon. We're not big lechon eaters, but we do like to indulge occasionally and on special events. It has been so long since we've had pork (we gave up pork during the whole Lenten season)!

A kilo of Zubuchon is a little much for us; we usually eat about half of that and I come up with something to do with the leftovers the next day. But buying 1/4 or 1/2 kilo is not possible at Zubuchon because they have the meat pre-packaged. Fortunately, we were able to have fresh cut meat this time. I bumped into one of my mother's friend whose granddaughter really wanted to taste Zubuchon (she's based in Tacloban). My mother's friend insisted on having a kilo of freshly cut meat and included us too.

MR and I both like and dislike Zubuchon. The meat is tender (almost too tender/mushy at times), the meat has minimal fat, and it is all-natural flavor. But maybe because I grew up with the traditional lechon and its familiar spices, sometimes I eat Zubuchon and don't recognize lechon baboy. Especially with the rosemary herb, it feels like I am eating oven-roasted pork tenderloin. I also found the pork skin to be very salty, while the meat itself was perfectly seasoned.