Philippines: Rico's Lechon
The ferry ride from Bohol to Cebu was long and uneventful. We got to watch "Bohemian Rhapsody" on mute and I had to bug Abby the entire duration of the film to tell me what was going on as she was the only one of us who'd already watched it.
We had just enough time in Cebu before our flight to Manila to grab lunch. There was only one place we wanted to go:
Cebu is famous for lechon (roasted pork) and while there are many restaurants that claim to serve the best, Rico's is one of the most popular options. Hence the packed interior:
We trustingly stored our luggage by the door and followed the hostess upstairs to our table. Funnily enough, the party next to us consisted of AirAsia crew. We joked that we could stay as long as they did and not worry about missing our flight.
When we were last in Cebu, it was Holy Week and Rico's was closed. Now that we were finally inside, we had to celebrate. For party crazy people like us, that meant drinks for everyone! Fruit drinks, that is.
We got the cucumansi quencher (P 95 / $1.87), mais con hielo (P 80 / $1.57), buko shake (P 120 / $2.36), calamansi soda (P 75 / $1.47), and ripe mango shake (P 110 / $2.16):
The cucumansi shake was a blend of cucumber and calamansi. A little tart and a lot refreshing. We didn't quite know what to expect with the mais con hielo beyond corn, but it turned out to be exactly that. Think blended sweet corn ice smoothie. Everything else was pretty self-explanatory.
In the name of celebrating, we might have ordered more food than we really needed. We got the beef tripe kare kare (P 340 / $6.68):
When I hear peanut sauce, I'm always in. Kare kare is the ultimate peanut sauce stew, so I thought I would love it. But I've had kare kare a few times now and I'm always slightly underwhelmed. The sauce is always a bit bland and while the accompanying shrimp paste is funky and delicious, I wish the peanut sauce itself was just a bit more flavorful.
Abby is a big fan of dinuguan (P 140 / $2.75), which is a pork blood stew with pork offal:
I could eat a little of it, but I could never finish a bowl by myself. Just a bit too intense for my tastes.
As usual, our veggie of choice was the adobong kangkong (P 170 / $3.34) or ong choy:
I don't know what's in the sauce, but it's freakin' delicious.
Of course, the whole point of going to Rico's was its lechon. They offer both original and spicy. We ordered 500g of the original (P 445 / $8.74) and 250g of the spicy (P 295 / $5.80):
The meat itself was so tender it almost melted in our mouths. My favorite part, however, was the crispy, crispy skin.
With everything running slightly salty, we were happy to have plain pandan rice (single for P 35 / $0.69):
And even happier to have garlic rice (platter for P 145 / $2.85):
If we'd had more time in Cebu, I would've loved to do a blind taste test of all the major lechon restaurants in the city. Alas, we were only able to try Rico's and Zubuchon while we were there. Between the two though, I preferred Rico's. But in regards to non-lechon dishes, I enjoyed what we had at Zubuchon more.
With our bellies full, we made our way to the airport. Only the Manila leg left before I'm finally done posting about this trip!
Rico's Lechon
Unit 3 & 4 , Mactan Promenade, Lapu-Lapu Airport Rd
Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, Philippines
+63995-618-9363
https://ricoslechon.com/
We had just enough time in Cebu before our flight to Manila to grab lunch. There was only one place we wanted to go:
Cebu is famous for lechon (roasted pork) and while there are many restaurants that claim to serve the best, Rico's is one of the most popular options. Hence the packed interior:
We trustingly stored our luggage by the door and followed the hostess upstairs to our table. Funnily enough, the party next to us consisted of AirAsia crew. We joked that we could stay as long as they did and not worry about missing our flight.
When we were last in Cebu, it was Holy Week and Rico's was closed. Now that we were finally inside, we had to celebrate. For party crazy people like us, that meant drinks for everyone! Fruit drinks, that is.
We got the cucumansi quencher (P 95 / $1.87), mais con hielo (P 80 / $1.57), buko shake (P 120 / $2.36), calamansi soda (P 75 / $1.47), and ripe mango shake (P 110 / $2.16):
The cucumansi shake was a blend of cucumber and calamansi. A little tart and a lot refreshing. We didn't quite know what to expect with the mais con hielo beyond corn, but it turned out to be exactly that. Think blended sweet corn ice smoothie. Everything else was pretty self-explanatory.
In the name of celebrating, we might have ordered more food than we really needed. We got the beef tripe kare kare (P 340 / $6.68):
When I hear peanut sauce, I'm always in. Kare kare is the ultimate peanut sauce stew, so I thought I would love it. But I've had kare kare a few times now and I'm always slightly underwhelmed. The sauce is always a bit bland and while the accompanying shrimp paste is funky and delicious, I wish the peanut sauce itself was just a bit more flavorful.
Abby is a big fan of dinuguan (P 140 / $2.75), which is a pork blood stew with pork offal:
I could eat a little of it, but I could never finish a bowl by myself. Just a bit too intense for my tastes.
As usual, our veggie of choice was the adobong kangkong (P 170 / $3.34) or ong choy:
I don't know what's in the sauce, but it's freakin' delicious.
Of course, the whole point of going to Rico's was its lechon. They offer both original and spicy. We ordered 500g of the original (P 445 / $8.74) and 250g of the spicy (P 295 / $5.80):
The meat itself was so tender it almost melted in our mouths. My favorite part, however, was the crispy, crispy skin.
With everything running slightly salty, we were happy to have plain pandan rice (single for P 35 / $0.69):
And even happier to have garlic rice (platter for P 145 / $2.85):
If we'd had more time in Cebu, I would've loved to do a blind taste test of all the major lechon restaurants in the city. Alas, we were only able to try Rico's and Zubuchon while we were there. Between the two though, I preferred Rico's. But in regards to non-lechon dishes, I enjoyed what we had at Zubuchon more.
With our bellies full, we made our way to the airport. Only the Manila leg left before I'm finally done posting about this trip!
Rico's Lechon
Unit 3 & 4 , Mactan Promenade, Lapu-Lapu Airport Rd
Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, Philippines
+63995-618-9363
https://ricoslechon.com/
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