Have you heard of Oslob? What about Canyoneering in Badian? Diving with sardines? Lechon food trip? All of these and more are in the beautiful island of Cebu.
Cebu is a first income class island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consisting of the main island itself and 167 surrounding islands and islets. Its capital is Cebu City, the oldest city and first capital of the Philippines, which forms part of the Cebu Metropolitan Area
10. Eat Cebu Lechon and have BBQ at Larsian
“Larsian” is a generic cebuano term used for “ihaw ihaw” or barbeque place. A lot of towns have different larsian places all over cebu. They say that whoever you are, whatever you do, everyone loves Larsian. The old, the young, the rich or poor will enjoy the 7 Peso bbq sticks and fresh seafood.
They may cook your order in different ways. You may have them grilled, kinilaw (ceviche or cooked in vinegar) and even cooked in a broth or stew (tinola, sinigang, etc)
Everything is fairly cheap at Larsian. The bbq is around Php 7.00 and intestines and the likes go for Php 10-15.00 per stick. Seafood is Php 400.00+
Basket of rice wrapped in banana leaf and cut in half. Php 4.00 each. Pay only what you eat.
We went to the nearest Larsian place from our hotel which was the “Larsian at Fuente.”
When In Manila Tip: When you enter a larsian place, they will crowd you and offer you their food. They do this because competition is very tough. First tip is to enter the “exit” place. There not a lot of vendors will crowd you. Second tip is to find the place where most customers frequent, that may be the best stall for you to try.
With regards to Cebu Lechon, it is a must. Lechon means “roasted pig” and they say the best lechon is the one in Cebu. We had our trip planned by the best Cebu travel agency: Happy Juanderer. More about them later. I asked our guides from Happy Juanderer where the best Cebu Lechon was and they couldn’t give me a definite answer. I guess it all depends on your preference. The names which stood out were: Ricos’, Zubuchon, House of Lechon and CnT.
When In Manila tip: If you want to bring home lechon you can purchase the frozen ones. Yes you can have them hand carried in the plane. To cut cost, don’t buy inside the airport because they will be 3o%-50% more expensive than the ones outside.
9. Drink with friends at Monkey’s Belly
Monkey’s Belly is owned by a Singaporean-Filipino couple that wanted to bring Singaporean way of drinking here in Cebu. Singaporeans have an early night of drinking right after the office at 5pm. They would have a glass or a pint and some bar snacks instead of going to another resto for their mains.
Sam tells me: “We model the outlet operation very similar to what you would expect in a bar in Singapore. Ice cold beer, specialty cocktails and delicious bar snack. Singaporeans starts drinking at around 5pm, straight after office hours. Most will have their bar snacks as their ‘dinner’ instead of going to a restaurant to have the mains. We started Monkey’s Belly Bistro Bar with only 6 snacks on the menu.
