1. What is the bestseller here?
– Zubuchon
– Pusit with sisig
– Kamias and other fruit shakes
– Dinuguan made only with lechon meat, no innards
– Monggo
– Kangkong
– Lechon Pancit

2. Why does your lechon skin have a different color?
Our lechon skin is the truly natural color. We spray our pigs with fresh coconut water and wipe it with olive oil before cooking. Other lechons that are much darker are often brushed with soy sauce, sugar water, or other ingredients.

3. Why is your lechon different from others?
We try to do things the old-fashioned way, with a few updated ingredients.
All pigs are backyard-raised, not from a commercial piggery, so they are likely to have more free movement and muscle, less fat.
We stuff them with local, organic ingredients, and DO NOT USE ANY MSG AT ALL.
We prick the skin on purpose.
We use only pure sea salt, not iodized salt.

4. What does kamias taste like? Is it sour?
Kamias is a common backyard fruit. It used to be added to soups, shrimp paste (bagoong alamang), etc.
It is naturally quite sour, but when mixed with natural sugar, it makes a very refreshing drink.
Kamias fruit is a sour relative of starfruit or balimbing.
It is high in vitamin C, and is said to have anti-fat properties.

5. What sauce do you have for the lechon?
Cebuano lechons are not served with liver sauce.
We usually suggest a bit of vinegar, soy, chili oil or chopped chilies if you like.
Of course, if you prefer, we do have some bottled liver sauce in the kitchens if you would like some.

6. What is the difference between the lechon and the boneless? Which is more delicious?
Our lechon is slow-roasted whole for 3-4 hours. It has bones and all parts.
Our boneless lechon is a whole pork belly, stuffed with ingredients and slow-roasted for about 1.5 hours.
If this is your first time, we suggest you try our classic Zubuchon to start.
Or, if a large table of guests, you may wish to get a bit of both types of lechon.
The boneless tends to be a bit fattier, as it is all belly.
We sell a lot of both types of lechon.

7. Why does your lechon smell different from the other lechons?
Perhaps the two herbs that you may notice are rosemary and thyme. Both western herbs, with a pungent smell.
They are not typical in most Cebu lechons.
However, as with Carcar lechons that use a lot of pasyotes, herbs vary from one lechon place to another.

8. Do you have spicy whole lechon?
We can do a special order spicy whole lechon. We use our homemade siling labuyo oil.

9. What stuffings do you put in your lechon?
Onions, green onions, lemongrass, garlic, sea salt, pepper, lemons, lemon juice, bell peppers, rosemary, thyme, olive oil.

10. What do we spray on the pig’s skin before we cook it into a lechon?
Fresh coconut juice

11. What sizes of lechon do we sell for whole orders?
Small and Medium

12. Can a customer just buy all the belly of the lechon?
No, only the boneless lechon which is all belly but NOT part of a whole lechon.

13. What part of the lechon is used for sisig?
Only the cheeks, ears other facial parts, neck, and bits from the legs are are used for our sisig. The lechon is already roasted, then it is finely chopped and sauteed with additional ingredients to make our sisig.

14. What is budbud kabug?
Kabug is millet seed.
Grown wild up North, millet is a grain that Cebuanos have eaten since BEFORE the Spanish arrived.
It is a very traditional grain, delicious and lighter than a classic suman made with sticky rice.

15. What is tampalen?
Tampalen is also known as leaf lard.
It is the fat surrounding a pig’s stomach.
It is used to make the finest pure lard.
Once the lard is made, the tampalen pieces are added to some of our dishes.

16. What is dulce de leche?
Literally, sugared milk.
It is slow-cooked milk with sugar that caramelizes to the light brown color.
We make ours with the finest full cream condensed milk, cooked for several hours.

17. Do you serve breakfast?
As of the moment, our branches do not serve breakfast.

18. What do you add to your kamias shake?
Only kamias, sugar and ice.
Our kamias are all purchased from backyard growers around Cebu.

19. Does the sinigang soup contain real tamarind broth?
Yes.

20. How long is our adobo cooked in a slow fire?
Slow cooking in palayoks for 3 hours over charcoal.

21. What kind of fish is used for the fish fillet?
Cream Dory.

22. What are the “pork” in 5 pork fried rice?
1. lechon
2. lechon drippings
3. chicharon
4. lard
5. tampalen

23. What kind of milk do we use in leche flan, and where does it come from?
Fresh milk from Consolacion, Cebu and Batangas.

24. What makes Chicken Binakol different from Chicken Tinola?
Chicken Binakol uses coconut juice for the soup.

1. Can we bring lechon to Manila? How do we do it?
Yes, if you will be eating lechon right after you arrive in Manila, you may want to bring it freshly packed.
If you are waiting until the next day or many hours later, you may want to bring frozen lechon and re-heat it instead.

2. What is better to bring to Manila, fresh or frozen?
Fresh if you intend to eat it as soon as you get to Manila.
Frozen if you plan to eat it the following day or at a later time. Frozen should keep well for up to 2 months. Just follow instructions for reheating.

3. Are you available at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA)?
You can buy our frozen lechons (in 1kg and 500g) and other kakanins at NOMAD stores, Terminal 1, Domestic Pre-departure area, MCIA.

4. Can we order lechon per kilo to be shipped to Manila?
We generally do NOT recommend this. Chopped lechon has a shorter shelf life than whole lechons. So the transit time, packing, wait at cargo area, flight, and pick-up stretches beyond our recommended travel time for chopped lechon, so we don’t recommend it.

5. Does Zubuchon deliver whole lechons in Cebu City?
Yes.

6. Do you accept reservations?
Yes.

7. How many days ahead should we order for a whole lechon?
Ideally at least 2 business days ahead.

1. How do we heat the frozen lechon?
Download Reheating Instructions here.

2. Does the fresh lechon spoil easily?
Care should be taken with all cooked foods, including meat. It should ideally not be kept out of refrigeration for more than 3-4 hours at the most.
Cooked food should never be put in a warm car for extended periods of time, as it could spoil.
Lechons are heavily salted so they have some protection against spoilage, but don’t take unnecessary chances.

3. How many hours does it take before a kilo of fresh lechon must be placed in the freezer?
2-3 hours after purchase.

4. How many months can you keep a frozen lechon in the freezer?
2 months.

1. What is the meaning of the name Zubuchon?
Zubu was the name given to Cebu in old Portuguese maps + Chon for Lechon.

2. Where is the first branch that opened and in what year?
One Mango Avenue branch, June 16, 2011.

3. Who is Anthony Bourdain?
A Chef and television food/travel host.
He filmed our lechon for an episode of No Reservations, Philippines in 2008 and the show aired on television in 2009.
He is considered to be a huge pork lover, and he named our lechon the best roast pork dish he has ever eaten…

4. Who owns Zubuchon?
The Binamira family.

5. Who is Marketman?
Mr. Joel Binamira. He has a blog marketmanila.com

6. Do you have a other social media sites?
We also have a Facebook page: @zubuchonphilippines and an Instagram page: @zubuchon

7. What do we do if we want to franchise?
At the moment, we are not yet franchising the restaurant.
However, if you are really interested, just leave your name and address with our Managers and indicate you are interested in a franchise.
We may then contact you if management decides to franchise the concept.

8. Do you cater?
No, we do not cater at this time.