Always a roast pork fan, I went looking for Don Lechon near Paya Lebar MRT station after a few friends mentioned it to me.
It's in Grandlink Plaza, an old, well weathered kind of shopping mall. It's the type of place I like to explore for hidden gems (which is getting really harder to find in Singapore and Johor Bahru).
Don Lechon is a neat and clean, humble little eatery. It is air conditioned and comfortable. It is completely Filipino staffed and felt like I am in Manila. An authentic Filipino eatery in Singapore. Yay! 💪
They have al fresco seating by the Geylang River after the sun sets.
The menu is on the wall at the counter. Besides lechon, they have sisig, milkfish and bopis or sautéed pork heart & beef lung (all of which I must come back for with makan kakis next time).
My lechon rice set $12.
It was a huge, thick belt of roast pork belly. It's a lot of meat for one person, enough for two or three actually 😯
Value for money, if you are just looking at size of pork.
Anyway, I dug right in.
The lean meat was soft tender interlaced with layers of juicy fat. Marination and seasoning were mild so flavour infusion was subtle, leaving room for gentle porcine sweetness 👍
I like this lechon lean meat and fat. Compared to Cantonese siu yok marination and seasoning, it is milder and less salty. Compared to Balinese babi guling, lechon has a different taste profile and less pronounced spice flavours.
For a lot of people, lechon, siu yok, and babi guling are all about their crackly skin. Me too.
At Don Lechon, the skin is thin and roasted till dark brown golden with a shiny greasy sheen. Looks alluring.
Some pieces were perfect 👌 crackly crisp, rich with savoury flavours and a bit of sweetness from the little warm fat just beneath the skin.
Some skin pieces were, however, slightly chewy and hard, needing some vigorous jaw work.
The mound of boiled rice that came with the set was lumpy and dense. Lots of carbs, if that's what you want.
The set doesn't come with any greens, so I got this kare kare for $6. It's just blanched leafy green, long bean and egg plant doused with a sweet peanut sauce. Does the job as otherwise I found the lechon rice set a bit dry.
But, if you come as a group, you can order other dishes and don't need the kare kare (unless you like the vegetable dish lah).
Mang Tomas lechon sauce (out of a bottle). The brown sauce was nice. Sweet sour umami spicy, all mild with a bit of salted egg taste. Try and see if you like it.
If you are a lechon or Filipino cuisine fan, you can try out Don Lechon.
More about The Philippines' national dish 👈 click
The Balinese have a very similar dish known as Babi Guling 👈 click
I was surprised to see Philippine’s puto (steamed rice cakes) sold in Don Lechon tastes exactly the same as chinese huat kueh (steamed rice cake).
ReplyDeleteThe homemade Longanisa (Filipino red sausage) in the freezer by the cashier is very yummy!
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