Cebu - The Tropical Paradise

My first trip for 2014 was to my dad's hometown, Cebu!!! My renter was moving out so I had to accompany my Mom to do inventory. Thus, we took it as a chance to go on a short holiday as well.

I'm sure for most of us foodies, the first thing you think of when you hear Cebu is LECHON (look up and drool). I cannot agree more with Anthony Bourdain that the best roast pork is indeed in Cebu. I've tasted Babi Guling in Ubud, Bali Indonesia and it doesn't compare (haha). My mom knew of a place where they sold whole roasted pork so we checked it out. I'm so sorry I forgot the name of the place but it's near Banilad in Cebu along the main road.
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Babi Guling Ibu Oka Restaurant, Ubud, Bali Indonesia

I found the BABI GULING!!!!!!!!

We were lucky our tour guide/driver knew where to find the Babi Guling. We went to Ubud, around 1.5 hours away from the main Kuta beach and luckily there was a restaurant there that specializes in Babi Guling, in fact they serve ONLY Babi Guling. I'm not sure though if this is the best but it looks real authentic and there were a lot of tourists.

Click on the picture above to look at the full list of their menu (1 SGD = IDR 7,500). Of course, I had to order no less than the Babi Guling Special.

I loved the idea of eating on the floor and just being able to comfortably enjoy your food.

Now, I'm not sure if my expectations were too high because I actually think it tasted just like any other ordinary roast pork. I also felt the chili sauce on top masked the real taste of the meat.

Nothing spectacular. The skin wasn't crispy in fact quite soggy. And if you've read my entry before we left for Bali, Anthony Bourdain rated this dish as the 2nd best roast pork he has ever tasted in the whole world - next to #1 Cebu's Lechon in the Philippines.

In my opinion, Cebu's Lechon is (so much) better by a far mile.

There were throngs of Japanese tourists in Ubud and like me, they also made sure they visited this place for the roast pork.

We both enjoyed the coffee. Very rustic but aromatic with an intense flavour. It was actually roughly ground which meant there was still a lot of coffee sediments at the bottom of the cup. Zach loved it.

No rating for now as I wasn't really being too critical about anything as I wanted to enjoy our trip :-)

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