Favorite Date Spot: Elar's Lechon!

It is no surprise that my boyfriend and I love to eat and discover food--as evident by the exhaustive list of the restaurants, bistros, and cafe's we've eaten at (will post about that some other time). Although, quite a few restaurants on our list are special enough for us to frequent on. One of those few restaurants is my favorite lechon place in Manila: Elar's Lechon.

Elar's Lechon

 

Elar's Lechon is located along Quezon Avenue, a few meters off of Mabuhay (formerly Welcome) Rotonda. Don't be mistaken though, because near Elar's Lechon, there's another lechon restaurant  fast-food along Quezon Avenue named Elarz Lechon. 

How daringly stupid, really. I'm not sure if "Elarz" ripped off the original Elar's but, my god, they copied the name, you would think they'd have the dignity to establish a branch far away from the original, right?

A bit of history: according to Elarz (yes, the fast-food with the 'z') website, its roots were Elar's, which is the original and was established by Jose Lontoc and Leonor Rodriquez. When Jose and Leonor's grandchildren continued their grandparent's legacy, they ventured out on their own lechon business which became Elarz.

Frankly, the history and connection of both lechon houses are still hazy to me despite the information on Elarz' site. Up to this point, my mind is still not wrapped around the idea that Elar's and Elarz have the same basic history. Anyway, I digress. Before this turns out to be a full-blown confused rant, I'm getting the point across: Elar's (without the z) is the best lechon I've tasted so far, and according to the poster "D' Original Elar's Lechon on a bamboo tray." ;)

Elar's Lechon recommended on TripAdvisor! :)

As our usual, we went yesterday--a Saturday--there to have lunch and satisfy our lechon fix. We arrived around 11:30 am and the place was slightly packed. If we've arrived few minutes later we would've had to wait for a vacant table. That's how popular the place is. I usually see families and elderly people eating out at Elar's. Curiously, I don't see much couples as young as we are the many times we've been there.

Basically, Borgy and I had already practiced out our Elar's system: upon entering, I would immediately go and reserved my desired table and try my best to wait patiently while he goes straight to the counter to order our lechon. Our standard meal usually includes 1/2 kilo lechon, 3 rice (1 1/2 for each of us), 2 free cups of their soup of the day, and our drinks: coke for him and pineapple juice for me.This time though, he ordered tortang talong. Yes, aside from lechon, you can order other home-cooked specialty meals. These home-cooked specialty meals vary per week and sometimes per days, which they broadcast on their Facebook page here.

Home-cooked Specialty Meals and behind it the lechon corner. :)

After paying the cashier for the order, they will give you the receipt which you will give to the nice ladies behind the home-cooked meals section so they can whip up your order in a jiff.

I always always feel the mouth-watering excitement when I see Borgy approaching our table with a tray laden with our precious pork belly lechon.

Let me get to the tortang talong first: the price is a bit steep for this dish--Php 90 per serving. Since I was used to having the traditional tortang talong of eggplant and beaten eggs, having the dish with ground meat was pleasantly new. As you can see from the picture below, the dish is coated perfectly and consistently, making the dish hold together. 

Tortang Talong

I remember on our first ever Elar's lechon date more than a year ago, we were clueless on how much to order because we were not aware of the serving. The cashier suggested 1/4 of a kilo is enough for the two of us but, since the two of us eat like two men, our usual turned out to be half a kilo. 

The sinfully lechon lean meat is served on a plate topped with their crispy lechon skin. The color itself is of golden orange covered with a thin oily sheen. A thin layer of fat covers the skin from underneath. The skin is deliciously crunchy and the color is usually smooth and consistent. A few minutes exposed to air doesn't even affect the crunchiness.

Elar's Lechon

First on my plate was the succulent and crunchy lechon skin!

Before knowing Elar's lechon--those days lechon is served on special occasions--I only eat the skin and not the meat. The reason was I have this slight aversion to pork meat which isn't barbecued. This is because the lechon meat I've tasted before were all dry, bland, and on my standards, slightly uncooked. So pre-Elar's era, I avert from eating lechon meat at all. But upon learning Elar's, I was drastically converted. The lechon meat is lean, soft, and appetizingly salty and rich to the taste. It does not give you the taste of uncooked meat hence, you won't get sick to your stomach or what is popularly known to Filipinos as "umay".

Elar's Lechon

(Update: Added yummy pictures from our recent visit :D)

Sinful lechon meat topped with their crunchy and equally-sinful skin

Elar's Lechon

They also have a take out corner which is very crowded and popular during holidays and special occasions since on those days, the restaurant is usually closed. I remember last year during Christmas, my dad came out to Elar's early to order our Christmas lechon and he had to fall in line and get a number.

Elar's Lechon Take-out Corner

Elar's Lechon Prices

Ever since Borgy and I started dating, Elar's has been one of our few favorite place for eating out casually. Aside from their amazing lechon, accessible restaurant, their prices are cheap without sacrificing food quality. One of these days, Borgy and I are going on our own lechon-hopping to look for worthy contenders to the famous and well-loved: Elar's Lechon! :)

Elar's Lechon
151 Quezon Avenue cor. Speaker Perez St.,
Sta. Mesa Heights, Quezon City
7317551 - 7317552
7324116 - 7433657