Full Belly at Lechoneria
This new restaurant at SM North EDSA offers delicious Filipino food with a twist. Have a full belly at Lechoneria!
Whenever we eat out, I almost always avoid Filipino restaurants except for Max’s or if we have a craving for seafoods. It’s not for any reason other than I can also cook the usual Filipino dishes they offer at home. It’s perfectly natural to want something else to eat outside the house.
We stumbled upon Lechoneria at the second floor of SM North EDSA. Sandwiched between two stores, it is almost nondescript except for its colorful jalousie windows and smiling staff who stand by its open doors to lure customers in.
The place is small but clean with a minimalist, uplifting design. Maybe a little cramped for others’ standards. But it has a nice, clean comfort room at the back, and that’s a plus point.
We started with their Dynamite appetiser and boy, were we blown away! (pun intended)
The long, green finger chilies are wrapped in lumpia wrappers and fried to a perfect crisp. That’s not all. When you bite into it, a burst of cheese and lechon bits mixed in with the spiciness of the chili explode in your mouth! Really a delight to eat. If you can’t stand the heat, there’s a side dressing you can dip it into.
Next, we tried the Lechoneria LoMami. It was huge! Four people can eat this bowl of steaming hot soup with chunky lechon belly with crisp skin as topping. Added into it are big slices of boiled egg, chicharon crumbs, a variety of seafoods (squid, shrimp and fishballs), and meat and liver bits.
And get this: there was no “malansa” or fishy taste from the seafoods. So filling and satisfying! Truly a treat.
For the main course, we picked the Bulalo Clasico and Eggplant Omelette set with fried “dilis” or anchovies on the side.
It was also a large serving. My husband and eldest son shared this set between them. Tastes heavenly, even down to the dilis!
(There are many sets to choose from in Lechoneria, the most famous of which, of course, is the Lechon Belly set.)
And for dessert: Ginataang Ube Mochi. I’ve been craving ginataang bilu-bilo for so long, I almost shrieked with joy when I saw this in their menu. I just couldn’t pass this up.
Sticky rice pudding with soft Ube inside, topped with powdered ube swimming in ginataan sauce. There’s lots of langka (jackfruit) strips and sago (pearls) too! With just the right amount of sweetness, it was really good! It was also a big serving.
For drinks, we tried their Melon Melon Sinta. It’s a medley of three fruits in soda. See those fruit balls? It’s a refreshing new idea, and it tastes great too.
There are still many dishes in Lechoneria which we plan on trying out next time(s).
The service crew is professional, cheerful, and courteous. The elegant cutlery are thick, big, high-grade stainless steel. I always look at the kind of cutlery a restaurant has, especially when they charge higher than normal. Makes a customer feel special, don’t you think?
All in all, this new player in the restaurant field really impressed me. Their take on the usual Filipino food is innovative and inventive. Lechoneria is highly recommended!
I hope they grow big and go places. They should get a bigger place, though. Their servings are meant for big groups of hearty eaters. It would be a pity to lose that particular market segment.
Follow Lechoneria on their Facebook Page. Better yet, eat there!
