YsaBelly’s lechon belly delivery in Manila now available

Lechon belly delivery in Manila or Metro Manila is available. It adds to the convenience of having your favorite lechon belly at the dial of a number. It’s fast and convenient and you can even track the lechon belly delivery while on its way via the app.

Why you should try YsaBelly’s lechon belly

• Deliciously crisp skin, well flavored meat and interesting dips and accompaniment like the sukang Iloko and the ampalaya atsara.
• You can order it and lechon belly delivery is via LalaMove which you can track via their app in real time.

I don’t actually know where the lechon belly started but as a Cebuano, I’ve been seeing it for quite a while, and for the past few years in my home province. It’s one of my comfort food when I’m back home and it was the first food that I ate straight from arriving at the Mactan Airport after 12 days in Indonesia last year. So popular is the lechon belly that you can almost find it everywhere. In Metro Manila, its offered in restaurants and food outlets, in weekend and night markets or delivered straight to your doorsteps. But I’ve always been hesitant to try one because for me, the best lechon in the Philippines can only be found in Cebu, especially in my hometown of Talisay.

YsaBelly’s Lechon Belly at Inasal started April of this year and delivers (for now) lechon belly, chicken inasal, BBQ liempo, and recently, sweet smoked baby back ribs. The rub for the ribs has 11 spices and for smoking uses hickory, apple and cherry wood chips. For the purposes of this post, I will focus on the lechon belly as this was what I have tried and tasted.

Ordering and lechon belly delivery

Ordering is straightforward. You dial the number of Ysabelly’s, either using a landline phone or of two mobile phone providers (check below for contact numbers). You can also message them via their Facebook page. Once accepted, you are given payment instructions. For now, it is via bank deposit. Note that payments have cut off. Say, if you want to have it delivered for dinner, payment should be in by 11 AM.

Once its paid and set, lechon belly delivery commences. You are given the tracking number of the food via SMS. YsaBelly’s uses LalaMove and there’s no additional delivery charge. With your mobile, you can download LalaMove’s app to your smartphone, input the tracking number and you can track real time your food as it is on its way. In my case, since I’m in Makati, delivery took around an hour with a distance of around 15 kilometers. After seeing from the app that the delivery was already near my place, I went out and true enough, it was easy to spot as the LalaMove driver was in their orange uniform. The package came in a brown paper bag with YsaBelly’s logo and contact numbers. The driver then took a photo as I accepted the bag.

Unwrapping the lechon belly

The brown paper bag consists of a carefully wrapped lechon belly and five small containers consisting of different dips. There’s a homemade ampalaya atsara, two containers of sweetish liver sauce and two containers of sukang Iloko. I guess, it all depends on the eater but for me, the sukang Iloko was the bomb and the perfect accompaniment for the lechon belly.

The sukang Iloko is a home made blend from sugarcane with a blend of onions and siling labuyo. It is a recipe from Abra where the owner is from. As a Cebuano, we typically use catsup or a dip of soy sauce with calamansi and siling labuyo. The sukang Iloko was really wow! It imparts a different but interesting taste to the lechon without overpowering it. It’s my first time for this dip and I really approve of this. The ampalaya atsara is thinly sliced bitter gourd and cooked with sugar and vinegar. It’s not the papaya atsal that we typically have in my home province but it also pairs well. I was quite surprised that it has no bitter taste.

The lechon belly

The lechon belly is as you see it: red crisp skin outside, succulent and tender meat inside. At the center is a mix of the spices consisting of tanglad (lemon grass), salt, pepper and karimbuwaya. Karimbuwaya is called soro-soro in Tagalog and is known through its scientific name as Euphorbia neriifolia. Now, this special ingredient intrigued me. It’s not used in Cebu but is actually popular with Ilocanos as stuffing for lechon. The karimbuwaya is considered an excellent stuffing ingredient in the north when combined with other spices. It is said to remove the unpleasant odor of meat and fish.

The lechon is quite delicious. The skin is crisp and just how I want it, not too salty but if you find it salty, you can eat it with the ampalaya atsara or dip it with the sweetish liver sauce. The meat is tender and tasty. While the innermost part of the meat has an intense flavor due to the mix of spices and flavorings, the karimbuwaya lent a distinct flavor to the meat unlike the ones I’m accustomed to in Cebu but still delicious and flavorful.

The central part of the meat caught me off guard. It was especially tender and well flavored. Succulent with a good mix of fat and lean meat. It contrasts with the crunchy skin but when eaten together, a play of textures and quite savory in one’s mouth. As I was alone in eating this rather big slice of lechon belly, I refrigerated the rest and ate it for dinner and the following day. What surprised me more was that the next day, as I sliced through the skin, it was still crisp and crunchy. The flavors were still apparent, just like when I first tasted it the previous day.

Why get YsaBelly’s lechon belly

I don’t have much experience with other lechon belly in Metro Manila. But YsaBelly’s might perhaps be one of the better ones in the metro. Good flavor, crispy skin, delicious accompaniment and dips didn’t disappoint me. Although the downside is the payment process itself, this can be remedied by faster means. Perhaps usage of GCash or Paymaya or Paypal for a start. But this is compensated by the lechon belly delivery process which is fast, transparent and trackable.

Have you tasted YsaBelly’s lechon belly and other food products? How do you like it? Tell us in the comments below!

Thanx to Ysabelly’s for sending this delicious lechon belly.

YsaBelly’s Lechon Belly at Inasal
Zeus Street Tivoli Greens
1119 Quezon City, Philippines
+63 2 961 0936 | +63 956 762 3289 (Globe) | +63 920 938 4887 (Smart)
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