La Loma: Eating My Way Through Pork, Pares, and a Brain Freeze

I didn’t come to La Loma for a deep cultural experience. I came with some friends to eat lechon and maybe mock a few tourists who think this place is “underrated.”

What I got was a feast of blood, offal, pares, the spiciest halo-halo known to man, and of course that succulent lechon. The best part was seeing the face of one of my foreign friends when he realized what bopis actually is.

La Loma holds the reputation for being the best lechon in the Philippines. Cebu would probably throw a chair over that claim, but I digress. This trip? I just wanted to find out what else this meat-heavy neighborhood had up its sleeve.

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About La Loma

If you were hoping for curated lechon carving stations and pigs with apples in their cooked mouths, you have come to the wrong place. La Loma is messy and chaotic in the best possible way. Lechon vendors line the streets with stainless steel spits propped against walls with freshly cooked lechon. Many of which, don’t fall into the La Loma restaurants category, because they are just roadside stalls. It’s for takeaway. Cleavers banging through pork into chopping blocks, the smell of pork fat fills the air. Grab your kilo and get the hell out of the way because there will surely be a lineup.

La Loma sits just on the outskirts of Quezon City and their lechon is one of the most sought after things in the NCR. With famous locations like Ping Ping’s, Jomar’s and Mila’s. But it’s not all that’s available here. Two of the most famous pares joints in the country also happen to be located here. In fact, beef pares originated in La Loma. You can also find tapsilog, lumpia, hopia, Chinese dimsum, and pancit and a host of others all within La Loma.

Mila’s Lechon

This was the first stop on our La Loma food crawl. I was joined by my friends, Peter from the UK, and his girlfriend Apple, a local Filipina. Before we dive into what we ate, let’s address the elephant in the room. My preference on which is better, Cebu or La Loma lechon?

For me, it’s Cebu lechon hands down. That is just my personal preference as I prefer the herbs and spices stuffed inside of the pigs you get in Cebu which is clearly lacking in La Loma style lechon. But for absolute clarity here, this isn’t like comparing fine dining to fast-food. We are talking about roasted pork here, and it’s to die for no matter how you get it. This is more like comparing a Lamborghini and a Ferrari. The difference exists, but you’re still behind the wheel of something meant to destroy your arteries.

With that out of the way, Mila’s is one of the most well known Lechon restaurants in La Loma and they also happen to roast pigs right on site. They will even invite you inside the roasting pits to see the action live and in person. Mila’s is more a proper carinderia style resto with many choices besides lechon available with a full dining area. So let’s get into those dishes, shall we?

Lechon

This wasn’t my first experience with lechon roasting pits, but it’s always wild to get an up close and personal look at the pigs they are preparing. But how do these roasted pigs taste? They’re frickin’ awesome to put it lightly. The fat infused skin is crispy, salty and savoury. I swear I could get full eating nothing but the skin.

The meat is juicy and tender and everything you would want in a roasted pig. While not Cebu style lechon, you would still punch a toddler for a bite of this. Here is another knock on La Loma lechon in my opinion. Here in Luzon, they have an obsession with Mang Tomas sauce. The story behind Mang Tomas will need to wait for another day, but basically it’s a sweet liver sauce that they use as a dip for lechon. It’s not offensive and there is no heavy metallic flavor to it, I just prefer the Cebu style soy sauce, vinegar, and chili mixture with my lechon.

One other noticeable difference between Cebu and La Loma lechon is the price. It is much pricier here in the NCR. 1/2 a kilo will run you 600₱ minimum. In Cebu, you can still find a full kilo for that. Price, preference, and dipping sauces aside, I would head to Mila’s or any other La Loma lechon spot tomorrow for another taste.

Dinuguan

If you know me at all, you know that dinuguan is one of my favourite Filipino dishes. Peter, not so much lol. At first he was hesitant to even try it because of the main ingredient which is pork blood. But to his credit, he did give it a go. Let’s just say Peter is firmly planted in the absolutely not category when it comes to anything “exotic”. But when he did try the only thing he said he didn’t like was the “meaty” bits in it. So it was probably a good thing Apple and I didn’t tell him about all of the offal that is in dinuguan.

Apple is Filipino so I knew she was going to like it and Mila’s does a great version of it. If I have one knock on it, it would be it has a strong vinegary flavor, which usually means the vinegar wasn’t cooked off long enough with the blood. All things considered though, it was still a good dinuguan.

Lechon Paksiw

Lechon paksiw is another example of nothing going to waste in Filipino cooking. Basically they take any leftover lechon meat and cook it down in mang tomas sauce, vinegar, and soy sauce. I know I previously stated I wasn’t a fan of Mang Tomas sauce but surprisingly it works with paksiw. Maybe still a little too sweet for my taste, but all in all in, it works. The soy sauce adds a nice savoury and umami flavor to the dish.

Peter really liked this one. So far we are two for three with dishes. Let’s see if we can make it three for four with our last dish at Mila’s.

Bopis

Not a chance in hell Peter was rolling with this one. Mostly because of what it is. You see, bopis is made with minced pork or beef heart and lungs. I keep telling you all that absolutely nothing goes to waste in the Philippines, and I mean nothing. Bopis is a perfect example of that. Sure, that no-waste mentality came from Spanish colonization, but they have turned them into everyday delicacies.

Bopis is sauteed in tomatoes, chilies, onion, ginger, annatto powder, and garlic. It has a savoury, tangy and spicy flavor and you get none of the expected odd flavors from the heart or lungs.

Peter didn’t see it this way, but he is fully willing to admit that it is all in his head. And he kept screaming something about biting into heart valves, but I think he was hallucinating. Apple and I both loved it and she made an observation that never even crossed my mind. To her it is reminiscent of giniling and once she said it I fully understood what she meant.

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Mang Tomas Native Lechon

Walk down the same street as Mila’s and you’ll find Mang Tomas Native Lechon. This is not a sit down lechon restaurant but more a roadside stall. A few spits of freshly roasted pig leaning against a wall, and a tito and tita carving up lechon on the side of the road like they’ve done it for years. You’re only getting takeaway, but my God is it good.

Peter and I liked this even more than Mila’s. Apple sat this one out because of how much we ate at Mila’s, but as soon as Peter bit into a piece of skin there was a loud “Oh Wow” proclamation from his lips. That golden brown crispy skin has a perfect snap to it with salty glass-like shards threatening to rip your mouth apart. The meat is succulent and juicy. Yeah, they just know what the hell they’re doing. I could only wish I would one day be able to make something so perfect.

We only hit two lechon spots on this trip, but Mang Tomas might be the best I’ve had in La Loma. And for clarity, they’re not affiliated with Mang Tomas the sauce. But you’ll still get a side if you want it.

Original Pares Mami House

Don’t let the name fool you, Original Pares Mami House is about as original as a knockoff handbag. And in my case, it’s a rip-off of a rip-off. The actual origin of beef pares belongs to a spot called Jonas, opened in 1979. But the guy who cooked there? Also named Jonas. He ditched the job and started his own place a few blocks away called Original Pares Mami House.

So Jonas doesn’t own Jonas. He owns the fake “Original.” And somehow, both spots are now national institutions. Welcome to the Philippines.

But wait, it gets dumber.

There are now two more locations riding the coattails of Jonas the cook’s version. Same name and colour scheme. Absolutely zero connection. And guess where I ended up? Yup, at the fake of the fake of the original. Confused yet? Me too, but no shame in my game. The food at the fakiest of them all was solid, so this review still stands

With Apple still sitting out, Peter and I dove into a bowl of beef pares mami and a plate of sio mai. Now make no mistake, beef pares mami is different from the beef pares La Loma made famous. Beef pares is a thick, sweet stew with garlic rice. Pares mami is a bone broth using the same braised meat, served with noodles.

The beef pares mami here is spectacular. The meat is braised in a sweet soy sauce with garlic star anise and ginger and the first thing you notice is the licorice-like flavour. The meat is fall apart tender and then you get the bonus of deep-flavoured beef broth soup and chewy mami noodles.

The sio mai has become a staple here, packed full of meat. If you’re considering anything other than lechon in La Loma, this should be the stop.

Ben’s Halo-Halo Ice Cream

By now we were a bit full and I had read about a spot that serves a spicy halo-halo so of course I had to try it. Needless to say I have found my favourite halo-halo in the NCR. Ben’s Halo-Halo Ice Cream makes what they call their spicy winter halo-halo. It’s packed with jellies, beans, coconut milk, lechon flan etc. But it also includes chopped bits of chili peppers and a whole chili pepper plopped right on top of it.

I was told by the staff that the chili was more a garnish and people don’t actually eat it because there is more than enough chili chopped up inside of it. But of course we know I’m not normal, so I decided I had to bite a big hunk of the whole chili too. For the first time in my life, I found something that chili does not work with. Don’t get me wrong, the chopped bits inside of the Halox2 work as it leaves a nice tingle on your throat. But the whole, now half frozen chili? Yeah, best to skip it.

Everything else about the Halo Halo is done really well though. It’s a shaved ice so it’s not as coarse as chopped ice and all the add ons to it are great. They have several flavors available and all of them are worth checking out. Just skip the whole chili on the spicy version.

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La Loma Final Verdict

Forget what you think about La Loma. This place defies expectations. It delivers raw, authentic food. It’s a messy, chaotic food battlefield. This is where you find lechon cooked street-side and it tastes awesome.

La Loma offers more than roasted pork. You get a raw look at Filipino cuisine. Dinuguan, bopis, pares, and spicy halo-halo push boundaries.

You come here for the pure, unglamorous feast. You leave with full guts and a new understanding of Filipino food.

Think you’ve had better? Go cry about it in the comments.
Think I missed something? Say it with your chest.
And if you ate that whole chili, go write your will.

La Loma – FAQ

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