A Flavorful Uprising From the Lechon Diva

Dedet dela Fuente wants to keep Filipino food’s reputation and prominence on the global radar. You could very well say it’s on her vision board, and every day she is hard at work in the kitchen to make that happen even before she first appeared on the scene almost a decade and a half ago—famously earning the nickname “The Lechon Diva” for her to-die-for, signature Truffle Rice-Stuffed Lechon de Leche (suckling pig).  

Equipped with a discriminating palette both inherited and honed through her family, dela Fuente learned the art of food as a young lady in San Miguel, Bulacan and Parañaque growing up with her mother who loved to cook. 

When her aforementioned lechon creation was recognized as the Tastiest Dish in Asia by London-based website Chowzter more than a decade ago, dela Fuente says it was what “really made (her the) Lechon Diva,” a moniker given her by food critic Spanky Enriquez.  

Halaan Soup

The dish was a result of many attempts, dela Fuente admits during a recent dinner she hosted to feature a 12-course degustation menu she cheekily named “Lecheng Sarap.” Her daughters frequently ordered and enjoyed truffled risotto, she noted, inspiring her to integrate the idea into the traditional dish as a stuffing. 

Dela Fuente’s lechon creations have since drawn crowds in places like New York, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Michelin-starred chefs sent her private messages asking for her recipes—all of which she politely turned down by telling them that these are well-kept family secrets.   

Dela Fuente shares that when American lifestyle celebrity Martha Stewart was in Manila, she told her eye-to-eye that her food is “so good,” and even had a second serving of her now-famous lechon. Even the highly respected late chef and author Anthony Bourdain requested to have the rest of her lechon with laing (shredded taro leaves cooked in coconut milk) wrapped to bring back to his hotel room. And actor and television host Adam Richman—whom dela Fuente named one of her degustation menus after—personally requested to indulge in her lechon at her Magallanes home.  

Bone Marrow Bite

Well, the “diva” returns six years after her last degustation menu. “I’m so back,” she declares at the start of a formidable march of carefully prepared palatal delights at Pepita’s Kitchen, her homey dining place in Magallanes Village, Makati City.  

Lecheng Sarap, as it turns out, hits the nail on the head. The items are delicious—each bringing its own cache of flavors and textures. Dela Fuente puts her spin on the familiar to great effect, allowing diners to rediscover traditional dishes recast with sometimes more robust taste or with alternative ingredients and presentations. “Leche! Ang sarap!” one might be forgiven for uttering an expletive to further drive home the message that the selections are, indeed, delicious. 

According to dela Fuente, Lecheng Sarap celebrates “how Filipino cuisine turns the ordinary into extraordinary” with flavors that have been “known for generations… It’s our heritage reborn. You will see how wonderful the way Filipinos cook food from our lola’s (grandmother’s) ingenuity to the latest cooking methods. It will never compare to the old way of cooking our dishes.”  

South Sea Pearls

Lecheng Sarap is born of generations of the dela Fuenteses, with ideas of the Lechon Diva’s daughters coming to life in specific dishes. “It’s always good to involve the next generation,” the mom of three insists. “My daughters, who I call my Pepitas, are always helping me. When I started, my youngest (and Little Pepita Liyora) would cut the lechon and (second-born, called Curly Pepita) Lileya will take care of the drinks.” When Liyora, who is based abroad, found out that dela Fuente was making the degustation, they’d talk on the phone for hours about the plans. Her daughters are all naturals in the kitchen, she tells Esquire Philippines. Dela Fuente's first-born, Lauren, is now her angel and is the inspiration for Project Wheelchair—an annual charity dinner supported by the country’s best chefs to raise funds to provide wheelchairs in marginalized communities.   

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The degustation begins with a trio of appetizers. First is a Bulaga Ball (balut salpicao enveloped in bread) that guests dip in Dela Fuente’s version of Mang Tomas. “Mr. Thomas,” dela Fuente says with a laugh, is liver sauce with butter. Next is Bite of Joy (chicken skin with spaghetti sauce) which, she admitted, is a knockoff of Jollibee’s famous “Filipinized” spaghetti. Then we have some deep-fried laing patties. The first two dishes are suggestions of Liyora, reveals dela Fuente, ideas inspired by a Michelin class she had attended at the San Sebastian College. The starters were a foretelling of the evening’s feast—surprising, creative, and with a unique play of common and sometimes rare ingredients and techniques.  

Sigarilyas at Kasuy

Next on the menu is South Sea Pearls—appropriately served, of course, on top of a bowl filled with faux pearls and a goblet holding the real star of the dish: a serving of scallop with tapioca pearls and seafood sauce with lato (seaweed). Dela Fuente describes it as an “oldie but goodie, but with a little upgrade.”  

The Bone Marrow Bite comes next, a dish she describes as “messy to eat but fun.” Presented in a mushroom-like form, a bony base props up fried flowers of banana leaves topped with pickled onion, pechay, and spread with marrow sauce. This is followed by Sigarilyas at Kasuy (winged bean and cashew)—a treat for vegetable lovers. The salad has papaya, mung bean sprouts, string beans, and anchovy, dressed with a mix of coconut milk, pandan, and guava.  

Thanks to a chance discovery during a trip to Bulacan where she found a kawayan (bamboo) vessel to cook with, the Halaan Soup is part of the Lecheng Sarap degustation. The dish is reminiscent of binakol na halaan (coconut-based soup) that is also prepared with coconut juice, coconut meat, papaya, ginger, chili, and lemon grass. “What makes it different,” explains dela Fuente, “is that the kawayan gives it an earthy flavor.” The delicate balance of spices delivers a sweet yet gingery broth to be enjoyed with clams.  

Rebels' Chicken

Next is a dish dela Fuente wants her guests to “roll and rejoice” with: Sipit Sarap, inspired by an original to-go item of hers: Crab Gulong-Gulong (or, literally rolling), a Pepitas Kitchen’s favorite since she started in the business with a to-go menu. Rich Alavar-inspired sauce is poured on the crab that is served with a small serving of rice.  

A palate cleanser follows to rejuvenate the tastebuds: Lambanog (also sometimes called Philippine vodka) rendered in gelatinous form with calamansi sorbet.  

As her guests enjoy the sorbet, dela Fuente generously filled her serving table on the side with bowls, servings of fried garlic, and chicken oil. In the middle is a pomelo sliced near its top. Inasal (or charcoal-grilled) involves flavored rice, inspired by pineapple fried rice—with the pomelo taking the place of the pineapple. This is comfort food taken up a notch with the bittersweet taste of the fruit adding surprising flavors to the rice. Dela Fuente leaves room for diners to tweak it based on their preference with the aforementioned garlic and chicken oil options on the side.  

While the inasal is memorable, it is severely challenged by what comes next—Lechon Diva’s Hiplog (a combination of the words hipon or shrimp and itlog or egg, in this case salted egg). Thanks to Liyora, monay or cloistered nun’s bread is served with the dish to complement the savory and salted egg sauce. The sauce is a counterpoint to the delicate taste of the shrimp. 

Inasal

Next is what dela Fuente describes as the anchor of her latest degustation: Rebel’s Chicken cooked in saha or banana trunk. “This dish is not just a meal but a story of resilience and ingenuity,” she declares. The chicken dish is infused with herbs and is served with muscovado syrup and fish sauce. “During the time of the Katipuneros times, they would run to the farmlands to hide from the Spanish soldiers. The story goes that all they could see were banana trees and chickens. So, they would cut the banana trees and cook the chicken inside the saha. Why? The saha lessens the smoke, so the enemy soldiers will not see them. It shows how smart the Katipuneros were. The Filipinos are very, very good in using what’s around them.” Dela Fuente serves the dish with drippings from the chicken and her “sabachara” (saba or sweet plantain and atchara or pickled condiment). The chicken is seasoned with laurel, garlic, fish sauce, and tanglad (lemongrass).  

Lechon, of course 

A ceremony of sorts graces the evening’s highlight. The Lechon Diva is about to serve her Binagoongan Rice-Stuffed Lechon. “Get ready to hear the best ringtone of your life,” she tells guests before slicing into the pig’s crispy skin to reveal the rice cooked with pork in shrimp paste. She even dons her custom-made Rajo Laurel Lechon Diva attire she wears for pictures.  

Binagoongan Rice-Stuffed Lechon of Pepita's Kitchen

Beside the lechon are four bowls of chopped salted egg, green mangoes, tomatoes, and her famous Divalicious secret sauce (that got Michelin-awarded chefs messaging her). While there are Lechon Diva first timers, the lechon served that evening is like a reset or crash course on what lechon should really be about. The bold flavors of the bagoong (shrimp paste) and ingredients such as the vinegar and sugar perfectly blend with the lechon’s juices. Dedet has a private dining place that can host a group of 12 to 14 people and can bring the degustacion to the homes of her clients, too. 

The night concludes with Guinatan Brûlée, a dessert that combines jackfruit, corn, and tiny tapioca pearls magically. “I’m not the type to make perfect dishes,” she told guests before calling it a night. “But I cook from the heart.”  

“I roast revolutions,” her Lecheng Sarap degustation menu card declares. Make sure you sign up for this culinary uprising. 

Get in touch with The Lechon Diva via e-mail: [email protected], phone: 09178660662, or Instagram: lechon_diva.