Mang Tomas: Pioneer Pinoy lechonero

Crispy lechon. Photo by Dennis Villegas. Some rights reserved.

The lechon occupies an honored place in the festive world of Philippine cookery. And the most memorable name associated with Philippine lechon is Mang Tomas de los Reyes, pioneer lechon roaster at La Loma, Quezon City.

Mang Tomas started in 1951 what is now the booming lechon industry, from the kitchen of his house in front of the La Loma Cockpit Arena.

Before his lechon venture, Mang Tomas was a simple provinciano meat vendor selling pork and meat around the neighborhood of La Loma. Born in Alcantara, Romblon, he came to Manila at the insistence of a friend who convinced him that opportunities abound in the big city.

His first job in Manila was as an errand boy in a meat shop in Maypajo, owned by his friend’s father. He later became a pig butcher by night and pork seller by day. After years of hard work and scrimping, he decided to go solo, raising pigs and selling them afterwards by the kilo.

Some of Mang Tomas's customers were the cockpit aficionados in the nearby La Loma Cockpit Arena. After a day's round of cockfights, the winners would usually troop to Mang Tomas’ place to buy pork meat to be roasted and served as pulutan in the merry drinking that followed. The losers, on the other hand, presumably would bring the tinalong manok (losing chickens) home to be cooked by their wives into tinola.

Mang Tomas delos Reyes.

Eventually, Mang Tomas thought he’d do better selling the meat already roasted and charging extra for the labor. Thus did he technically start the big lechon industry in Manila, although he didn’t know it then.

And it went on that way day after day. When the last cockfight was over, the victorious would drop by Mang Tomas for their order of inihaw na baboy with which to celebrate. Eventually, almost inevitably, Mang Tomas set up the first ever lechon shop in La Loma in 1951.

Mang Tomas’s lechon would ultimately make La Loma more famous than did the La Loma Cockpit (founded in 1903) and the big, old La Loma Cemetery (situated opposite the cockpit). Not too long after, Mang Tomas began to bottle and commercialize the liver sauce which no self-respecting lechon Tagalog should come without. It was to be known as Sarsa ni Mang Tomas (Mang Tomas's Sauce). Eventually, big food companies came out with their own brand of lechon sauce.

Sarsa ni Mang Tomas eventually became one of those generic food names that originally started as a brand name. "Pagbilhan nga ng Mang Tomas (Sell me Mang Tomas)," housewives would ask from a store owner who automatically knew they wanted sarsa ng lechon, usually regardless of brand. According to Review Stream, “The Mang Tomas lechon sauce is a very versatile product. Each household probably owns at least a bottle of this. The lechon sauce is blended just right and it comes in regular and hot and spicy variety."

Success story

As Mang Tomas Lechon flourished, Mang Tomas’s property also expanded. He bought several square meters of land at the back of his house to serve as roasting area. He also set up a piggery where he personally raised the best young pigs for his roasting business.

In time, Mang Tomas Restaurant was put up to serve quick meals for customers wanting to quickly satisfy a craving for lechon. The restaurant’s patronage was building up way beyond the cockfighting circle.

The new customers included plain folks, mayors, government officials, congressmen and senators, and eventually presidents and prime ministers. It is told that in 1955, President Magsaysay visited La Loma to eat the famous lechon with his bare hands

From then on, lechon became a centerpiece in every Malacanang Palace banquet and served to visiting foreign dignitaries. Who knows how many kings and queens and heads of state ate lechon while on a visit to the Philippines?

Ultimately, the lechon became the ultimate piece de resistance in all Filipino feasts, celebrations, and gatherings. Having lechon and how many became the gauge by which every party – wedding, baptismal, birthday and other big celebrations – is measured.

"Wow, may lechon," visitors would swoon. They have to remember their manners to resist the urge to approach the table right away to peel off the lechon's crackling, red skin. When the skin is gone, they gladly settle for the juicy meat underneath, so tender it melts in the mouth. Never mind the cholesterol. Never mind the calories. Life is short, they say for an excuse. "Just for this day only, I will eat lechon."

The lechon indeed is delicious, and has always been regarded as the Philippines’ favorite delicacy.

As I lack words to describe how lechon tastes, I asked others. A man I interviewed in the recent La Loma Fiesta insists that lechon tastes like "heaven," while another blubbered that "nothing compares to its taste, it's just, just so delicious; I'd be willing to travel hundreds of miles to eat it." As I found out soon enough, the man came all the way from Tarlac to get a free taste of the lechon being served on the streets of La Loma that day.

If it were up to me, I would name the lechon the official national dish of the Filipinos rather than the pritong galunggong or the chicken/pork adobo. I expect to be disputed, of course. First of all, lechon is not within the reach of the average Filipino wallet, at P500 a kilo. Second, it would not sit well with our pork-eschewing Muslim kababayan. Animal activitists may raise a ruckus too, not to mention the healthy food advocates who would warn us of clogged arteries and cholesterol buildup.

It is sensible, I know, that the lechon be served only once a while, during special occasions. Fiestas, baptisms, birthday bashes, graduation celebrations, and – why not – funerals. Also sensible especially for those over 40 and wanting to live a while longer, is to take only a measured portion – two or three pieces. Not more, or else ...

Left-over lechon from yesterday's feast is recycled into yet another favorite Filipino dish--the lechon paksiw. Remnants of the meat, together with chopped tail, feet and knuckles and crisp skin, are cooked into a spicy, aromatic stew with garlic, onions, pepper and laurel and oregano leaves thrown in, and then simmered in vinegar and liver sauce.

There is nothing ever lost in the pig that has been roasted. Its innards, removed before roasting, is transformed into a favorite Filipino snack called sitsarong bulaklak. These are salted, spiced, dried, deep-fried to crackling goodness, and then served with a dip of sukang maanghang (spicy vinegar).

Even the pig’s blood is not spared. It is made into a well-loved dish: blood stew or dinuguan – whereby pork meat and innards are simmered in garlic, vinegar and green pepper, after which a generous amount of the blood is poured in. Dinuguan is best eaten with puto (rice cake) or steaming rice.

Time magazine has cited Philippine lechon as the best roast pig recipe around the world.

For this, credit largely goes to Mang Tomas delos Reyes, who died in 1985, but not before passing on the tradition of lechon roasting to his family and eventually to other lechoneros in the place lechon made famous. Today, there are some 20 lechon stores in La Loma, notably Mila's, Ping Ping, Bulakena's, Monchie's, and Nelia's.

Mang Tomas Lechon is now managed by Cora de los Reyes, who continues the pioneering work of her father-in-law.

The restaurant is located on Retiro and Calavite Streets, La Loma, Quezon City.