Escape to the Queen City Of the South: Dining at Larsian

Dining at Larsian, Cebu's Larsian Barbeque, Where to dine in Cebu

After a whole day of city tour, we had our last stop at the famous Larsian. This well-known night barbeque spot serves one of the best grills in town 24/7 and perks up at around 6 in the evening until the early morning hours. As expected, arriving there 7 pm on a weekend, the place was packed!

Along with Larsian’s appealing foods is an interesting history which dates back to the early ‘70s when Col. Alvino Mondarez put up the first grilling eatery at Fuente Osmeña. He named it after his mother’s name “Pilar” and her twin sister’s “Siana”, thus what is known to us today as “Larsian”. People frequented this place since then.

At the entrance grilled food vendors will be calling you as you come in persuading you to pick their table. That means you will buy from their stall. You can choose from forty-nine barbeque stalls which offer almost similar barbecue selections: chicken – wings, thigh, skin, breast, feet or exotic type like intestines (IUD); pork – pork liver, chorizo, tocino; seafood – like squid and fish and a lot more. Some stalls offer Kinilaw and other soup dishes (and actually offer free soup… you just have to be keen on finding these stalls). The waiting time for the food to finish grilling is about 10-15 minutes. Once you’re seated you’ll be given a plate covered with plastic bag and another two 8 x11 plastics for your two hands. There are no spoons and fork, the dining experience is entirely Pinoy. If it would be more comfortable you can just remove the plastic and devour the grilled foods with your both hands, after all there is a wash area to help you clean up.

We ordered chicken wings, stuffed squid, fish, pork, chicken and of course Puso rice. We were 5 in the group and our bill was only 700 pesos including the two 1.5-L bottles of cold Mountain Dew. Very affordable right?

I guess one's visit to Cebu is not complete without binging on “Sugba” or “Ihaw” in Tagalog. Larsian is definitely the place to taste these awesome grilled foods. Although the setting may not be fancy, dining with your hands is certainly a unique experience. I’ll definitely look forward to visiting Larsian again when I go back to Cebu.