If you love Filipino-style charcoal-roasted pig make a beeline for this Blacktown backyard

Restaurateur Will Mahusay felt Sydneysiders would appreciate a venue where the Philippines’ national dish of whole pig roasted over charcoal was served in a Filipino-style setting.

So, when he closed his three-year-old Enmore restaurant Sydney Cebu Lechon in July, Mahusay relocated to the backyard of his family’s shopfront factory in Blacktown.

“The vibe is like a fiesta, a proper Filipino gathering,” Mahusay says of the location, where customers squeeze under mini marquees for a no-frills backyard experience.

Throw in plates of its signature lechon pork, a celebratory dish in its country of origin, and Mahusay says it’s like being at a Filipino christening or family gathering.

When Mahusay’s family moved to Australia from the Philippines in the 1980s, his parents started cooking lechon as a culinary hobby for homesick Filipinos, which eventually turned into a fully fledged commercial undertaking.

While customers pick up takeaway orders from the family operation in the front, the back of the commercial property wasn’t in use until Mahusay fired up the charcoals last month.

“I’ve called it The House of Lechon & Karenderia by Sydney Cebu. A karenderia is an outdoor undercover cafeteria serving affordable comfort food,” he says.

The Blacktown setting has flipped Mahusay’s customer base: “There are about 10,000-plus people from the Filipino community who live around here, so while they made up only about 20 per cent of our customers in Enmore, it’s the opposite here.

“They used to complain about going to Enmore because of the parking. And some of our old customers have followed us, a couple came last week from Newcastle.”

There is a smattering of other dishes such as chicken adobo and even a couple of vegetarian options, but generally, it’s the roast pig they come for.

He won’t give away his family recipe, but it’s a time-consuming process. First, there’s the selection of a whole pig to roast: not so old that its skin will be tough, not so young it’s too translucent.

It’s brined for two days, and the time-consuming prep work includes stuffing it before sewing it up to be roasted and basted for three hours.

While the Manila version of lechon has a simple salt-and-pepper seasoning, Mahusay’s family really focus on the flavour, stuffing their pigs with a combination of garlic, chillies, onions and lemongrass.

“Eating lechon can reconnect you to another place,” Mahusay says. “For me, it’s back at a particular beach in Cebu where we’d go for Sunday outings.”

The experience carries through to the entrance: “You don’t enter through the shopfront. You come in the back just like you’re dropping into someone’s home during fiesta.”

Open lunch Sat-Sun; dinner Fri-Sun

4 Kerry Road, Blacktown (enter via rear laneway), 0481 205 589, sydneycebulechon.com.au