Bong Bongs Filipino feast at home

Bong Bongs delivers Filipino cuisine to homes across the UK with their signature Lechon Kawali pork along with an array of traditional Filipino sides and dessert.

Filipino cuisine has evolved over many centuries from their Austronesian origins to a mixed cuisine of American, Chinese, Indian, Spanish and influences, that had enriched the cultures of the archipelago. Dishes range from simple, fried salted fish, chicken curry, paellas and pork.

Bong Bongs sell produce Lechon pork which is a dish which is enjoyed over several regions of the world, most specifically in Spain. Lechon means roasted baby pig (piglet). Lechon is Cuba’s, Puerto Rico’s, and Spain’s national dish. Additionally, it is popular in the Philippines and other Austronesian region. The dish is made from using a whole roasted suckling pig which is cooked over charcoal and rubbed with an array of herbs and spices.

Thanks to Bong Bongs enjoying Lechon pork and other traditional Filipino dishes at home has been made easy to cook and enjoy at home in which I had the pleasure in trying out my self courtesy of Bong Bongs.

Bong Bongs

Founders Lee & Sinead wanted to bring Filipino food to London with the taste of their Lechon Kawali pork and Filipino delights. In 2014 they popped up with their stall within Hoxton Market, London bringing hungry diners the taste of their Lechon Kawali pork and other Filipino cuisine dishes. Expanding over the years they have popped up within several other markets across London and festivals. In 2019 they finally achieved their dream and opened up a permanent restaurant within Hackney, London.

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Bong Bongs is famous for their pork belly, which is slow cooked sous vide with aromatics of star anise, bay and garlic and comes with their popular homemade Mang Tomas All Purpose Sauce and spiced cane vinegar.

At present they are temporarily closed but will be opening up their doors again soon so keep an eye out on their Instagram for updates.

Apart from running several market stalls and having a restaurant people nationwide can easily enjoy the taste of Bong Bongs Lechon Kawali pork and other Filipino delights at home. Great news for whilst we are in lockdown and even better news for those who don’t live near or in London as you can taste the delights of their signature feast at home with ease.

The taste of Lechon Kawali pork and Filipino dishes at home

Upon receiving my box from Bong Bongs I was excited with the thought of enjoying a crispy pork at home as I never can get pork to crackle right. Everything was well packed, labelled and came with easy to follow instructions.

The whole box consisted of five sides, jasmine rice, 24 hour sous vide fragrant crispy pork belly, and dessert.

24hr sous vide fragrant pork belly
Pork and ginger spring roll filling
Cauliflower florets
A pack of spring roll wrappers
Coconut creamed spinach and kale laing
Pickled papaya slaw (aka atchara)
Whole green beans
1 garlic clove
Sesame soy dressing
Mang Tomas All Purpose sauce
Adobo glaze
Spiced cane vinegar
Sesame seeds
Jasmine rice
Nigella seeds
Banana ketchup
A Biko and pandan sticky rice cake

Everything was labelled making it easy to see which sauces went with each food item making cooking a cinch. Some of the sides required deep frying in oil, some heating on the stove and the pork within the oven. All the cooking instructions are on the leaflet which comes within the box but can also be found online. I particularly enjoyed making the pork and ginger lumpia with the pork and wraps which the easy tutorial on their website made wrapping them easy.

Verdict

Everything was absolutely delicious and so much of it. Serves two but could actually easily serve four.

Here is my thoughts on each dish.

• Jasmine rice white, light and fluffy.
• Pork and ginger lumpia was a little similar to a sausage roll but made with filo pastry instead. Was crisp and succulent within from the flavoursome shredded pork and packed with spices. The banana ketchup gave it that extra fiery hit.
• Adobo glazed cauliflower instead of boiling deep fried so gave the cauliflower that extra crunchiness and the lime sauce gave it that extra zestiness.
• Sesame green beans were lovely, fresh and being coated with soy sauce and sesame seeds after gave it that extra tang.
• Spinach and Kale Laing I was not that keen on this dish as I don’t like kale but was super fresh. I would of preferred spinach myself.
• Pickled papaya was pink in colour, fresh and acidity so worked beautifully with the pork.
• The pork itself was a true delight. I did not get the pork to 100% crackle though but that is my own fault as I did not cook at 220c as I did not see the temperature within the instructions so I guessed the temperature and placed in oven at 180c. However the temperature is marked on the front page in where it lists what is in your box plush which pans and utensils you should get together. As I skipped that page this is how I missed the temperature. Anyway nerveless the pork was amazing, succulent, juicy, and full of flavour and the little crackling it did produce was a delight providing lots of flavour and not overly fatty.
• The Biko and pandan sticky rice cake was a little to me like a rice pudding. Think congealed rice pudding and coconut. It was nice and certainly different.

The whole feast was truly a delight and so easy to cook.

So if you love Filipino food and pork then I highly recommend Bong Bongs Lechon Kawali Feast.

Bong Bongs order your feast box

Bong Bongs
Kreidle
227-229 Hoxton Street
London N1 5LG

Bong Bongs feast £54 (feeds two people) plus delivery £6 (alternatively collect from their kitchen)
Shelf life 3 day in the fridge

Thanks to Bong Bongs for the most delicious home cooked pork feast ever. All views are my own honest opinion.