Carcar Chicharron

Carcar sits on the southern highway an hour and a half out of Cebu City, and every bus heading to Oslob, Moalboal or Dumaguete passes through it, which is why the town's public market has become a fixed stop. The specialty is chicharron: pork skin, boiled, dried and deep-fried until it puffs into brittle, blistered sheets, sold hot by the bag from a row of stalls at the market, eaten with a dip of vinegar with garlic and chilli. Carcar's version is prized for the puff - the airy, glassy texture that comes from getting the drying stage right - and the town trades on it. The same market sells lechon, which Cebu regards as the best in the country, and ampao, a puffed rice cake. Carcar itself is a heritage town with a rotunda, an old church and a stock of ancestral houses that most passengers see only through a bus window.

What to look for

• The chicharron stalls - bags of puffed rind sold hot.
• The vinegar dip - garlic and chilli in cane vinegar.
• The lechon counters - roast pork sold alongside.
• The heritage town - the rotunda, church and old houses.

When to go

Year-round; mornings and early afternoon, when the frying is fresh. It goes soft if it sits, so buy from stalls with turnover.

Things to know

It is pure pork fat and skin - a snack, not a meal, and rich. Bags go soft within a day. The market is busy and the bus stop area is chaotic.

Nearby

Argao and Boljoon's churches are further south; Cebu City is an hour and a half north.