GOLDEN ROYS Dumaguete

Before the food industry moguls like Jollibee and Chooks to Go invaded the "Dumaguete Restaurant" or "Dumaguete Fast Food" arena, there were only a few choices available to the Dumaguetenos in the 1990s and in the early part of the millenium. I can vividly remember that there was the then Rosante's (non existent but replaced with Don Roberto's) that had one of the best pizzas in town. McNeloy's Restaurant takes credit to be the first restaurant to introduce pizza with mozarella cheese to Dumaguete.

If its chinese food, there was Mei Yan (non existent), 143 Restaurant (non existent) and Chin Loong. Chin Loong to date still serves one of the best crispy pancit that I have ever tasted. When it comes to Pancit Palabok, I have to give the credit to Scooby's because as far as I can remember they were the first to introduce it to Dumaguete. But, when it comes to outdoor roasted chicken or locally called lechon manok, there was Golden Roy's Lechon Manok.

Golden Roy's existed prior to the arrival of Sr. Pedro's Lechon Manok here in Dumaguete. Dumaguetenos were crazy about how they flavored their chicken. Back then tables were filled up with people during lunch and dinner time. If table reservations were an "IN-THING" in the past, then I could just imagine the daily long list that they would have.

With the advent of the new players in the Dumaguete "Lechon Manok" category, Golden Roy's slowly faded away in the minds of the Dumaguetenos. My lawyer-friend embraced LA Tuyok Lechon Manok in Tubod and labeled it to be the best in Dumaguete. Well, everybody already had a lot of choices with regards to Lechon Manok.

Not until yesterday, when we had a mini gathering with friends and one couple brought liempo on the table. One piece fell on the side, but instead of throwing it, I decided to pick it up and eat it. I was expecting the taste to be just like any other liempos available in Dumaguete. But when I was chewing it, I was amazed with the flavors that exploded in my mouth. I took a guess and thought it came from one of the liempo stalls that opened here (Balamban Liempo).

Much to my amazement, they told me it came from Golden Roy's! Wow it brought back a lot of memories of the old Dumaguete that I once knew. The flavors were so reminiscent of the good ole' Golden Roy's that the Dumagueteno's loved. I would say that it is not just your me-too-ordinary liempo. It was packed with their secret spices and to top it all it was really crispy. One of the things that I would really look for in a liempo.

So for now, I would say that Golden Roy's has the best liempo in Dumaguete. An honor that they once held for their Lechon Manok.

(Pics to come because I forgot to click the cam. When I remembered, Liempo was gone!) =)