My quest to find the best lechon in Houston led me to Aqui, the new Southeast Asian cuisine created by Chel Paul Aqui, a “Top Chef” champ who is behind the success of of several Austin restaurants. Another food blogger told me about their lechon and urged me to try it and see if it’s up to my expectation.

I always make it a habit of viewing the restaurant’s menu before I decide to book. The restaurant opened less than two weeks ago so their menu is not up in their website. But since lechon was already promised, I decided to wing it. Imagine my surprise as I sat down and realized that the menu is filled with Filipino dishes. EVerything is certainly familiar except that the presentation was really unique, and well, fancy.

There is a column called “Perfect Bites” and you can choose one or a couple of delicious samplers. I chose three of these as my appetizer.

I used to bake ensaymada back in the Philippines. But I was not fancy then. I just topped it with cheddar cheese. I am serisouly considering baking these brioches again, this time with all the fancy trimmings.

My verdict: Every dish turned out great. I was very impressed by the creativity on what used to be everyday food that I had growing up. The lechon,  however, was still not up to what I expected. This was more like lechon kawali (deep fried pork belly) and not the conventional lechon, which is the whole pig roasted in a spit.

I am happy, however,  that someone elevated the Southeast Asian cuisine to this level. The restaurant  is located in the Montrose area, right in the heart of all the hip foodie hangouts and it hangs with the best of them. The last time I was in a similar restaurant was back in New York, 2013, at Purple Yam when they made it to Michelin publication. It’s a hight time that Houston would have one as well.

Aqui, 520 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX