CEBU- This month and all throughout August, Mactan Alfresco celebrates the famous Cebuano roasted pig with its very own Lechon Festival.

Mactan Alfresco is the hawker-style food paradise at Mactan Newtown, a 28.8-hectare mega-community by the beach in Lapu-Lapu City.

In celebrating the golden, shiny, crispy, mouthwatering lechon, tourists are invited to drench the roasted pigs with oil as they are turned at Mactan Alfresco’s lechon pit every weekend and holiday mornings. The roasting starts as early as 8 a.m.

“Oil drenching is done to make the skin crispy,” Ayer’s Lechon general manager Chad Sarvida explained.

Lechon roasted here is delivered hot to other tenants of Mactan Newtown, like Mactan Newtown Beach and BPO companies.

“In August, lechon with rice and seafood inside their bellies will also be available in Mactan Alfresco,” Megaworld mall manager Rhodel Manalili Quiambao added.

This food center, which is housed in a giant gazebo, greets you as you enter the township. Food stalls here serve well-known culinary delights in Cebu like lechon, native chicken, baked scallops and sautéed shrimps.

Next month, thematic dinners in jeepneys will also be launched at Mactan Alfresco. Colorful jeepneys the size of buses will have tables and chairs where people can dine. The jeepneys, custom-made by the famous Sarao Motors Inc., costs P1.2 million each. There will be three of these in the area.

For seafood lovers, unlimited seafood will also be offered.

But it's not just about food at Mactan Alfresco. A cultural show also entertains diners on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Here, colorful and diverse cultural presentations are a feast for both the ears and the eyes. Performers range from dancers with wide, blue wings to a lady dancing on delicate china plates.

An acoustic band, meanwhile, entertains patrons on Thursdays and Fridays.

On cool evenings, guests here can be seen taking walks around the restaurant as colorful LED-lit trees adorn the area. One can also see parents playing with their kids at the playground in the complex.

Currently, there are already more than 1,000 residents in the township and around 8,000 employed in neighboring BPO offices.

Megaworld Inc. allocated P30 billion for the country’s first “live-work-play-learn” lifestyle township. A total of 10 luxury residential towers are expected to rise in the area in the next few years.

There will also be at least seven office towers and five business and leisure hotels. This will include the 18-storey Mactan Belmont luxury hotel and the Savoy Hotel Mactan Newtown.

A mall inspired by the Battle of Mactan and the galleon will also be opened in the future.