How one man’s cleaned up take on Philippine delicacy isaw gave him a steady future
- Isaw, or cleaned and cooked intestines served on a skewer, is a popular snack in the Philippines
- Lauro Condencido started making and selling isaw in Quezon City and it sold so well he now has three outlets
Mang Larry’s Isawan serves grilled snacks including tainga (pork ears), atay (chicken liver), balun-balunan (chicken gizzard), and the all-time Filipino favourite, isaw: chicken or pork intestines coiled onto skewers and grilled over a hot fire until they are charred and smoky. The famous roadside diner at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman campus in Quezon City is so popular that queues grow from 10am to 10pm as people from all walks of life, including local celebrities and politicians, wait to enjoy Mang Larry’s isaw.
Recalling his humble beginnings, Lauro “Mang Larry” Condencido Jnr says he started out with 40 Philippine pesos in 1984, then three times his monthly salary, which he used to buy nearly 3kg of intestines. “I didn’t have a stall back then,” he says. “I used an old baby stroller as a makeshift table. I carried it on the streets of UP and sold my sticks [skewers] to students. I was so happy, because on the first day I managed to double my capital.”
From this tiny kitchen on wheels, Mang Larry’s Isawan went on to become one of the most iconic and best-loved local food chains in the Philippines. His company now has three branches and sales of about 4,000 skewers per day, and also supplies several food parks, raking in about one million pesos (US$20,000) a month.
Condencido’s journey to wealth began when he ran away from home at the age of 13. He often went hungry while he worked as a caretaker, home help and newspaper delivery boy before making his fortune selling Filipino snacks. These days his company has reached cult status, with Mang Larry’s isaw printed on campus shirts and becoming the inspiration for a song by local rock band Eraserheads, while Condencido himself is featured in magazines and on television as a local entrepreneurial success story.
Condencido grew up amid poverty. “I spent my childhood in a cramped farmhouse in Bicol [southeast of Manila] with my parents and my five siblings,” he says. “I couldn’t bear it. There were times when we couldn’t even afford one meal a day, so we just forced ourselves to sleep to avoid the constant pangs of hunger.”