Must Try in Malaybalay: Sunflower Cafe

 

     I do not remember now who in our group was dying to have a glass of halo-halo one hot afternoon in Malaybalay, but Dr. Leila Santiago-Flores, our gracious host, asked around and found out that the Sunshine Cafe of her childhood days (in Malaybalay) has re-opened after a year of renovation.  So off we went to have our halo-halo fix there ….

 

 

     The cafe was easy to find – it was in one of the side streets of the main road, Sarye Highway. And you cannot possibly miss the colorful exterior of the Cafe.  This used to be the Sunflower Bakeshoppe, opened in 1979 by Mrs. Hortencia Cudal Asuncion, a home economics teacher, and her daughter, JoAnn, a UP Nutrition graduate.  The Asuncion family-owned cafe just re-opened in 2007 and now known as Sunflower Cafe. It has become one of the more popular watering holes here in Malaybalay.  It helps that their baked products are sinfully delicious.

 

 

     Wafing through the cafe was the aromatic scent of freshly baked goodies – something that made us extremely hungry.  The owner graciously offered each of us a free taste-test of her new product – the banana-pineapple loaf – .  It was simply D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!  It may not go well with our halo-halo … but, it’s free and it’s good!  They also have FREE wi-fi inside the cafe!

 

 

     As a pasalubong, we bought the house-specialty, the Pineapple Bars.  Pineapple being a main product of Malaybalay, it has found its way into marketable delicacies and baked goodies.

 

 

     Before we left, Leila ordered some cinnamon rolls to take home the following day.  So we went back to Sunflower Cafe to pick it up before we drove all the way back to Cagayan de Oro to catch our flight back to Manila.  And guess what, we were happily munching the rolls even before we got to CDO!

 

 

     When you find yourself in Malaybalay, be sure to drop by Sunflower Cafe  … you’ll never regret you did.  Except perhaps for the added pounds you may get because of all the calories.

 

back to HOMEPAGE.

 

(Disclosure: Except for the banana-pineapple loaf, we paid for our meals … well, actually only Dr. Nandy Sison paid for them.  I am not, in any way, related to the owners of Sunflower Cafe.)