March 31

Page 1

BusinessWeek MINDANAO

Paying the Correct Taxes... “A Noble Act of Concern and Love, for Oneself, our Children and our Country”

YOUR LOCAL ONLINE BUSINESS PAPER

www.businessweekmindanao.com

NONOY LECHON SERVICES OFFERED OUT OF TOWN ORDER

WEEKEND

VOL. 1, No. 269

For more details, contact Tel. No.: 309-5276 HERMILINO VILLALON Manager

Cagayan de Oro City

Saturday

March 31, 2012

P10.00

Mint Leaf Café:

Dreaming of Italy in Malaybalay Text and photos by MIKE BAÑOS

MALAYBALAY City, Bukidnon––Residents of this capital city of Bukidnon province are privileged to enjoy proximity to a restaurant offering excellent and authentic Italian cuisine. It’s just a pity one can’t tell this outright from the name of the place. Mint Leaf Café in Sta. Cruz street, Sumpong is owned and operated by the family of Lloyd Pangilinan Lagman, a member of the sophomore batch of the Center for Culinary Arts (CCA) in Manila who served as an Italian chef for various Italian restaurants in Makati and abroad. After his graduation from CCA in 2000, Lloyd went on a whirlwind culinary tour of Metro Manila and the world including stops at Grappas Ristorante, an Italian Resto in Greenbelt 3 where he was head chef; Osteria Italia owned by Ara Mina in Timog Avenue, again as head chef; Absinthe Café Bar in Greenbelt 3 as part-time chef and purchaser; two tours in the Princess Cruises to Alaska and the Med as 3rd cook and later assistant cook; as assistant chef and later head chef of the Barbados Café Lounge and Restaurant in Bunbury, Australia, before coming back to Malaybalay in 2010 to take over Mint Leaf Café from his younger sis Lynn Lagman, a pastry chef grad of CCA. Mint Leaf Café was started as the first café in Malaybalay by Lynn in 2004. It started as a pastry shop

I like people to enjoy the food the way I’ve found it best to be – simple with a Big Taste.’

serving sandwiches with the famous Monk’s Blend Coffee organically grown by the Benedictine Monks of the nearby Monastery of the Transfiguration. Upon Lloyd’s arrival, he gradually transformed it to a family dining place serving mainly American-Filipino dishes.

Among the clientele’s favorites are Mint Leaf Chicken, Crispy Tadyang, tacos and desserts. The place could be one of Malaybalay’s best kept secrets especially for the tourist and traveler but already enjoys a good reputation with medical representatives

and doctors who frequent the place. The family plans to expand the café into a bed and breakfast place when the school they are now operating in an adjoining lot closes down for good later this month. But its Italian pedigree aside, Mint Leaf Cafés specialty is its Bukidnon Brew made from fresh Arabica coffee beans hand ground in the premises just before it’s served with brown sugar for that bracing mountain taste and smell. For the more adventurous, try their DREAMING/PAGE 7

Editorial: 74-53-80, e-mail: mindanaodailynews@gmail.com • Advertising: 0917-7121424, e-mail: mindanaodaily.ads@gmail.com


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