THE HISTORY... CAFÉ LAGUNA

CAFÉ LAGUNA began as a labor of love for the urbina family. Coming from a long line of fine cooks, Lita Urbina decided to share her culinary talents with everyone. She got the love for cooking from her mother who owned a restaurant in Cartimar, Manila. As a young girl, she remembered being exposed to the restaurant business and how it was managed.

With the help and encouragement of her family, Mrs. Urbina decided to open her own carenderia which served Filipino food with a distinctive taste incomparable to this day. Food was not only sumptuous but enkindled memories of homecooked meals shared with friends and family.

CAFÉ LAGUNA started with 10 tables in an apartment she owned in Lahug. Mother's Best was the moniker she gave the fastfood which served only Filipino dishes. At the same time, it was a novelty; not many food outlets served Filipino dishes. Catering service menu includes European, American and other Asian dishes.

Cebuanos especially love the puto-bumbong ( sticky rice called tapul that is steamed and served with grated coconut and sugar ). Puto-bumbong has become the trademark of CAFÉ LAGUNA. Urbina's rise to the top of her chosen career in the best food business is dramatically fast. After opening “Mother's Best” in1979, she renovated and expanded the area, transforming the carenderia into a “place of fine dining” in 1991. It became the hit of Cebu. The new spread like wildfire, “For great food, try CAFÉ LAGUNA”. And, sure enough, everyone went for a taste and came back for more.

Three years after, in 1994 she opened CAFÉ LAGUNA at the Ayala Center. In 1999 another branch was opened, The Laguna Garden Cafe at the back of the Ayala Center – a 2 storey building which looks more like the home of a Spanish Governor General than a restaurant. Urbina loves to “make her own concoctions” in the kitchen. Some menus served at the Garden Café were her ideas, like dinuguang manok. Other recipes include sinigang sa miso, sinigang sa bayabas, lumpia, dinuguan at puto, palabok and puto bumbong, crispy tadyang and pandan chicken.

Now, CAFÉ LAGUNA is a landmark for wholesome and delicious Filipino cuisine. From humble beginnings, the expertise of Lita Urbina and her staff have touched the lives of so many Cebuanos through the restaurant and its catering service. Proving, once and for all, that the best way to anyone's heart is through delicious cooking.

She dreams of turning her restaurant into a “showcase of Filipino Cuisine”. This does not mean the typical native concept of nipa and bamboo, but rather, how Filipino food was influenced by different cooking styles through the years, and give Filipino food the dignity and its right place in the culinary map of fine foods in the world.

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