At 77 years old, Kamuning Bakery Cafe is Quezon City's oldest bakery, keeping its authentic pugon (wood-fire) oven hot and eager to serve traditional fare — a delicious escape from bigger bakery chains and foreign brands all over the metro.
This neighborhood bakery is still standing strong after all these decades. The secret? Honest to goodness bread made the old fashioned way, and with zero preservatives. Every day the smell of freshly baked bread lures in Kamuning Bakery's loyal customers — the ones who drop by in the morning for pandesal and coffee together with a quick newspaper read, the family drivers stopping by for bags of bread to bring back home, the many politicians and celebrities that swear by the comfort of pan de suelo.
(photo from Kamuning Bakery Facebook page)
This bread is the best-seller, a favorite of many personalities; their dough (and all products in the bakery) does not use any preservatives and is then shaped into smaller pieces like pandesal and placed on the oven's floor ("suelo" in Spanish) to baked. This method allows heat to circulate more evenly, and since the oven is wood-fired, the bread gives off a distinct flavor — rustic, honest goodness.
A visit to this bakery is flavored with nostalgia and tradition: inside the store, stacks and baskets of familiar cakes, breads and cookies — all pugon-baked — will tug you back to your childhood with treats like pan de coco, pianono, biscocho, ensaymada, empanada, "tasty," pan de regla (which I know as 'maligaya' as introduced to me by my Bicolano mother) and all those top hits from small neighborhood bakeries we're fond of. Tradition, history, and down home goodness of food — these are what made businessman and journalist Wilson Lee Flores decide to acquire the old bakery and revive it to what it is now.
Part of the bakery's revival is extending their menu to make it into a cafe, adding a dining experience for its patrons, even offering pasta and rice dishes, and hot and cold beverages aside from all their baked products. Flores shares that he keeps everything traditional and local as much as possible, even for their homemade ice cream which comes in unique flavors, and their beverages. "I source our arabica coffee beans from the mountains of Atok, Benguet province," he shares, and their chocolate comes from Davao. Food here is very affordable, too. If you want a light snack or an appetizer, get the Pan de Suelo Sampler (P165), served with three small servings of savory items to put on the bread as topping — corned beef hash, adobo flakes, and menudo.
The Noche Buena (P165) will bring back fond Filipino Christmas memories, as it's a nostalgic combination of jamon and kesong puti to put on your slices of pan de suelo. They also offer all day breakfast Pandesal, stuffed with the classic top hits we love for merienda, like Corned Beef (P140), Ham and egg with cheese (P140), Spam (P140), and Bacon (P140).
There are more filling options if you're looking for a heavy meal for lunch or dinner — they offer classic fried chicken in a basket, burgers and sandwiches, even soup and salad to start your meal. Since our visit was during the afternoon we bought assorted bread before dropping by the cafe to have even more bread, and slices of pie that really take me back to my childhood. We end our merienda with Egg Pie and Buco Pie — two very local Filipino desserts that we love bringing home and giving to others as pasalubong from roadtrips to the south. Every bite felt familiar and comforting — it's the flavors we grew up with, and Kamuning Bakery delivers with simplicity and honesty (no fancy upgrades here). Feeling at home with food is always a heartwarming feeling, and I continue these food emotions when I return home, my pan de suelo ready to be slathered in condensed milk and dipped in a cup of coffee.
Kamuning Bakery is located at 43 Judge Jimenez Corner K-1st Street, Quezon City. Call 929-2216 and 412-6628, and follow Kamuning Bakery on Facebook (kamuningbakery1939) and Instagram (@kamuningbakery).
