Los Banos Shopping

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If you are a plant lover, don't miss the Los Banos Flower & Garden Show sponsored by the Los Banos Horticulture Society in cooperation with the Dept. of Trade and Industry-Laguna. Venue is always at the UPLB Seniors' Social Garden. The Flower & Garden show is held twice a year, in April and October, so watch out for announcements in the newspapers and internet if you don't want to miss it.

Even if you won't buy plants/flowers, you can go there to view the beautiful entries to various contests like landscaped gardens, new plant breeds, best ornamental plants, etc. For a minimal entrance fee (this year, entrance fee was P40/pax, with discount to students and senior citizens), you'll definitely get a cheap thrill just by looking at the plants and flowers around the garden.

What to buy: You can buy high quality ornamental plants like orchids, medicinal and kitchen herbs, exotic palms and ferns, as well as seedlings of fruit-bearing trees.

What to pay: herbs: P20-25/small pot
orchids: P40-P500 depending on what you'll buy

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Los Banos is known for delicious buko (young coconut) pies. For a long time now, The Original Buko Pie Bakeshop has earned the reputation of being the best among the best. It always has the longest line of buyers, compared to the other buko pie stores along the highway. It is unquestionably popular not only to tourists, but to locals as well.

What is so special about the Original Buko Pie? The crust is crumbly and thin even when cold(versus others which are thick and soggy); pie filling is tasty but not very sweet and contains tender and more buko slivers (versus scanty and tough slivers in others).

Buko pie is best eaten while hot, so most buyers get an extra pie for the road. You can request to have your pie sliced already, and you can even ask for some napkins, to hold the hot pie.

What to buy: Aside from Buko Pie, the bakeshop also sells Pineapple Pie, Tropical Pie, Cassava Cake, Prune Bread, Banana Bread, Brownies, Cassava Cake, Espasol, Uraro and other pasalubongs

What to pay: Buko Pie sells for P135

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Laguna has a lot of delicacies but the most well-known is the buko (coconut) pie. There are a lot of bakeshops selling buko pie along the Los Banos National Highway, but the best-tasting is from Orient The Original Buko Pie. It has large chunks of coconut meat. Sarap!

Be ready to wait a few minutes to be served as there is almost always a queue.

One whole pie costs P120.

What to buy: Buko pie.

What to pay: P120 per pie.