For the traveler who goes around Cebu, the east side of the island province offers interesting foodstops that showcases homegrown delicacies that can be brought home as pasalubongs. Starting with this post, I will be featuring seven places outside of Cebu City that I have noted to offer these delights.

I really don’t know why the Agora bus terminal in the city of Cagayan de Oro always fascinates me. Its a modest strip of land just beside the Agora market in the often chaotic part that is just near the pier.

It is bisected by a short two lane road where the buses come and go. On each side is the covered bus bays, housing eateries, turo turo style, side by side with regular pasalubong stalls and a few ticket booths.

It was a marketing plan hatched by the city government of Cagayan de Oro that the night cafe sprung to life in 2004, probably a first in Mindanao. Located in the open air plaza in Divisoria, the roads leading to this area are blocked off as early as 5 o’clock in the afternoon every Friday and Saturday.

Limketkai Mall (LKK) is a landmark in Cagayan de Oro not because that it is now modern and huge but it has always been identified as a homegrown commercial destination in the city. Before the major facelift a few years ago, it is open air and has that certain regional charm in it: not too boxed up and alienating compared with the mega mall structures in most urban cities.

The jeepney from Ketkai pulled to a stop as I signaled the driver to when I reached Agora, more specifically known as the old bus terminal just beside the market in the fast growing city of Cagayan de Oro in the northern-central part of Mindanao.