You can ask anyone in the neighborhood for directions. Just past the stoplight from Bay Tree going to Lilac street, quietly nestled along the main road, you’ll find a country-house inspired establishment with a real and working windmill as its landmark.

Bread is the best-kept secret in the area. It’s pan de sal baked 1950s style and it’s like nothing else you’ll buy in bakeries today. It’s bigger and heftier than your normal pan de sal. It has a darker color and is soft but not hollow. And more importantly, it’s baked with much love by the husband and wife team of Jun and Rosie Salvador, owners of Pan de Amerikana, home of the 1950s style pan de sal.

Just what makes their traditional pan de sal so different from what’s available now?

"Back in the 1950s wheat flour was used, now they use table flour," explains Jun Salvador. "Now they use sugar; before it was molasses. The yeast was of higher quality then. Also, traditional pan de sal contains no extenders, it was all very organic." The couple is proud to say that the old way is how they do it. In fact, for them, it’s the only way to make perfect pan de sal.

The recipe had been handed to the family through the Salvador patriarchs. "My father was a baker and part-time kutsero. The people he would service with his calesa would also be the one he would sell his pan de sal to," recalls Jun.

It’s just as well that they were keepers of a precious recipe. When the Salvador couple first thought of entering the bakery business, they thought of buying a franchise from a well-known pan de sal maker. They were turned down.

"Primarily because they didn’t think our location was good enough. Well, we thought ‘let’s challenge that idea.’ We stuck with our belief that the product is what drives a business. So with the recipe from our father, Pan de Amerikana was born," says Rosie and Jun. Business has been steady since, despite no advertisements.

"The first time, we were already happy selling a sack. Then from there, we suppose it just spread by word of mouth. We noticed that people were coming in from Pasay, Paranaque, Las Pinas, Cavite, and from other far-off places," Rosie beams.

In May of last year, the couple decided to turn the bakery into a real restaurant. Apart from breakfast meals, pasta, and steak, they offer authentic Marikina dishes like Waknatoy and everlasting. And the most amazing part: the prices are hands-down the most affordable around—you’d think the couple might not even be making a profit out of it! (For example, we dare you to look for P25 carbonara pasta anywhere).

"Some of our customers can¹t believe it themselves, they would ask us to re-check their bill thinking there must have been a mistake," Rosie happily shares. "We know that people these days want value for their money, and that’s what we give them," Jun adds.

But there is an even more beautiful secret to their traditional bread and good, affordable food, which the couple would like to share: "We always tell our bakers and cooks, ‘smile when you cook.’ You must always be happy with what you do. If you have a problem, take a day off. If you’re happy, the customers will taste it in the food we give them."