By now most of us have grown tired of the options Lujiazui Café offers; one can only eat so many white bread sandwiches. For a more promising café atmosphere (and more bang for your buck), head to Sunflour Bakery, which is just a ten-minute walk away from campus. Although it's not the most astounding café around, it does satisfy your breakfast, sandwich, salad, and pasta needs without sacrificing affordability. Maybe they could teach Wagas a thing or two. Even better, Sunflour offers great deals all day long. Breakfast items are half off before 10:30, meaning you can get scrambled eggs with smoked salmon for 24 RMB or a classic egg, ham, and veggie breakfast platter for 27 RMB. If you’re not normally an early riser, this should be enough motivation to get up an hour earlier. For those with a smaller appetite in the morning, the homemade granola with banana and yogurt is a great choice. The yogurt was thick and creamy, topped with granola that had a hearty crunch and nice sweet, chewiness from the raisins. I do wish that I was given more than just six slices of banana in my yogurt, but for only 15 RMB (with the deal), I figured I could make do. Dinner deals are also of great value: from 5 to 8 p.m., you can create your own meal, adding a drink (either wine or juice) with an appetizer (salad or soup), plus an entrée (pasta, risotto, or salad) for 68 RMB. I haven’t sampled all of the items, but I can deduce that Sunflour makes good-quality, no-fuss café items. The salmon avocado salad (à la carte for 55 RMB) was presented in an enormous bowl filled with various greens (romaine lettuce, kale, and arugula) and covered in smoked salmon. But it is possible to have too much of a good thing—although not completely ruining the taste, the lemon vinaigrette dousing my greens was less than ideal. However, asking for your dressing on the side can easily solve this issue.

Sunflour may not hit the mark exactly, but it does come close. We can’t be picky about dining options on this side of the river, and Sunflour satisfies the need of every hungry college student: convenient, affordable, and tasty. Address: 360 Pudian Lu, Lujiazui Investment Tower, Room 103B, near Dongfang Lu 浦电路360号陆家嘴投资大厦103B室, 近东方路 This article was written by Tatiana Bautista. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Tatiana Bautista