The Man Behind the Menu: Meet Chef Rexsan Abarquez of kutchara
Who is Chef Rex?
Chef Rexsan Abarquez is the man behind the menu at kutchara at Alino Hotel. He is also a quiet study in what happens when a kitchen story comes full circle. Twenty years ago, Rex was a messenger delivering packages to Keyland Corporation. In 2025, that same company hired him as Alino Hotel's fourth employee, this time to run the kitchen.
Born and raised in Iloilo, Rex grew up watching his lola cook the heirloom dishes that still anchor his menu today. From there he built a career across some of the country's most respected hotel kitchens. Twenty-plus years and five hotel kitchens later, the food at kutchara is the closest he has come to cooking the way he was first taught.
If you have been searching for the best Filipino restaurant in Quezon City that serves real, unprocessed Filipino food cooked by someone who knows where it comes from, Rex is the chef you were looking for.
Eat at kutchara
Filipino comfort food cooked by Chef Rex inside kutchara at Alino Hotel. A boutique hotel in Quezon City with a chef who learned this food from his lola.
Why does Chef Rex matter to your meal at kutchara?
A lot of restaurants serve Filipino food. Few are cooked by someone who has been at it for twenty years across five of the country's best hotel kitchens, and fewer still by someone who still cooks from his lola's instinct.
Rex matters because his food is the rare combination of trained and rooted. Trained, in the Sofitel and Mandarin Oriental sense, the discipline that comes from years inside operations where every plate has to be exact. Rooted, in the lola sense, the muscle memory of what real Filipino comfort food in Manila tastes like when it is made by someone who grew up with it.
For locals looking for restaurants in Quezon City that take Filipino cooking seriously, and for travelers asking where to eat in Quezon City without ending up at the same chain in every mall, kutchara is the answer.
How Chef Rex came full circle to Alino
Most chef stories follow a straight line. Rex's loops back on itself in a way that is rare even by Filipino standards.
From Iloilo to his Lola's kitchen
Long before any uniform, Rex was a kid in Iloilo watching his lola cook the dishes that would later become his menu. Kadios simmered slow. Lapu-lapu fried whole and finished in a slick of sarciado sauce. Tikoy folded into turon at merienda. He did not learn this food in school. He learned it the way most Filipino kids learn their lola's cooking, by paying attention.
The messenger who delivered to Keyland
In his early twenties, Rex worked as a messenger. Among his regular routes was Keyland Corporation, the developer that would, two decades later, build Alino Hotel. He delivered to their office, picked up paperwork, and moved on. He had no idea he would come back through the same front door.
Twenty years across the country's top hotel kitchens
Then came the long climb. Rex spent the next twenty years inside some of the most respected hotel kitchens in the Philippines:
- Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila
- Mandarin Oriental Manila
- Makati Shangri-La
- Conrad Manila, as Sous Chef on the pre-opening team
- Marco Polo Ortigas, as Acting Executive Chef
Each of those kitchens taught him something different. Sofitel taught him scale. Mandarin taught him precision. Shangri-La taught him service. Conrad taught him how to open a kitchen from zero. Marco Polo taught him how to lead one. By the time he arrived at Alino, he had cooked through every layer of the hotel kitchen.
The trade test, April 2, 2025
When Rex applied to Alino, the ownership panel asked for a trade test. Five courses, cooked and plated alone, in front of them, in the new kitchen.
He arrived at 9:30 in the morning. He cooked until 11:30. Here is what he served:
- Smoked Salmon to open
- Ensaladang Labanos for the cold course
- Bistek Tenderloin for the meat
- Sarciadong Lapu-Lapu for the fish
- Ube Tikoy Turon to close
The panel hired him that day. He became Alino Hotel's fourth employee. The man who once delivered packages to Keyland Corporation was now running the kitchen of the hotel they built
What you will taste at kutchara
Rex cooks with an instinct most professional kitchens have lost: real Filipino ingredients, the ones his lola used, the ones you cannot fake with a bottled shortcut.
If you walk into the kutchara at Alino Hotel kitchen on a busy night, this is what you will find on his prep table:
- Batuan, the sour Visayan fruit that gives sinigang and KBL their distinctive sharpness. Rex uses it fresh, never powdered, the way his lola did.
- Libas, sour leaves used in regional Filipino cooking, brought in for dishes that ask for something brighter than tamarind.
- Kadios, the small dark pigeon pea that anchors his Iloilo classics. He cooks them slow until they hold their shape but give up their starch.
- Sukang Paombong, the traditional nipa palm vinegar from Bulacan. He uses it instead of commercial white vinegar because the flavor profile is completely different. One is sharp. The other is alive.
- Calamansi, picked young and acidic, used to finish dishes the way salt finishes others. He prefers it to bottled citrus juice for the same reason he prefers paombong over commercial vinegar.
This is not Filipino food filtered through a hotel kitchen. This is Filipino cooking the way Rex was taught, served at hotel standard. That is the trick of Kutchara, and it is the trick most restaurants in Quezon City cannot pull off.
Who kutchara is built for
Kutchara is for guests who care where their food comes from. If you have been asking where to eat in Quezon City when you actually want Filipino food cooked with intention, you are in the right place. We are inside Alino Hotel at 970 E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue in New Manila, steps from St. Luke's Medical Center, minutes from Araneta City and Eastwood.
We host:
- Staycation guests at Alino who want a Filipino meal that feels like home.
- Locals from QC looking for restaurants in Quezon City that take Filipino cooking seriously.
- Visiting family of patients at St. Luke's Medical Center who want something familiar and good after a long day.
- Diners from across Metro Manila searching for the best Filipino restaurant in Quezon City worth crossing the city for.
Frequently asked questions about Chef Rex and kutchara
Who is Chef Rexsan Abarquez?
Chef Rexsan Abarquez is the chef at kutchara, the Filipino restaurant inside Alino Hotel in Quezon City. Born and raised in Iloilo, he has spent more than twenty years in some of the country's most respected hotel kitchens, including Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila, Mandarin Oriental Manila, Makati Shangri-La, Conrad Manila, and Marco Polo Ortigas.
What does kutchara serve?
Kutchara serves Filipino comfort food the way Chef Rex learned it from his lola in Iloilo, cooked at hotel kitchen standards. The menu uses real, unprocessed ingredients like batuan, libas, kadios, sukang paombong, and calamansi.
Where is kutchara located?
Kutchara at Alino Hotel is at 970 E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue, New Manila, Quezon City. It is steps from St. Luke's Medical Center and minutes from Araneta City and Eastwood.
Is kutchara open to non-hotel guests?
Yes. Kutchara is open to walk-in diners. You do not have to be a hotel guest to eat here, which is why so many locals already count us among their go-to restaurants in Quezon City.
Meet Chef Rex. Eat at kutchara.
The Kutchara story is a full-circle story. A boy from Iloilo, a young messenger, a twenty-year hotel career, and a kitchen of his own inside a hotel built by the company he once delivered to. The food on the plate carries all of it.
When you book a table at Kutchara, you can expect:
- Filipino comfort food cooked by a chef who learned it from his lola.
- Real, unprocessed Filipino ingredients sourced for flavor, not for shortcut.
- A menu rooted in Iloilo and refined across twenty years of hotel kitchen experience.
- A location in New Manila that puts you minutes from Araneta City, Eastwood, and St. Luke's Medical Center.
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