Mama Cooks. Papa Eats.

This article was published several years ago in Cook Magazine. Just sharing this once again here in my blog because I have loved Quan products ever since I was in college at the University of St. La Salle. My goodness! That was a long, long time ago already.–Sigrid

When Filipinos use the term “kwan“, it could stand for an answer, an alibi, a direction, a conjunction, a filler, a description, an expression of doubt or apprehension, or an indication of forgetfulness, among others things. The word presents a myriad of possibilities and is so popular that a spin off term has become equally famous in Bacolod City – it’s the word “Quan.” But Quan does not represent any of the things mentioned above; but rather it is a name associated with traditional native delicacies and an assortment of wonderful foodstuff.

After 20 years, Agnes Cuenca and Chole Cuenca-Chua, the mother and daughter team behind Quan Native Delicacies have successfully managed their restaurant that it has grown to six branches all over Bacolod City, and just recently added another one at SM-Cubao. The Cuencas have totally erased the idea that native foods are just peddled in the streets and have questionable quality control.

Quan had its beginnings with a recipe for puto that was handed down to Agnes by Chole’s great grandmother, Mercedes Jalandoni. Agnes cooked this most popular rice recipe while Chole sold and sometimes gave out their puto. It was so in-demand among parties and during school events that it was eventually dubbed as “Puto Chole.”

In 1985, Chole rented a space at the office of her friend Elena, who eventually became her sister-in-law. The place was enough for her to set up a display counter for her puto and eventually some cuchinta.

About 2 years later, Chole was ready to open their first-ever store in the building of her then boyfriend (now her husband) William. At that time, they already added bibingka and cassava cake to their menu. But three days before their opening date, they were panicking for a name for their new store. They had been asking people for suggestions and all they would get was, “Kwan…hmmm..kwan…,” because nobody could find an appropriate word or letter combination for a store name. Still finding no suitable business name, they finally settled on Quan, with a little alteration on the spelling for better appeal.

Needless to say, Quan became a big hit. People just loved their authentic native delicacies that are really affordable, with prices that are sometimes lower that those sold in the streets. And clients are assured of strict quality control and freshness. The outlets are also monitored daily for customer service and food handling. Agnes mans the kitchen, with its central operations conveniently located beside her home, while Chole handles the marketing aspect. And they get to joke about their specific roles, too. “My mom’s the kusinera and I’m the tindera!” Chole laughs. Mother and daughter by the way, are neighbors too.

Quan no longer just sells native delicacies. It has continually added to its menu and has grown to a full-fledged restaurant serving meals and other snacks. It has also successfully dabbled in the bakery business selling breads, cakes and pastries and now also has facilities like a function room for small parties. Quan has truly lived up to its slogan – “A family of food for the family.”

Agnes and Chole continually update themselves by attending seminars. They are members of the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Bakers’ Association (BACNOBA) and the Hotel and Restaurants Association of Negros Occidental (HRANO). However, most of their food items are products of endless experimentation in the kitchen. The lumpia sariwa, bread pudding ala poor man’s leche flan, ube pudding, 5-variety cuchinta, and 4-flavor chuchinta are Agnes’ creations. Even their lumpia ubod has been modified for the Negrense taste.

But perhaps Agnes’ most significant contribution to the food industry is the putopao. There was a time during the late 1980s when a flour shortage hit the province. Since Quan was not yet a member of an organization and its flour requirements were not that big, it was not protected and not included in the flour rationing. However, Quan got a big order of siopao to fulfill. The ingenious Agnes filled her puto (using her original puto recipe) with the regular siopao filling mixture and came up with a new creation that she called “putopao.” Eventually, the putopao was adapted by many people, with variations only in the filling or in the dough.

Like the word “kwan” that will forever remain in the Ilonggo vocabulary, Quan will always remain a Negrense favorite.