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Filipino cuisine has been having its moment on the culinary stage both locally and overseas, with Filipino restaurants and local cuisine in general finding fans and recognition around the world. It’s a fact Chef Frances Tariga has witnessed firsthand. For over two decades, the talented Filipina chef from Sampaloc, Manila, has worked in numerous kitchens around the world, spanning the Middle East, the US, and the Philippines.
In 2024, Chef Frances established Tadhana in New York City, her first restaurant that specializes in contemporary Filipino tasting menus. It quickly gained an audience among Filipinos and non-Filipinos in the city and won recognition from critics, including The New York Times and the New York Michelin Guide, in 2024. Now, Chef Frances brings her take on Filipino flavors and a bold, modern Filipino tasting menu designed for a global audience to Manila with the upcoming opening of Tadhana Makati.
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What Filipino Food Can Be at Tadhana
Located on the 4th floor of the Levanto Building along Jupiter Street, Makati, Tadhana Makati offers guests a 10-course tasting menu encompassing 16 small bites that place the potential of Filipino food in the spotlight. It is a modernist approach that marries the world’s most premium proteins with the country’s endemic ingredients, all while preserving faithful Filipino flavor and elevating them through contemporary technique, design, and service.
Chef Frances describes it as her spin on classic middle-class Filipino dishes and snacks, taking her cherished childhood and local favorites and presenting them with thoughtful and intentional presentation. The results are bites and plates featuring well-known local delicacies and flavors, but with a more refined presentation. Less on nostalgia, the menu is a peek at where Filipino food can go.
Minimalist yet warm and welcoming, the private dining room feels like an intimate space designed to spur natural conversation whilst enjoying each meal. The space incorporates design elements like Filipino puns rendered in neon light and a curated display of books that inspired Chef Frances. Adding to the Filipino touch is a curated playlist of modern Filipino hip-hop.
For the restaurant’s opening tasting menu, it is inspired by Chef Frances’ story and experiences with Filipino food, with the courses reflecting her favorite dishes and those that hold a special place in her heart. The menu is a narrative, showcasing Chef Frances’ culinary journey from around the world, where both premium protein and local produce are treated with the same reverence when it comes to technique and presentation.
It makes for a coming together of local products like wild greens, coastal herbs, native citrus, coconut, cacao, and fermented grains with premium protein from around the world, such as Wagyu, Kaluga caviar, and Spanish mackerel. To complement the menu, Tadhana Makati offers a curated beverage program, featuring a well-curated wine pairing, a specialized sake pairing, and options for champagne pairing, alongside a unique samalameg/mocktail program.
The appetizers were based on and inspired by classic snacks such as Binatog and Ensalada, with a highlight being their take on Pa-kwan and its surprisingly savory blend of crispy rice cake, baked watermelon, and miso honey. These reimagined bites made for an excellent start as the main course continued the gastronomic journey.
From Sinuglaw featuring Wagyu to Tocilog using squab as its main protein, these meals featured flavors that were equal parts familiar and unique that worked well together. The Inihaw at Gulay was a standout here, particularly when it came to the tender and melt-in-your-mouth Iberico Secreto that was coated in their homemade barbecue sauce. Even something as simple as bread got an elevated twist with their Tinapay, which is a warm, laminated tingib cornbread served with tinapa mousse and dalandan sherry marmalade.
The tasting menu ended with dessert, which was a mix of sweet treats that played on favorite Filipino delicacies such as a peach mango pie reimagined as a mango choux pastry, a turon cookie, and a pili praline. Aside from the flavors, the presentation of the dishes was also a standout, especially with the use of flowers, leaves, and even liquid nitrogen to highlight the visual appeal of each course.
All in all, it made for a tasting menu and dining experience that satisfied and played on a palette of Filipino flavors from savory to sweet. Chef Frances and her team put together an experience that’s both faithful and unexpected, but worth experiencing for the greater potential of local cuisine.
Tadhana Makati will open on May 15. For reservations, you can make one on the Opentable app.
Featured Image and Photos: Kim Angela Santos
Frequently Asked Questions
Chef Frances Tariga is a talented Filipina chef originally from Sampaloc, Manila, with over two decades of experience in kitchens across the Middle East, the United States, and the Philippines. Before bringing her vision to Manila, she established the first Tadhana in New York City in 2024, which earned acclaim from the New York Michelin Guide and The New York Times for its contemporary Filipino tasting menus.
Tadhana Makati offers a modernist 10-course tasting menu consisting of 16 small bites designed for a global audience. The restaurant focuses on an elevated “spin” on classic middle-class Filipino dishes and snacks, moving beyond simple nostalgia to showcase where Filipino food can go through contemporary techniques, intentional design, and refined service.
The menu treats endemic Filipino products—such as wild greens, native citrus, cacao, and fermented grains—with the same reverence as luxury imports. Examples of this fusion include a “Tocilog” that uses squab as the primary protein, a “Sinuglaw” featuring Wagyu beef, and “Tinapay” served as a laminated tingib cornbread with tinapa mousse and dalandan sherry marmalade.
The opening bites are reimagined versions of beloved local delicacies like Binatog, Ensalada, and Kwek-kwek. A notable highlight is the “Pa-kwan,” which offers a savory blend of crispy rice cake, baked watermelon, and miso honey, providing a familiar yet unique flavor profile that sets the stage for the main courses.
The private dining room is designed to be minimalist yet warm and intimate to encourage natural conversation. The space features playful Filipino puns rendered in neon lights, a curated display of books that influenced Chef Frances, and a soundtrack of modern Filipino hip-hop to complete the contemporary cultural experience.
