After years spent in the royal kitchens of the United Arab Emirates and some of New York’s most celebrated restaurants, Chef Frances Tariga returns to Manila with two new concepts and a singular ambition: to show the world just how much you can do with the flavors of home.
It’s hard not to notice Chef Frances Tariga, for a number of reasons. You could call it “stage presence,” if there’s such a thing in a culinary world where so much happens behind the scenes.
She laughs generously, and isn’t afraid to “call it what it is.” She carries that recognizable Filipino warmth and humor, and doesn’t mince her words; don’t mistake that for carelessness, though. She gets straight to the point the way she might chop vegetables or meticulously debone a fish: thoroughly and with an unmatched assuredness that’s nothing short of captivating (and how she manages to crack a joke or two in between is a skill in itself). No bluffs, no blunders. In a matter of minutes, she turns a giant slab of whole madai [red sea bream] into a delicate fillet for her dish Sinigang sa Bayabas right before our team.
Those familiar with the global culinary scene will recognize Frances as the mind behind Tadhana, her contemporary Filipino fine dining concept that took New York by storm, earning a spot in the Michelin Guide I New York and Time Out New York’s Best New Restaurants list in 2024. She has since returned home, bringing the concept back to the very place that inspires its flavors.
Today, Tadhana occupies the fourth floor of Makati dining hub Levanto’s La Reserve, alongside her new seafood steakhouse, Taglish. Though as it goes, the journey leading up to all this is as interesting as the concepts themselves.
READ ALSO: Tadhana Makati Turns Filipino Memory Into Fine Dining
A Street Smart Kid Figures It Out: How Frances Tariga Became A Chef
As a child, becoming a chef was the last thing on Frances’ mind. Growing
up in Sampaloc, Manila, she was, by her own admission, far more interested in playing billiards than sitting inside a classroom (“I was so good at it, makikipustahan pa ako sa lalaki [I was even betting with the guys],” she shares). Street smart rather than academically inclined, she bounced between colleges without much direction, unsure of what she wanted her life to look like.
It took an honest conversation with her mother to change that. Asked what she truly wanted, Frances found herself arriving at an unexpected answer: culinary school. Cooking had been one of the few places where she and her father—a brusque police officer whose love language consisted of making good food rather than handing out words of affirmation or I love yous—naturally connected. “Growing up as a lesbian, it was hard for my dad to be proud of me. There was always that barrier. But every time we cooked together,” she recalls, “he just saw me as his daughter.”
That decision led her to the Center for Asian Culinary Studies, and during that period, everything seemed to click: cooking, it seemed, was the missing piece in her search for self-realization and fulfillment. A few years later, with little more than a visit visa and her mother’s encouragement to try her luck abroad, Frances left for Dubai. She never expected it to become the beginning of a journey that would take her across continents.
Frances Tariga’s Career: UAE Royal Kitchens, New York Restaurants, And Trust Bae
Dubai became Frances’ proving ground. Starting in a luxury hotel, she steadily worked her way up before eventually becoming the private chef to a member of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) royal family. The role took her across the world, serving as both protocol and halal chef, before another opportunity carried her to New York in 2011 as private chef to the UAE ambassador to the United Nations.
What followed was a career that accelerated at a remarkable speed. With time outside the ambassador’s residence, Frances began auditioning for television cooking competitions, landing a spot on Chopped just months after arriving in the United States. More appearances followed, including Cutthroat Kitchen, Beat Bobby Flay, and eventually Top Chef, producers noting that her vibrant personality proved as memorable as her food.
A spread at Taglish, Chef Frances Tariga’s new concept that combines the bounty of Philippine waters with the precision and polish of a New York steakhouse
Leaving private service behind, she immersed herself in New York’s restaurant scene, working in some of the city’s highest volume kitchens, including Buddakan, Catch, The Standard High Line, and Planta, before taking on executive chef roles of her own. Yet after years spent mastering French, Japanese (she’s particularly proud of the knife skills she gained as a sushi master), and other international techniques, Frances found herself returning to the flavors of home she left behind.
At the time, omakase concepts dominated New York, so naturally, she asked herself what a Filipino chef could contribute to the conversation. The answer became Trust Bae: a Filipino-Japanese omakase concept she opened in 2023, where Japanese fish was transformed into adobo, paksiw, and other dishes from her birthplace.
Trust Bae planted the seed for what would come next. Tadhana wasn’t born from a desire to recreate tradition exactly as it was, instead becoming Frances’ way of asking a larger question: what can Filipino cuisine become when world-class technique exists not to disguise it, but to make it taste even more like itself? After years spent cooking everywhere but home, that question brought her back to Manila, where the journey that began in Sampaloc now continues at Levanto in Makati.
Tadhana And Taglish At Levanto La Reserve: Frances Tariga’s Two Makati Concepts
Frances’ two concepts each reflect a different side of her philosophy. Tadhana distills everything she learned abroad—the bold flavors of the UAE, the exacting standards of New York kitchens—into a 10-course tasting menu that presents inventive, elevated takes on Filipino cuisine. The Sinigang sa Bayabas of their inaugural menu, for example, might look different, but if you close your eyes, it hits you with that familiar flavor of a pot on a mother’s or lola’s stove, the sweet-sour tang of batuan and bayabas unmistakable.
It’s the familiar made new, rather than alien, something that comforts but still manages to excite. To Frances, the warm reception from her Filipino diners is perhaps the greatest affirmation that her vision has been realized.
Chefs at work at Tadhana; Binatog (corn tortilla with truffle comte espuna, and coconut snow); and Pakwan (a crispy rice cake with watermelon and miso honey) from Tadhana; Tinapay (laminated tinigib cornbread with tinapa mousse and dalandan sherry marmalade) from Tadhana; Sinigang sa Bayabas (maya maya with batuan, kangkong, and whipped gabi) from Tadhana
“It’s basically trusting your instinct that your palate is acceptable for everyone, and then that’s a game changer, because everyone validated that my flavors were spot on,” she explains. “I wouldn’t say I’m confident all the time. There are a lot of doubts, you know. Sometimes you go into that rabbit hole, thinking you’re still the same person from 20 years ago— imposter syndrome, that’s real. But I always have to ground myself and remind myself that, ‘Hey, you’re not surviving anymore, you’re thriving.’”
Just next door is Taglish, a modern Filipino seafood steakhouse that embraces a relaxed, convivial spirit. Named after the way Filipinos naturally blend languages and cultures, the restaurant celebrates the country’s coastal bounty through premium seafood prepared with the precision and polish of a New York steakhouse, a lively raw bar, and cocktails inspired by local flavors. Where Tadhana is intimate and reflective, Taglish captures the joyful energy of gathering around a table on a Friday night.
Hamachi Kilaw from Taglish; 30-day Dry Aged Porterhouse from Taglish
READ ALSO: At Taglish, The Classic Steakhouse Gets A Filipino Makeover
At the end of the day, Frances hasn’t forgotten the whole point of it all. “We don’t focus on a lot of shiny things. We focus on our craft, which is cooking, mastering the techniques of butchering, dry aging, developing those flavors,” she explains. “It’s not all about decoration. Yeah, you can be intentional with the setting, but at the end of the day, good food is good food, right?”
Though distinct in form, both concepts share the same conviction, each finding its soul in the belief that Filipino ingredients, flavors, and hospitality deserve a place in the global conversation. Frances approaches her concepts the way she would a fine specimen of fish, her knife in one hand, cutting away to get to the heart of the matter: that only through respect and reinvention, not obfuscation or imitation, can one rediscover the best parts of a cuisine.
This article was originally published in our September 2026 issue.
Tadhana photos by Kim Santos of KLIQ, Inc.
Taglish photos courtesy of Chef Frances Tariga
Frequently Asked QuestionsWho is Chef Frances Tariga?
Chef Frances Tariga is the Filipino chef behind Tadhana, her contemporary Filipino fine dining concept, and Taglish, a modern Filipino seafood steakhouse in Makati. She has worked across Dubai and New York, including as a private chef to members of the UAE royal family and the UAE ambassador to the United Nations.
What is Tadhana by Frances Tariga?
Tadhana is Frances Tariga’s contemporary Filipino fine dining concept, featuring a 10-course tasting menu with inventive, elevated takes on Filipino cuisine. The concept first made its mark in New York, earning a spot in the Michelin Guide I New York and Time Out New York’s Best New Restaurants list in 2024, before returning to Manila at Levanto’s La Reserve in Makati.
What kind of food does Tadhana serve?
Tadhana presents Filipino cuisine through world-class culinary techniques, creating inventive takes on familiar dishes and flavors. Its inaugural menu includes Sinigang sa Bayabas, which combines the sweet-sour tang of batuan and bayabas with techniques Frances developed through her international culinary career.
What is Taglish in Makati?
Taglish is Frances Tariga’s modern Filipino seafood steakhouse at Levanto’s La Reserve in Makati. The restaurant celebrates the country’s coastal bounty through premium seafood prepared with the precision and polish of a New York steakhouse, alongside a lively raw bar and cocktails inspired by local flavors.
How did Frances Tariga become a chef?
Frances Tariga initially had little direction about what she wanted to do before an honest conversation with her mother led her to culinary school. She studied at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies before moving to Dubai, where she worked her way up in a luxury hotel and eventually became a private chef to a member of the UAE royal family. Her career later took her to New York, where she worked in high-volume kitchens, appeared on cooking competitions including Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen, Beat Bobby Flay, and Top Chef, and eventually developed her own Filipino culinary concepts.
Dining and Cooking