Tadhana Makati marks Chef Frances Tariga’s return to Manila through a 10-course tasting menu shaped by years spent in New York, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, as well as the Filipino flavors she carried all throughout.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards,” philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once wrote. It’s a sentiment that permeates Tadhana Makati, Chef Frances Tariga’s new contemporary Filipino concept opening on May 15 at the Levanto Building on Jupiter Street. In Filipino, tadhana means fate, though the restaurant is less concerned with destiny in the grand sense than with the simple realization that certain things—flavors, memories, versions of ourselves—follow us wherever we go.
Chef Frances left the Philippines at 21, spending years abroad refining her discipline and technical precision. Over time, her career moved through some of the hospitality industry’s most demanding environments, from volume restaurants in New York’s Meatpacking District to television competitions like Top Chef, Chopped, and Beat Bobby Flay.
Despite the scale and range of those experiences, the dishes that stayed with her were often the simplest ones containing the flavors of everyday Filipino life. In 2024, she opened the first iteration of Tadhana in New York City, where the restaurant earned acclaim for its modern approach to Filipino cuisine amid one of the world’s most competitive dining scenes.
Now, Tadhana returns home. The Makati restaurant’s opening 10-course tasting menu traces Chef Frances’ culinary journey across cities, techniques, and memories, yet finds its bedrock in the familiarity of Filipino flavor.
“Every technique I learned abroad exists in service of one thing,” Chef Frances shares. “Making Filipino food taste more like itself.”
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Inside Tadhana Makati’s Dining Room
The dining room at Tadhana reflects the same philosophy behind the food: refined without becoming rigid. Located inside the Levanto Building on Jupiter Street, the restaurant accommodates just 20 guests in its main dining area, accompanied by an open kitchen and a more intimate 16-seater private dining room.
The space favors energy over stiffness, much like Chef Frances herself. There are Filipino puns rendered in neon, a curated library of books that informed Chef Frances Tariga’s culinary thinking, and a soundtrack shaped by contemporary Filipino hip hop, making for a lively and approachable experience.
What To Expect From Tadhana Makati’s Tasting Menu
At the center of Tadhana is a progressive 10-course tasting menu composed of 16 small bites, moving through the places and influences that shaped Chef Frances’s cooking over the years. Endemic local ingredients—coastal herbs, native citrus, coconut, cacao, and fermented grains—are paired with globally sourced proteins like Wagyu, Kaluga caviar, and Spanish mackerel.
“This restaurant isn’t about looking back,” Chef Frances says. “It’s about showing where Filipino food can go next.”
Explore the 10-course tasting experience behind Tadhana Makati’s debut:
Tadhana Makati is located at the Levanto Building on Jupiter Street, Makati City. The restaurant offers a contemporary Filipino 10-course tasting menu composed of 16 small bites. Reservations are available through the OpenTable app.
Photography by Kim Santos of KLIQ, Inc.
Frequently Asked Questions
Tadhana Makati is a contemporary Filipino fine dining restaurant by Chef Frances Tariga, opening on May 15, 2026 at the Levanto Building on Jupiter Street in Makati City. The restaurant centers around a progressive 10-course tasting menu inspired by Filipino flavors, personal memory, and Chef Frances’ years cooking abroad.
Chef Frances Tariga is a Filipino chef who built her career across Dubai, New York, and Southeast Asia. She has worked in high-profile hospitality kitchens and appeared on culinary competition shows including Top Chef, Chopped, and Beat Bobby Flay.
Tadhana Makati’s tasting menu consists of 10 courses and 16 small bites that combine endemic Filipino ingredients with contemporary techniques and globally sourced proteins. The menu features ingredients such as coastal herbs, native citrus, coconut, cacao, Wagyu, Kaluga caviar, and Spanish mackerel.
