editorial

Soursop sorbet with a star apple crisp at Tadhana Makati in Manila.

Tadhana Makati Manila Restaurant &#8211; Soursop Sorbet

Words by Paula Bautista 
October 12, 2026
After finding success in New York, a Filipina chef has brought her bold, imaginative cooking home.
<figure id="attachment_164495" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-164495" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-164495 size-full" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Kilaw-Starter-and-Chef-Frances-Tariga.jpeg" alt="The kilaw starter at Tadhana Makati features Spanish mackerel, pili nut dressing, pomelo, olives, and kamias fruit; chef Frances Tariga." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Kilaw-Starter-and-Chef-Frances-Tariga.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Kilaw-Starter-and-Chef-Frances-Tariga-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Kilaw-Starter-and-Chef-Frances-Tariga-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Kilaw-Starter-and-Chef-Frances-Tariga-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-164495" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: The kilaw starter at Tadhana Makati features Spanish mackerel, pili nut dressing, pomelo, olives, and kamias fruit; chef Frances Tariga. (All photos courtesy of Tadhana Makati)</figcaption></figure>
“My cuisine is like Filipino middle-class food,” chef Frances Tariga says candidly. “It’s what I enjoyed eating growing up, but presented for the global stage.” That was the direction she took with her fine-dining venture Tadhana in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, which was listed in the Michelin Guide five months after opening and named Time Out New York’s best new restaurant of 2024.
Now, with Tadhana Makati, Tariga has come home in more ways than one. Tagalog for “destiny,” the name refers to the born-and-bred Manileña’s life and career thus far. She spent 23 years working abroad, first in Dubai—where she became personal chef to an Emirati princess—and then among the famously cutthroat kitchens of New York. It also alludes to her evolution from cooking Japanese food to putting her own culture on the plate, showing how unapologetically Filipino flavors can sit with refined ingredients and please discriminating palates.
Tariga’s <a href="https://www.tadhanamnl.com/?DestinAsian">Manila outpost</a> overcomes some of the constraints she found in New York (like the absence of a liquor license) with its wine program and unrestricted access to endemic Philippine produce. At Tadhana Makati, neon accents and Filipino hip-hop music set the scene for her inventive 10-course tasting menu. Street-food snack kwek-kwek is reimagined as a delectable egg tart with ikura in an annatto-tinted pie tee shell. Her spin on breakfast favorite tocilog features squab leg and breast topped with silog furikake for a surprising textural contrast. In her inihaw, Tariga pairs heavenly ibérico secreto with pinakbet vegetables. She even references Filipino fast-food chain Jollibee’s peach mango pie in the petits fours, divesting of the peach to serve a mango compote–filled cream puff topped with a dollop of mango mousse.
“The sky’s the limit because we’re just at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Filipino cuisine,” Tariga says enthusiastically. A meal here, and you start to see the possibilities.
<figure id="attachment_164493" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-164493" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-164493" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Dining-Room-Interior-and-Soursop-Sorbet.jpeg" alt="Tadhana Makati’s dining room; soursop sorbet with a star apple crisp." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Dining-Room-Interior-and-Soursop-Sorbet.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Dining-Room-Interior-and-Soursop-Sorbet-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Dining-Room-Interior-and-Soursop-Sorbet-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Dining-Room-Interior-and-Soursop-Sorbet-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-164493" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: Tadhana Makati’s dining room; soursop sorbet with a star apple crisp.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_164497" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-164497" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-164497" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Tinapay-Bread-Course-and-Staff-Uniform.jpeg" alt="The tinapay bread course is served with smoked-fish mousse and dalandan citrus sherry marmalade; a staff member." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Tinapay-Bread-Course-and-Staff-Uniform.jpeg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Tinapay-Bread-Course-and-Staff-Uniform-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Tinapay-Bread-Course-and-Staff-Uniform-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Tadhana-Makati-Manila-Restaurant-Tinapay-Bread-Course-and-Staff-Uniform-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-164497" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: The tinapay bread course is served with smoked-fish mousse and dalandan citrus sherry marmalade; Tadhana translates to “destiny” or “fate.”</figcaption></figure>
This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://subscription.destinasian.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">October/November 2026</a> print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“Date with Destiny”). Buy a single issue or subscribe <a href="https://subscription.destinasian.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

The kilaw starter at Tadhana Makati features Spanish mackerel, pili nut dressing, pomelo, olives, and kamias fruit.

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