Whenever people use the word “homey,” it’s about the shared experience of coming home. I think Tatung’s goes beyond just feeling homey. It invites you back to a place of comfort that is specific and special to the chef and owner.
In a culinary landscape increasingly dominated by high-concept tasting menus and extensive spiels about the dishes, Chef Tatung chose to take a step back. With his latest, namesake restaurant, he is returning to where it all began: his roots, his memories, and the pure, unpretentious joy of home-cooked food.
A Personal Coming of Age
When choosing what direction to take his new restaurant, Chef Tatung refused to use the word “intentional.” Overused, he called it. He was tired of making customers feel like they were preparing to eat a thesis presentation. Instead, he wanted to offer himself and interested diners a more personal endeavor.
“Para siyang coming of age,” he shared. “Going back to the basics. Going back to the time when I fell in love with cooking, the food I truly enjoy. It’s a very personal space na wala masyadong arte... very ‘my aesthetic’, very ‘my style’, and very ‘my taste.'”
Chef Tatung grew up at a time when “regional cuisine was really regional.” A “compartmentalization of Filipino cuisine,” if you will. But both his grandmothers’ influences on his food sensibilities as an eater and later on as a chef went much further than being named after the available private dining rooms.
The very DNA of the restaurant comes from his own family lineage; having Lola Juanita from Naga City, Bicol and Lola Natividad from Naga, Cebu meant he grew up making memories of eating both cuisines. It’s Filipino comfort food, but the way he remembers and reinterprets it.
Plated Memories
In the Philippines, Christmas starts in September.
Dining at Tatung’s quietly captures that exact kind of energy. It wasn’t the in-your-face kind of festive; rather it felt communal. The way the dishes are presented encourages everyone at the table to pass plates around so everyone gets a taste. It wasn’t rustic, but it wasn’t overly polished either. It set our table up for exactly what Chef Tatung wants to see: “Here’s the food. Enjoy ka.”
And enjoy, we did.
One of my personal favorites was the Bibingkang Talong, which was a feat in and of itself because I am not an eggplant lover in the slightest. It was the tortang talong reimagined as a casserole, the pork mixed in with the eggplant paired well with the salted egg and tomato slices. The cubed pieces of fresh tuna cured in sukang tuba had a brightness to it that helped balance out eating everything else. The added crunch from the tabon-tabon was essential to make the perfect bite. Their take on baked oysters with Kesong Puti was a nice savory and cheesy treat to quickly scarf down in between bites. Other dishes that graced our table were the Chicken Galantina (a whole chicken stuffed with pickles, sausages, olives, and other vegetables), a beef kaldereta like I’ve never had it before (slow-braised beef served with a rich tomato sauce topped with Quezo de Bola), and a simple macaroni salad with chicken.
“How would my lola plate it?” had become an unspoken mantra for the menu and the dining experience.
Less Pretension, More Connection
Eating at Tatung’s wasn’t going to be an overcurated preamble explaining each ingredients’ history or conceptual review of related literature behind every course.
For Chef Tatung, this chapter is less about proving what he can do behind the stove and more about where he is in life. Nowadays, he sees his role evolving into mentorship, storytelling, and creating “[experiences] that [are] connected to food, but not entirely about the food itself.”
“Focus na tayo sa sarap… We don’t want the food to be such a KSP (kulang sa pansin) that it robs you from the experience, the human connection at the table.”
Tatung’s is located at Upper Ground B in Gateway Mall 2, General Araneta, Socorro, Cubao, Quezon City
Frequently Asked Questions
Chef Myke “Tatung” Sarthou is a well-renowned Filipino celebrity chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and food advocate.
Tatung’s is a restaurant that serves Filipino home cooking that’s based on Chef Tatung’s personal life growing up in coastal Cebu.
Tatung’s is located at Upper Ground B in Gateway Mall 2, General Araneta, Socorro, Cubao, Quezon City.
Some of the dishes featured in Tatung’s Holiday Menu include the Chicken Galantina, Bibingkang Talong, Calderetang Baka with Queso de Bola, and Macaroni Chicken.
The key figures in Chef Tatung’s sensibilities as an eater and cook, “Juanita” is Chef Tatung’s grandmother from Naga City, Bicol, while “Natividad” is his grandmother from Naga, Cebu. He celebrates them here by naming two private function rooms after them.
