AFTER opening several concept restaurants with and for friends, Chef Myke ‘Tatung’ Sarthou finally opens something that is truly his own, and he gives it his rightful name — Tatung’s. Located on the Upper Ground Floor B, of Gateway Mall 2, Araneta City, Cubao, Quezon City, where Tindeli used to be, Tatung’s stands tall and proud as a testament of Chef Tatung’s signature cuisine.

A Filipino cook, author and advocate of Filipino cuisine whose Simpol cookbook series has sold over 200,000 copies and won multiple Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, Chef Tatung has spent his career at the intersection of everyday Filipino cooking and cultural preservation, helping dismantle the walls between the home kitchen and the wider world.

“There is a particular kind of hunger that good restaurants try to satisfy, but few ever truly can — the hunger not just for good food, but for the feeling of being genuinely, warmly, unhurriedly at home. Tatung’s was built for exactly that,” says Chef Tatung, who just soft-opened his newest restaurant concept, Tatung’s recently. 

Tatung’s is perhaps the most personal restaurant yet from Chef Tatung, one of the Philippines’ most popular celebrity chefs. Built around the tagline “Home, remembered,” the restaurant is rooted not in trend but in inheritance. Think of the slow-cooked wisdom of Lola’s kitchen, the flavors of the regions and the conviction that Filipino food, when cooked with honesty and served with pride, needs nothing more to be extraordinary. While it represents the culmination of a lifelong relationship with Filipino food, it is more of a homecoming than anything else. 

“Putting my name on this restaurant is not an act of ego. It is an act of accountability and of homecoming. At Tatung’s I simply wanted to be myself — and, it turns out, that is enough,” explains the amiable chef who is undeniably well-loved in the culinary circle.

The menu of Tatung’s is drawn entirely from memory and from love. 

For starters, there is Kinilaw made fresh to order with sukang tuba, biasing limes from Mindanao and tabon-tabon from the Visayas. The whole archipelago can relate to this appetizer, which has different interpretations across the regions. 

Chef Tatung is also very proud of his Whole Pampano Braised in Coconut Milk, which follows his Lola Juanita’s recipe, cooked gently and patiently, carrying her memory with every plate that leaves the kitchen and is shared by Filipino families in the dining room. It is, for the chef, like sharing a piece of himself and his personal history.

Also not to be missed is the Twice-cooked Humba, as inspired by Chef Tatung’s Lola Natividad, and is the Southern Filipino’s answer to the long braise. It is crispy pork belly with soy, vinegar, garlic, and saba bananas.

Tatung’s Pancit Guisado is different from the pancit that diners are usually served with. Its version comes with homemade kikiam sausage prepared in-house, and cooked with mixed meats and market vegetables, Chinatown style.  

Another must-try signature dish is the Santol Wood-smoked Roast Beef Caldereta, which is enriched with queso de bola and thus transforms festive food into something meant to be enjoyed every day. 

There is also the Bibingkang Talong, which is tortang talong reimagined in the spirit of bibingka and as a casserole. With layers of ground pork, tomatoes, and salted egg, and baked until golden, it is familiar enough to feel like home yet surprising enough to impress as a special treat. 

Also try the Gambas sa Latik (shrimps with garlic, chili and toasted coconut curds, and served with bread); Okoy (golden shrimp fritters with fresh tomato and cucumber salsa); Relyenong Hipon (golden shrimp rolls with sweet chili sauce); and Bagoong Fried Rice (shrimp paste fried rice with caramelized pork, scrambled eggs, and burong mangga).

For dessert? Make sure it is the Sizzling Cassava Cake, which arrives warm and caramelized at the edges, or the New York-Cubao Bibingka Cheesecake, which bridges two culinary traditions in a single indulgent dessert.

As a takeout treat, diners will still get to enjoy the specialties of Tatung’s predecessor, Tindeli, whose Ensaymada Grande and other deli treats are available at the new restaurant’s Tindeli deli and pasalubong corner.

Self-funded entirely by Chef Tatung, the restaurant serves as a quiet testament to the depth of belief Chef Tatung has put in it. As he says, “The gap I wanted to fill was not a category on a menu. It was the space between a screen and a shared meal. At its heart, Tatung’s is about creating the space for special moments. The food is the occasion. The moment is the meal. We just want people to leave happy.”

He adds: “Tatung’s is not a restaurant built to impress. It is a restaurant built to welcome. It is built around the philosophy of ‘Simpol’ — that the most honest cooking is also the most profound.”