About Lore by Chef Tatung

Lore is a celebration of Filipino culinary tradition—past, present, and imagined.
The name evokes what is passed down: recipes, rituals, ingredients, and the quiet wisdom of kitchens across generations.

Located in Bonifacio Global City, Lore by Chef Tatung is his most personal restaurant to date—a space where scholarship meets home cooking, where indigenous roots and colonial layers coexist. Innovation here is not rebellion but reverence.

Dishes like Adobo sa Pula and Kinilaw na Tuna may arrive polished on the plate, yet they remain deeply Filipino—recognizable, soulful, and resonant.

“When you talk about Filipino food, you cannot remove it from the context of our culture and history,” says Chef Tatung. “You can be as creative as you want, but once you call it a certain name, you’re bound by that promise to deliver the flavors people expect.”

A Table That Endures

Today, Lore stands among Manila’s most meaningful dining experiences—not because it is grand, but because it is grounded. It embodies the same virtues that fill Chef Tatung’s books and kitchens alike: rootedness, resilience, respect, and responsiveness—the four legs of the Filipino table.

At its heart, Lore remains what it has always been: a vow made visible, a table set for kinship. Every meal keeps that promise—to remember who we are, to share, and to keep the Filipino table endlessly alive.

About Chef Tatung Sarthou

Born in Cebu, Chef Myke “Tatung” Sarthou is a multi-award-winning author and passionate advocate of Filipino cuisine. Over the past decade, he has built a career bridging storytelling, restaurant entrepreneurship, and cultural preservation.

Before stepping into the kitchen, he worked in journalism and music production. Cooking—learned from his mother and grandmother—became his language of love and legacy.

“Cooking is my artistic medium,” he says. “Like a musician arranges notes, I compose flavors.”

Today, his body of work includes multiple restaurants, six best-selling cookbooks, and the multimedia platform Simpol. His mission remains constant: to help Filipinos take pride in their food. At Lore, that mission finds its truest form—food that remembers, nourishes, and gathers.

A Panata to the Filipino Table

The Rebirth: From Fine Dining to Fine Feasting

What happens when the scholarly dedication of a culinary master meets the warm chaos of a Filipino family reunion? You get Lore by Chef Tatung—a panata, a vow to keep the Filipino table alive, generous, and shared.

Lore’s story is one of return. Once celebrated for its refined tasting menus that framed Filipino cuisine through a contemporary lens, the restaurant has come home to what it has always been about: kinship. This rebirth is not a pivot but a renewal—a deeper commitment to the spirit of the salu-salo, the communal feast that defines how Filipinos eat and how they love.

The scent of burnt coconut, the tang of vinegar, the crackle of pork on the grill—each sound and aroma tells a story of homecoming. Here, laughter mingles with the clatter of cutlery and the warmth of shared stories.

“Food is meant to be shared. Our cuisine has always been communal,” says Chef Tatung.

The Author and the Architect

The spirit of Lore mirrors Chef Tatung himself. Widely regarded as one of the Philippines’ foremost culinary authorities, his work transcends the kitchen. He is an author, historian, and advocate dedicated to preserving regional Filipino cooking.

His presence in the dining scene reflects a deep sense of responsibility to heritage. That same commitment transformed Lore from a contemplative fine-dining space into a vibrant communal table. For him, the restaurant is both archive and altar—the place where everything he’s written, taught, and cooked finally comes together.

The Philosophy: Simpol, Soul, and Story

Lore distills the essence of Chef Tatung’s life work, chronicled across his best-selling books, including Pinas Simpol: The Love and Lore of Filipino Cooking.

Here, simpol doesn’t mean simple—it means soulful. It’s the quiet genius of Filipino kitchens: how vinegar transforms freshness into memory, how salt and garlic turn thrift into comfort.

You taste that ethos in every dish: the acid that brightens kinilaw, the garlic that anchors adobo sa pula, the patience that coaxes coconut milk into smoky gold. Beneath it all hums the unseen wisdom of those who have always fed us—the lolawho stirs by instinct, the nanay who knows rice is ready by scent.

A Vow Fulfilled: Recognition in the Michelin Guide

Lore’s evolution from fine dining to fine sharing is a promise kept—and the world has noticed. In October 2025, the Michelin Guide named Lore by Chef Tatung among its Selected Restaurants for 2026, affirming what many Filipinos already knew: sincerity and mastery can coexist on one table.

“We never set out to impress Michelin,” Chef Tatung reflects. “We set out to honor our people. The rest followed.”

Inside Lore, that honor is felt as much as it’s tasted. Servers move with quiet grace, guided by loob—that inward generosity that defines Filipino hospitality. The dining room glows with laughter and the rhythm of salu-salo.

A Table That Endures

Today, Lore by Chef Tatung stands among Manila’s most meaningful dining experiences—not because it is grand, but because it is grounded. It embodies the virtues that sustain every Filipino table: rootedness, resilience, respect, and responsiveness.

At its heart, Lore remains what it has always been—a vow made visible, a table set for kinship. Every meal is a reminder to remember, to share, and to keep the Filipino table alive.

Filipino Feasting Through Generations

The new menu at Lore by Chef Tatung reads like a love letter to the archipelago. Each course follows the rhythm of a Filipino gathering—lively openings, quiet pauses, and sweet farewells.

Start with Simula ng Salu-salo—small plates that awaken appetite and memory: crisp Okoy shrimp fritters with aged sukang tuba; fiery Chicken Satti skewers from Zamboanga; and Kinilaw na Tuna glowing with pomelo and native chili.

Then come the broths of Sabaw, Alaala, Sigla—warming, restorative, and deeply personal—from Kansi na Bakabrightened by batwan to Tinolang Manok fragrant with ginger and chili leaves.

The stews of Kalan at Paghilom reveal the restaurant’s heart. Adobo sa Pula glows with annatto and garlic; Mindanaoan Rendang whispers of burnt coconut and patience. Each dish is both lesson and lullaby, proof that the Filipino palate remembers even what time forgets.

Finally, Tamis at Gunita brings dessert as memory: Biko at Mangga with house-made langka ice cream; Inutak rich with ube and brûléed salted-egg custard; Chocnut Cake—childhood wrapped in chocolate and caramel.

“We can modernize our food without losing its soul,” says Chef Tatung. “Lore is my panata to that idea—that progress means remembering where we came from.”