MANILA, Philippines -- Chef Tatung's, a private dining restaurant, began quite simply.
Myke "Tatung" Sarthou, a self-taught chef who took up culinary courses in Europe, hosted one gourmet dinner for a handful of friends one Friday evening. To cover the cost of the ingredients, he charged a minimal fee. The guests liked the food and invited other friends to dinner the following week. This time the guest list swelled to 24. "Half of them, hindi ko kilala," Chef Tatung recalls. More people showed up to on the third consecutive week-all of whom were strangers to Tatung!
He soon started accepting requests to cook for small parties, reunions, birthdays, dates and cozy get-togethers.
His venture is growing by word-of-mouth. Today, the resto offers a regular menu and maintains set hours for lunch and dinner. It continues to cater for private functions.
The clients range from residents and professionals within the village, to foodies from as far as Alabang. The chef-entrepreneur says, "They (customers) hear about us from friends." He believes that people are drawn to the concept of a restaurant in a home. "It's like going to a friend's home and being served food cooked straight from the kitchen."
In keeping with the concept of being a "a resto within a home," Chef Tatung, together with his friend Devi de Veyra, and his lean staff of nine embarked on interior renovations. Actually, the project had been brewing in the mind of the chef-entrepreneur for some time now but he had held it off for fear of the effort and the huge expenses that it will involve. "Hesistant ako sa gan'on," says Chef Tatung. "Kasi once you start, kailangang tuluy-tuloy."
Nothing was done until a few weeks ago when Devi bought a wrought iron grill from a passing diyaryo-bote vendor pushing a kariton. She had that painted and placed it on the wall as décor. Pretty soon, both Devi and Chef Tatung found themselves re-organizing and re-decorating.
"Before the restaurant had too many elements," explains Devi who is also an interior specialist of a home and interior design magazine. Their design goal was to create a bright and homey place that reflected their chosen theme of colonial tropical.
Chef Tatung kept a good number of antiques, frames and paintings, some of which were from his mom who is an art dealer. "Because most of these were ornate, we decided to paint the walls white to highlight the pieces," says Devi.
Admittedly, Devi and Chef Tatung couldn't just rely on what they had in order to accomplish their goal. One of the things that they wanted was a capiz window. Luckily, Liza Esposo, a friend who is an antique dealer and a frequent diner, had not just one but six pieces of capiz windows of the same size. "She was so gracious to offer the windows for a very minimal fee," says Chef Tatung.
The chef describes the renovation process as "organic and playful." They just had a basic idea in mind. No drawings were done. They simply proceeded based on their gut feel. A wall was knocked down to create more room inside. Chairs were repainted. A number of the previous décor and art work were put away in favor of simpler pieces. This last task was the hardest to do, says Chef Tatung. "If you have too much stuff, it takes a lot of restraint to choose. The first instinct would be to put everything you have."
Devi is happy with the result. "It feels homey and more polished. Hindi na gan'on ka-psychedelic. Hindi na gan'on ka-weird!" she laughs.
Best of all, the renovation was done way under budget, prompting the chef to impart this realization to others who would also like to improve their personal spaces. "It happened when I willed it to happen," Chef Tatung muses. "When my mind became open to it, things just started falling into place."
Chef Tatung is located at 17 Matipid St., Sikatuna Village, Quezon City. For inquiries, call 352-6121.
