Filipino and Japanese flavors meet at this 16-course NYC tasting menu

Photo from Frances Tariga and Trust Bae/Instagram

Celebrity chef Frances Tariga’s new venture takes dishes like sinigang, lumpia, and kinilaw to another level

Tariga is a name familiar to people in the food circles. She’s a celebrity chef that’s competed in shows like “Chopped,” “Top Chef,” and even won the entire competition in “Cutthroat Kitchen.” Now the Philippine-raised chef is setting her sights on finding the happy balance between Filipino and Japanese cuisine.

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Trust Bae is her latest concept in New York City’s trendy NoMad area. She blends her Filipino roots with her experience in Japanese dining. The fully woman-led restaurant is the latest concept from SimpleVenue. It is a company that connects micro F&B entrepreneurs with real estate owners for location and venue needs.

What awaits diners at the restaurant is this: “an intimate counter-style tasting experience curated and led by an impassioned female chef.”

Much like Filipino cuisine, Trust Bae’s menu is a melting pot of cultures and experiences. Aside from being raised in the Philippines and being trained in Japanese cuisine, Tariga also worked in the Middle East. All of these experiences reflect in the carefully curated 16-course meal served at the restaurant.

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The fine fusion of Frances Tariga

The Trust Bae experience happens in two parts: the kaiseki and the nigiri. The kaiseki serves up unique interpretations of familiar Filipino dishes like kinilaw, binalot, lumpia, palabok, and sinigang.

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For example, instead of using a mixture of pork and shrimp for the lumpia, the restaurant instead employs the use of oxtail, truffle cream, and radish for the dish. Japanese ingredients like hotaru ika (Japanese firefly squid) also make their way into the palabok dish for a true culinary fusion of flavors.

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The nigiri menu reads a little more Japanese, but that doesn’t mean Filipino flavors are absent. Dishes like tinapa (smoked fish), sisig, and okoy (fried shrimp fritter) make their way onto the hand-pressed sushi rolls and tempura dishes in a showcase of adaptability and innovation.

For its final course, the meal serves up a true mix of Filipino and Japanese flavors and techniques: ube mochi filled with housemade ube halaya jam. It’s a true representation of Trust Bae’s ethos—a Filipino heart wrapped in Japanese experience that results in a harmonious and flavorful collaboration.

The 90-minute, 16-course meal costs $150 per person. For more information and reservations, you can visit the Trust Bae website.