About Us

FOUNDER / CHEF

Chef Frances was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. After graduating from culinary school, she immediately started her career and went to Dubai to work in the first seven star hotel in the world. After a year, she started working for the royal family of UAE, became their private chef, and traveled the world with them. Chef Frances started working in the US when she received an offer to be the private chef of the royal ambassador of Dubai for the United Nations. Chef Frances cooked for all the royal events at the Waldorf Astoria, Metropolitan Club, The Plaza and the United Nations ambassadors.

Chef Frances competed five times on television shows such as CHOPPED, CUTTHROAT KITCHEN, CUTTHROAT KITCHEN ALL STARS, BEAT BOBBY FLAY and TOP CHEF SEASON 13. She then started working at New York’s Meatpacking District volume restaurants such as BUDDAKAN, Catch NYC, MEGU, CATCH STEAK, THE STANDARD HIGH LINE. She recently won the new Sushi competition, Morimoto's “SUSHI MASTER”. She showcased her journey through omakase and stuck with her roots to create an authentic Filipino take on modern omakase.

She started the vegan program for Catch Hospitality group in 2017 and became a big hit in the Meatpacking district. And eventually got the role of the culinary director at Planta vegan restaurant and opened 4 of their concepts. Most recently, she was the executive chef at Trust Bae and is opening her first restaurant with Tadhana, a tasting menu experience inspired by her Filipino heritage.

CHEF

Chef Mark, who is a Filipino American, was born and raised in NYC. He attended culinary school at The Institute of Culinary Education in 2012, with his first culinary job at Salt and Fat in Sunnyside, Queens. His next job was his first foray into Korean flavors at Danji, where he started as a prep cook and became the youngest Sous Chef during his time. After working at Danji, he was part of the opening team of OKA, a Japanese izakaya, as the Executive Sous Chef. He also did a short stint as an Assistant General Manager at Ssambap KBBQ in Stonybrook, NY. After realizing cooking was a better fit for him, he shifted back to the kitchen at O Ya NYC and spent two years learning about sushi and the art of omakase. During the pandemic in 2021, he joined the team at Atoboy as Sous Chef, quickly being promoted to the role of Chef de Cuisine and was part of the 2024 NYT Best 100 Restaurants, ranking #30.

OPERATIONS

As a precocious youth growing up in his grandmother’s Filipino kitchen, John has always known his passion resides within the spice cabinet.

After moving to New York City, his big break came when he started working at Kittichai Restaurant, a New York Times two-star restaurant. He apprenticed under Ian Chalermkittichai, the first Asian Executive Chef for Four Seasons Hotels. Since then, he worked for a number of accomplished chefs such as Jean George Vongerichten, Luis Bollo, Dani Garcia, Eiji Ichimura, as well as for New York Times starred and Michelin starred restaurants including Scarpetta, Bangkok Supper Club, Uchū and Bar Uchū, holding various positions, from Maitre’d hotel to Director of Operations and gained broad knowledge of the hospitality industry.

His journey has brought him back to his Filipino roots at Tadhana where he has closely collaborated with chef Frances Tariga.