December 15, 2025 | 8:39am
MANILA, Philippines — Acclaimed chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author Chef Myke “Tatung” Sarthou has just launched his new book titled “Pinas Simpol: The Love and Lore of Filipino Cooking.”
The launch took place at Lore by Chef Tatung in Bonifacio Global City (BGC). The restaurant, co-owned by Chef Tatung, recently received a Michelin Selected restaurant recognition, thus making it a double celebration for Chef Tatung.
A major new work, “Pinas Simpol” reframes Filipino cuisine through scholarship, memory, and cultural identity. It serves as a long-awaited homecoming for Filipino food — one that places meaning, history, and everyday wisdom at the center of the Filipino kitchen.
In the book, Chef Tatung explains how it began as an effort “to show that Filipino food is intelligent, beautiful, and rooted” but evolved into something deeper in the process, even as he took everyday techniques in Filipino cuisine — laga, ihaw, gisa, and gata — and turned them into “gestures of care and proof that simplicity can hold great wisdom.”
At the heart of the book is the Four Legs of the Filipino Table, a framework he has developed over years of research — Rooted (food that carries history, both Philippine and family history); Resilient (food that thrives on thrift, delicious despite the use of simple ingredients in limited amounts available); Respectful (food that is shared with others, especially neighbors); and Responsive (food that is able to adjust to change and new combinations of flavors).
He continues to live by cooking by wisdom with the Simpol ABC Framework he introduced previously in his previous books.
To make Filipino cooking more teachable and approachable, the Simpol ABC Framework — Assemble, Build, Complete — is used. It is a method drawn from the way real Filipino home kitchens function: assembling groups of ingredients, building the dish while it is cooking and put things together, and completing that full-bodied taste by simmering everything together until the flavors meld and become one.
The author, flanked by restaurateur Jackson Go and burger royalty Chef Edward Bugia during the launch of “Pinas Simpol.”
The launch of “Pinas Simpol” marks the 10th anniversary of Chef Tatung’s career as an author. Since releasing his debut book “Philippine Cookery: From Heart to Platter,” he has earned four Gourmand World Cookbook Awards and authored eight published titles, with three more already completed. He shares that writing has been a lifelong calling, tracing the dream back to a high school exercise where he wrote that he wanted to publish at least 10 books.
“Pinas Simpol: The Love and Lore of Filipino Cooking,” an anthology of essays and recipes, is priced at P790. Published by Vertikal Kreatives Inc., it is now available online through major e-commerce platforms. It is coming soon to leading bookstores nationwide.
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