At first glance, Pinas Simpol: The Love and Lore of Filipino Cooking may look like another cookbook. But within its pages, Chef Myke “Tatung” Sarthou constructs something much deeper: a framework that explains why Filipino food matters, not only to our palate but to our sense of identity.
Launched at Lore by Chef Tatung in Bonifacio Global City, the Michelin-selected 2026 restaurant he founded, the book marks his tenth year as an author and a defining moment in his career as a culinary thinker. Pinas Simpol is both a cultural manifesto and a love letter to the Filipino kitchen.
“This book is not just about recipes,” Chef Tatung said during the launch. “It is about remembering; giving words to what we already know by heart.”
At the center of Pinas Simpol is a concept Chef Tatung calls The Four Legs of the Filipino Table: Rooted, Resilient, Respectful, and Responsive.
To be rooted, he explains, is to carry our history while adapting to the present. Filipino food, he writes, is a living archive of our past: absorbing influences but never losing its soul.
Resilience speaks to the Filipino ability to turn thrift into sustenance and grace, to create beauty out of limitation.
Respectful reflects our deep hospitality, where every meal is an act of care and every guest is family.
Finally, “responsive” captures our genius for adaptation, evolving with the times while remaining authentic.
“Our cuisine has never been improvised,” Chef Tatung explained. “The laga, the ihaw, the gisa, and the gata: these are not just cooking techniques. They are gestures of care, proof that simplicity can hold great wisdom.”
The book also introduces the Simpol ABC Framework: Assemble, Build, Complete, a teaching method that turns tantsa, the Filipino instinct to cook by feel, into a structured learning approach. As Filipino-American restaurateur Nicole Ponseca writes in the foreword, “Chef Tatung doesn’t erase complexity; he reframes it. Simpol but never simple.”
Pinas Simpol is richly photographed, deeply reflective, and emotionally resonant. It celebrates the kitchen as a place of intelligence, creativity, and national identity: a space where food becomes memory, meaning, and movement.
Published by Vertikal Kreatives Inc., the 208-page full-color edition retails for ₱790 and is now available online and soon in leading bookstores nationwide.