Monggo, Kamote + More Local Ingredients Shine in This New Makati Spot’s Tasting Menu

Tandem
G/F Greenbelt Hamilton, Legazpi Street, Legazpi Village, Makati
Contact: 0906-003-6112
Instagram: instagram.com/tandem.mnl
Open on Tuesdays to Sundays with two seatings (the first at 6 p.m. and another at 8:30 p.m.), by reservation only.

(SPOT.ph) Let's face it: the typical diner wouldn't normally gravitate towards veggies. A preference is always given towards high-end proteins like steak and seafood but times are changing, with more plant-focused options now available in this part of the world.

In this new Makati restaurant hidden amidst giant skyscrapers, they put the spotlight on the most humble ingredients—local crops. Introducing Tandem, a new fine dining restaurant that takes the simple and humble ingredients we all know and gives them the star treatment, bringing them to their much-deserved spotlight in fine dining.

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Check out this new Makati restaurant shaking up the fine dining scene:

Tandem is the brainchild of chefs Mikee Lopez and Alex Tan. If the pair seems familiar, it's because they gained popularity in the dining scene back at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when they started an online business, Manila Pasta, selling fresh pasta for a cause. 

It has always been a dream for the duo to open their own restaurant, and in fact, as early as 2019, plans were already in place to open up shop when the pandemic struck. Like everybody else, their plans were put on hold until restrictions were gone and the world opened up again. Lucky for them, it wasn't that long of a wait as 2023 saw their dream come to fruition. 

Tandem recently opened at Megaworld's Greenbelt Hamilton along Legazpi Street in Makati City. Deep within the posh business district, this humble 20-seater restaurant aims to bring sustainable and plant-forward dining to the forefront with particular deference to the importance of farmers and the entire agricultural sector to the culinary world.

"We did realize that we wanted to create a foundation of something plant-based and plant-forward. But not vegetarian. We feel that is really important to who we are," Tan says. Those sound like big buzzwords, but in the case of Lopez and Tan's restaurant, the menu we were served lived up to this principle.

Tandem features a 10-course tasting menu (P4,250/head), which the chefs describe as eclectic in that it doesn't feature a single cuisine. Instead, the menu focuses more on what they personally enjoy cooking and eating and on highlighting the innate flavors of their star ingredients.

The current menu at Tandem features the 10 most popular crops grown in the Philippines. Mung bean, cassava, onion, potato, tomato, sweet potato, eggplant, corn, cabbage, and rice are the stars. 

They sound simple, humble, and not exactly like what you'd imagine when you think of fine dining, but with the proper techniques and flavor combinations, these ingredients can be "elevated and made delicious to serve as a tribute and inspiration for the farmers who are the lifeblood of our country," and to "show how people how versatile even the most humble ingredients can be," Tan adds. 

And versatile as they are, the humble crops are used in highly creative ways. Take, for example, the tomato course, which features a balsamic salad with different variations of the fruit, from fresh cherry tomatoes to pickled, smoked, and even powdered, paired with compressed watermelon and tomato granita. 

Their inventive use of corn in its course that puts together a nacho of sorts made from sweet corn puree, charred leek, and corn relish, braised pork belly, pork chicharron, popped sorghum, and corn chips.

Noticeably, the ingredients appear in more than one form throughout the courses. This is a testament to how much Tandem values sustainability. Nothing goes to waste, from boiled potato water to tomato peelings, for as long as anything in the crop can still be used, it will be. "People throw away so much without considering there is flavor there, so we want to maximize the use of our ingredients," Lopez adds.

Without giving the entire menu away, our best advice is to expect the unexpected. The key ingredients never appear as you would expect them to, but they do taste better than ever. When prompted on what their favorite course is in the entire menu, Tan and Lopez gave two dishes that honestly had our team divided as well. For Tan his favorite is the potato course, which this writer finds to be her favorite as well. The Potato course is a rich gnocchi with mussel salad, smothered in a potato espuma and topped with a potato chicharron. 

For Tan this dish is the best example of their zero-waste mindset. Here, every aspect of the potato is used, with some even making their way to other courses. As a diner, this is a favorite because of its flavor and textural experience. Creamy meets fresh as the potato espuma mixes with the dill and dill oil, while a textural play of crunch versus soft and pillowy works between the gnocchi and the potato chicharron. 

For Lopez and our resident video content creator, their favorite has to be the smoked eggplant cappelletti covered with eggplant and red pepper sauce. The cappelletti has a smoky richness, with the filling of smoked eggplant reminiscent of your usual tortang talong. 

This course is paired with sweet potato bread, and TBH, it's a pairing that's hard to forget. This pairing is, in our opinion, the best way to consume the course. Soak up the sweet potato bread with the red pepper sauce, and get a clear reminder of your childhood eating a cheese pimiento sandwich for school lunch. 

Overall, the dish is ripe with nostalgia, which makes more sense as Lopez further explains that the dish reminds her of the times during the pandemic when they felt so lost and confused and solely found solace in making pasta and cooking. 

There are so many other dishes that deserve the spotlight, but it would be too much of a spoiler to describe them all. One thing is for sure: being just a few weeks old, Tandem holds a lot of potential. There's much more to see from this budding pair and their first full-fledged business.

Looking forward to the future, the pair hopes their restaurant can be a place where diners can enjoy good food and have a positive dining experience despite the hefty 10-course setup. But more importantly, they never want to lose sight of their ultimate goal: to promote positive change and educate their guests about the diverse ingredients available in the Philippines. But as for us diners, we're just excited for their next menu iteration. Lopez and Tan say it is already in the works as their menu is slated to change every three to four months. Now, that's something to look forward to in the near future.

How to reserve your slots for dining at Tandem:

Tandem is strictly by reservation only. Book your tables for their dinner seatings by messaging their Instagram account or by contacting the number mentioned above. Tandem Manila is open on Tuesdays to Sundays for two dinner seatings, one at 6 p.m. and another at 8:30 p.m.

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