Beyond the Plate: How Taupe by Chef Francis Tolentino Elevates Filipino Flavors

A longtime dream

Francis “Kiko” Tolentino never set out to become just another chef. Fine dining was the dream—shaped by years of travel across Asia and the West, countless hours in hotel kitchens, a stint in food publishing, and a restless need to create.

Yet, his culinary journey didn’t take a direct path to linen-draped tables and tasting menus. Instead, it led him through Manila’s buzzing nightlife, where he co-founded bars and cafés that blurred the lines between intimate dining and party mode. Every venture was a study in balance—casual but curated, cool but comforting. By 2018, however, he was ready to chase the dream he had long envisioned and by 2024 opened Taupe.

Taupe reflects the chef himself: layered, deliberate, and Filipino at heart. The name wasn’t arbitrary—he wanted a neutral canvas for his dishes, something warmer than stark white but still elegant and elevated. “I really want the food to be the star,” he says. The interiors lean into that philosophy, drawing diners into a space that whispers rather than shouts.

But don’t be overwhelmed by the seductive marketing—the dim lighting, the intimate layout, even the chef’s own carefully placed tattoos. Beneath it all is something far sweeter. The dishes at Taupe are love letters—to family, to memory, to the idea that food is an extension of affection.

Beyond the plate

Nostalgia, Taupe’s current menu, is a study in provenance, honoring Filipino ingredients while embracing global influences. Each dish is a sensory snapshot of the chef’s past. Take the Pandesal Flan, an homage to his grandmother, who tucked just about anything into warm salt bread.

Here, it’s reimagined into something delicate yet deeply familiar, layered with salmon roe, pistachio butter, and a fermented guinamos tuile. Or the Iberico Secreto, a nod to childhood days in the province of Nueva Ecija, where he paired suman or sticky rice with grilled pork.

Now, that memory is refined into a dish accentuated with muscat grape reduction, scallop mousse, and squash flower. Then there’s the Pudding, inspired by his first trek to the highlands of Baguio and the unforgettable taste of strawberry taho or silken tofu—now interpreted for the tasting menu with cardamom brittle.

He doesn’t manipulate ingredients beyond recognition—he listens to them. “Ingredients have their soul,” he says. “What I do is extract their heart and highlight them using modern techniques.” His Popcorn Ice Cream is a perfect example, fusing queso de bola, butterscotch “soil,” and Japanese corn in a playful nod to his first movie theater experience in Chicago, where the scent of Garrett’s filled the air.

What we thought was an on-trend pair of twill cargo pants that Chef Francis wore while on the grooming chair turned out to be the bottom of his custom taupe-colored chef’s uniform, designed by Jun Escario. A subtle flex, much like the menu itself, which declares dishes to be “more than just a meal but a delicious flirtation of flavors stylishly served to perfection.” But what we came to know that afternoon was something less rehearsed: a chef whose love for food is rooted not in spectacle, but in sincerity.

Even outside the kitchen, his cravings remain deeply personal. At his most indulgent, it’s Filipino comfort food, the kind that conjures images of home and hands that cook with love. But when exhaustion takes over? “Cup noodles,” he admits with a laugh. “I have a good collection from all over the world.”

As the Nostalgia menu nears its end, Chef Francis is already looking ahead. The next chapter will be bolder, more unexpected—designed to challenge both the eye and the palate. But one thing is certain: every dish will be crafted like art and made with love.

This story appears on the pages of VMAN SEA 02.
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Photography Grant Babia

Art direction Summer Untalan

Grooming Nix Soriano

Grooming assistant Jessey Miranda

On location Taupe by Chef Francis Tolentino