Tadhana is a Filipino word that means fate or destiny, which is either a heavy thing to name a restaurant after or exactly the right one. Sitting through Chef Frances Tariga's 14-course opening menu in Manila this month, it feels like the latter. Tariga's path back to Manila is, by any measure, a circuitous one. Born and raised in the city, she left for Dubai after culinary school, spent a year at the world's first seven-star hotel, then moved into the private kitchen of the UAE royal family, traveling the world as their chef. From there came New York, first as private chef to Dubai's U.N. ambassador, cooking royal events at the Waldorf Astoria, the Metropolitan Club, and The Plaza, then into the volume restaurants of the Meatpacking District: Buddakan, Catch, Megu. Along the way she competed on "Chopped," "Beat Bobby Flay," "Top Chef," and most recently won Morimoto's "Sushi..
