A merging of flavors
Food had such a strong impact on Tiana Gee’s life that she decided at an early age to find a career in the kitchen. “I grew up really closely with my two lolas. I was used to making, mixing, and mashing food up with them as a kid. By the time I was five, I knew I wanted to be a chef. I’d always known,” Gee said.
She enjoyed the best of both worlds—her mother is from Makati and her father from Alabama, United States. “I come from a broken home and didn’t grow up with my dad and my mom in the same place. I ate Filipino food at my Lola’s and soul food at my dad’s. But I never grew up eating them together.”
The Los Angeles native initially earned her training in middle school where she took her first food class. In high school, she joined a competition where she bagged a culinary scholarship. From there, she worked in some of the best restaurants in LA before moving to New York to be the sous chef in Harlem’s Red Rooster, owned by Marcus Samuelson who she considers to be her mentor.
She then ventured on her own and started a YouTube channel called “Cookin’ with Tee” where she has shared her Lola’s pinakbet, ube suman, and chicken adobo. Her name became more prominent especially with the help of features in publications like Bon Appetit and Epicurious, as well as Food Network shows like “Chopped Next Gen” and “Beat Bobby Flay.”
These days, she is busy honing her culinary point of view which celebrates her roots. “I thought that if ever I open my own restaurant, I would want it to identify with who I am.” That’s how her pop-up dinner series SoulPhil was born. It took a couple of years of refining the concept and getting the menu together before the project came into fruition.
Pop-up options
“When I did my first pop-up, it was received so well. Everyone loved it and many said that it needs to be a thing.” And so that’s what she exactly did.
“I have yet to decide if I want to open a brick and mortar. I love a pop up concept because I can travel the world. And I can build brand awareness as well as connect and meet people from everywhere versus just being stuck somewhere. I’m a very free person.”
She has brought her SoulPhil all over the US, including Virginia and Aspen. She recently did her first international gig in Manila at Japonesa in Poblacion, Makati. “The first [pop-up] had to be at home, of course.” Gee said.
“It was the most incredible collaboration since I had my family there and I got to show them what I’ve become. It’s just special. Also because I haven’t been back to the Philippines in eight years.”
Tasting menu
Her tasting menu was composed of five courses that started with a macapuno cornbread with coco butter, then progressed to a kinilaw na mackerel with blackened spice and avocado, collard greens salad with tamarind vinaigrette, adobo short ribs with creamy corn grits, and a coco nana pudding with sago and banana leche flan.
Prior to this, she also held a Sunday afternoon tea party at The Lounge in Grand Hyatt Manila in BGC where she prepared six bites: three savory and three sweet. Along with the hotel’s merienda cena buffet, which already included shrimp cocktail, sandwiches, waffles, and parfaits, were Gee’s bbq-spiced pork rillette tea sandwich, crab bagoong hush puppies, crispy veggie cigar with spiced Southern greens, calamansi curd tart with a buttermilk meringue crust, sweet potato ensaymada, and her macapuno cornbread with coconut butter.
Marrying Filipino food with Southern flavors comes naturally to her since she finds both cuisines to be comforting and nourishing. “Honestly, they’re not that different. Another reason I built SoulPhil is because I noticed the similarity in the ingredients. To me there’s a lot of similarities in the nostalgia and comfort of it. It’s the food that fills my soul.”
