ALL FIRED UP

Kasa Palma’s Chef Aaron Isip brings jungle cooking to the city

- STEF JUAN

When Chef Aaron Isip came home to the Philippines after a highly-decorated 15-year stint in France, he had plans of moving to El Nido and opening a restaurant there. But, like most best-laid plans in 2020-2021, the Pandemic put a halt to the El Nido restaurant and grounded Chef Aaron in Makati. With no restaurant, and all this passion for food and skill honed in Le Cordon Bleu Paris and refined in the demanding kitchens of the French capital, Chef Aaron had to do something while his plans were put on hold. During the pandemic, he founded his Gastronomade brand and created ready-to-cook meal boxes for locked-down foodies starved for gourmet food. When the world opened up a bit, he opened up his private dining restaurant Balai Palma at his house, which eventually led to Kasa Palma.

So, we have the Pandemic to thank for Kasa Palma. Sort of.

A BEACH HIDEAWAY IN POBLACION

Since Chef Aaron couldn’t go to El Nido, he brought El Nido to Makati. Enter through Kasa Palma’s nondescript gate along Palma Street in Poblacion, Makati, and you immediately step into a chic beach lounge bar, complete with thatched details to coarse white sand underfoot right in the indoor-outdoor space. When MEGA visited Kasa Palma, it was an especially rainy evening due to a tropical depression, so the vibe in the usually packed restaurant was akin to a rainy day at the beach — chill, quiet, and slightly deserted.

“It’s nice that we get to open the restaurant with the bar lounge to welcome the guests. This is where they kind of gather first or to just chill,” Kasa Palma’s restaurant manager Dawn Alibudbud said as she sat us down to try the cocktails and small plates before we head inside for the main event.