Vlad Bunoan

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Restaurant Idalia

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:880px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1760066997928IMG_0534.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Restaurant Idalia is hidden away on the ground floor of Citrine Residences in Salcedo Village. <em>Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span>At Restaurant Idalia, the sound of jazz standards hum softly through the dining room. It’s the same spirit that drives Chef Kevin David’s cooking: free-flowing yet precise, expressive yet deeply rooted in craft. Each course builds like an improvised solo: measured and alive in the moment, refusing to stay still.</div><p>For David, restlessness isn’t a flaw but a philosophy. “I’m already bored with the menu,” he was quoted as saying just days after Idalia opened in May. It tracks, given that his resume runs through kitchens like Jean-Georges at The Mark, Barbuto, and Otium in Los Angeles, as well as kitchen takeovers in Poblacion and the cult favorite burger stand Bun Run in San Juan.</p><p>Idalia, his first full-fledged restaurant, was conceived as a place for what he calls “freeform” food — unconfined by cuisine, geography, TikTok trends or even its own menu. It’s also one of six restaurants participating in Globe Platinum’s Gastronome Giving program, a three-month extension campaign with the Fine Dining Club Philippines that channels part of its proceeds to the Hapag Movement, which funds sustainable livelihood projects for families affected by involuntary hunger.</p><p>For the initiative, David created a five-course tasting menu (P4,500 plus service charge) available until November 30 — brand-new dishes not found on Idalia’s regular menu.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Urban space</strong></div><p>Restaurant Idalia sits on the ground floor of Citrine Residences along Valero Street in Salcedo Village, Makati. It’s the kind of space that feels hidden even in plain sight. Downstairs, a lively open kitchen and bar hum with energy; upstairs, a sleek, softly lit galley of banquettes offers more privacy. Textured gray walls evoke stone, tempered by mirrors and warm lighting.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:880px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1760067557948IMG_0567.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">The first floor sports a more industrial feel with the kitchen in view. <em>Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:880px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1760068513812compo-1 1.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Discreet stairs to the more private second floor dining area. <em>Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span>The atmosphere is modern and urban, but not intimidating — more wine bar than temple of gastronomy. The staff, dressed in white polos and sneakers, reflect that casual precision. They know the dishes well enough to discuss dashi and miso Chantilly, but the service never feels stiff.</div><p>The meal begins with a squid ink buñuelo crowned with cold smoked salmon (originally local tuna), diced radish and cucumber slices, and a modest dollop of Ossetra caviar. It’s delicate and slightly tricky to eat — “flip it over,” the server instructs — but it works: cool, crisp, lightly saline. The squid ink lends more texture than taste; and the caviar doesn’t scream luxury — it just deepens the ocean flavor.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:880px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1760067960288IMG_0545.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Squid Ink Buñuelo, Salmon, Ossetra Caviar. <em>Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span>The next course, anolini with miso béchamel, sits in a shallow pool of porcini dashi butter — a broth that’s not quite soup but certainly comforting. Imagine ravioli meets miso soup meets wild mushroom broth, with just a squeeze of lemon to wake it all up. It’s a quietly satisfying dish, the kind you remember for how balanced it feels rather than how bold it tastes.</div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:880px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1760068015950IMG_0549.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Anolini, Dashi, Mushroom. <em>Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><div><strong>Umami crescendo</strong></div><p>Then comes the dry-aged red snapper, cooked a la plancha to perfection. It rests on roasted carrot purée (in place of black bean), dressed table-side with fish tare — a concentrated fish jus seasoned with Japanese condiments — and leaves of butterhead lettuce from a farm in Parañaque.</p><p>It’s an elegant combination of techniques and textures: the sweet root purée meeting the salty umami depth of the tare, the crisp fish skin giving way to buttery flesh. David’s approach here is global without being gimmicky.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:880px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1760068080590IMG_0552.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Red Snapper, Carrot, Fish Tare. <em>Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span>For the fourth course, a Black Onyx striploin arrives, finished with onion soubise, a charred leek, umami salt, and porcini jus. It’s a dish that feels both classic and modern — familiar comfort with a precise edge. The onion soubise, creamy, faintly sweet and totally sublime, grounds the richness of the beef, while the porcini jus adds smoke and depth.</div><p>This is where Idalia’s ambition is most apparent: technique in service of flavor, not the other way around.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:880px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1760068142610IMG_0556.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Black Onyx Striploin. Soubise, Porcini. <em>Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span>Dessert is banana served two ways — there’s a tart filled with miso Chantilly and topped with chopped bananas and chocolate ganache; and a gelato on a base of oats and cranberries for contrast. The miso gives it a hint of umami, rounding out what could’ve been a sugar bomb into something more intriguing — a playful, child-like dessert with a sly wink.</div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:880px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1760068214729IMG_0560.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner">Banana, Miso, Oats. <em>Vlad Bunoan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span><strong>Thoughtful, not theatrical</strong></div><p>In a dining landscape still enamored with omakases and imported concepts, Idalia offers something refreshing: modern fine dining without the snootiness. There’s no narrative printed on cards, no table-side smoke theatrics. Instead, there’s a quiet assurance that good food, well-made and well-thought-out, can still surprise.</p><p>David’s five-course tasting menu for Gastronome Giving underscores that. Each plate has something to say, but never says too much. The flavors are global, but filtered through a sensibility that feels distinctly Manila now — open-minded and collaborative.</p><p>It doesn’t shout for attention but earns it nonetheless. The service is casual but informed, the space refined but unpretentious, the food grounded but exploratory.</p><p>For all its polish, Idalia remains accessible — a restaurant that welcomes curiosity rather than demands reverence.</p><p>It’s not often you finish a fine dining meal feeling both impressed and at ease. But that’s exactly what Idalia manages to do.</p><p>Manila’s dining scene may be full of virtuosos right now, but Idalia plays a different tune. It’s simply, beautifully composed — a reminder that the best cooking, like good jazz, lives in the space between discipline and play.</p><div><br/></div><div><em>Restaurant Idalia is located on the ground floor of Citrine Residences, 112 Valero Street, Salcedo Village, Makati. It is open Mondays to Thursdays 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. - 10 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays at 11 a.m.- 3pm and 6 p.m. - 11 p.m.</em></div>

<p>At Restaurant Idalia, jazz fills the air as Chef Kevin David plates dishes with the same improvisational spirit. His menu riffs on familiar flavors, blending structure and spontaneity in ways that feel both precise and free.</p>

At Restaurant Idalia, jazz fills the air as Chef Kevin David plates dishes with the same improvisational spirit. His menu riffs on familiar flavors, blending structure and spontaneity in ways that feel both precise and free.

Makati eats: At Restaurant Idalia, Chef Kevin David cooks more like a jazz star

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Makati eats: At Restaurant Idalia, Chef Kevin David cooks more like a jazz star

Vlad Bunoan,

ABS-CBN News

Published October 10, 2025 12:14 PM PHT

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