No rules at the table: Chef Kevin David brings Restaurant Idalia to Balmori Suites

When deciding where to catch up with friends or go on date night, this question almost always comes up: “Where are we going to eat?” Are you down for some Japanese food? Filipino? Mexican?

Some tend to veer toward a single cuisine when choosing a restaurant, and this can lead to serious debate when everyone’s already hungry and no decision has been made.

Restaurant Idalia at Chef’s Table in Balmori Suites, Rockwell, Makati, offers a welcome alternative. Here, the menu isn’t confined to a single cuisine — it’s simply about good food and good company.

First impressions

The menu looks like it could cater to different palates. Japanese dishes sit alongside Italian, American, Mediterranean, and more — all on the same page.

Restaurant Idalia’s sourdough focaccia, served as a starter, was perfectly crispy and browned on the outside while being fluffy and warm on the inside.

^{Restaurant Idalia’s sourdough focaccia was fermented for 24 hours before baking.}

For dips, the restaurant offered two options to pair with the bread. First was the hummus topped with sumac, za’atar, coriander, and pickled vegetables. The flavors worked well together, especially with the vegetables, though I personally found the texture a touch chunkier than I would have liked. 

^{Their hummus is a crowd favorite at their Salcedo location.}

The second dip, however, was an absolute standout: the anchovy butter. Apparently, the chef loves making compound butters, and this one made a strong case for why. It was rich and perfectly buttery, with just enough flavor from anchovies to make it interesting without being overpowering.

The calamari, which I assumed would be the usual deep-fried, crispy finger food, arrived as a salad — a pleasant surprise.

^{The lettuce that they use for their calamari salad was sourced from Hijo Fresh.}

The calamari served as the main protein, cooked to perfect tenderness and sitting alongside fresh lettuce and basil aioli. A soft poached egg on top tied everything together, the yolk running down and coating the whole dish as you broke into it.

Before the mains arrived, we tried all of Restaurant Idalia’s spritz cocktail options: Limoncello with blue ternate and rosemary, strawberry with lychee and thyme, and peach and basil.

The main event

As much as we wanted to try the fried chicken with caviar and the steak frites, neither was available that day — but the restaurant team’s recommendations for our mains more than made up for it.

We started with the rigatoni pasta with anchovy, black garlic, and brown butter. Every element was dialed in: bold, layered, and deeply satisfying. A perfect burst of flavor with each bite, and I say that with absolutely no exaggeration.

^{Rigatoni pasta with anchovy, black garlic, and brown butter, topped with parmesan cheese.}

The Ibérico pork with cauliflower purée, plum glaze, and cabbage made complete sense. The grilled cabbage added a slight char, the cauliflower purée was silky and rich, and the plum glaze brought a sweet, fruity note that bound everything together. 

^{Although Ibérico pork is Spanish, Chef Kevin clarified that this dish heavily leans into Japanese cuisine.}

The pork itself, however, was a touch chewier than I would have liked.

The final dish was the halibut en papillote, served in a bowl with shiitake, bok choy, and scallops. It arrived wrapped in paper, and the server poured hot dashi broth over it. 

Their halibut en papillote is served with hot dashi broth with a hint of ginger.

This was the quiet highlight of the meal. The fish was perfectly cooked, the broth restrained and clean — not a drop too much, not a note too loud. The chef himself, when asked what he’d eat after a long day in the kitchen, said he’d probably go for two orders of the halibut. 

A freeform menu

Following the meal, I still had one question sitting in the back of my head: why does the menu have no specific cuisine? I found my answer when I sat down with Chef Kevin David — the brain behind Restaurant Idalia, the person who conceptualized the menu, and the man behind everything we had just eaten.

“I just want to put this on record — we are not any of these cuisines. I don’t want to be called an Italian restaurant, American, or anything. We are a cohesive menu on our own, of what we think goes well together. This menu is very free-form. This is the type of food that we do,” he exclusively told adobo Magazine.

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When Chef Kevin arrived in the Philippines three years ago, people would ask him what kind of food was served at Restaurant Idalia. His answer? “We serve good food.”

The reason he wanted a menu to be free from any single category was simple: he’s tired of one-note food.

“I’m a big guy, I love food. If I’m craving fried chicken right now, that’s what I want to do. So I treat the restaurant like my house. If you come to my house and I cook you sinigang ten times straight, you’ll say, ‘Hey, I don’t want to eat here anymore.’ That’s the same reason I want people to come back,” he said.

And that, ultimately, is the quiet genius of Restaurant Idalia. It doesn’t ask you to pick a cuisine before you walk in — it just asks you to show up hungry and keep an open mind. 

I left the restaurant that afternoon with a full stomach, slightly buzzed from the cocktails, and the kind of unhurried satisfaction that only a genuinely good meal can leave you with. 

Somewhere between the anchovy butter and the halibut, the menu had made its case. Chef Kevin didn’t need to be pinned to a specific category or cuisine; the food spoke for itself.

Restaurant Idalia at the Balmori Suites Chef’s Table is located at Power Plant Mall, Rockwell, Makati City.

This dining experience is part of a 23-day residency and will only be available at the Balmori Suites until July 31, 2026. Their main location is located in Salcedo Village, Makati.

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