French classics meet Philippine ingredients, global influences, and a thoughtfully assembled new wine program in Chef Aaron Isip’s latest eight-course degustation at Michelin-starred Kása Palma.
Chef Aaron Isip describes Kása Palma as an expression of his Cuisine d’Auteur, a term more commonly associated with cinema than cuisine, at least to my knowledge. As I moved through his new eight-course degustation, however, I thought less of filmmakers than literary translators.
We often imagine translation as the search for equivalent words. But the best translations are rarely literal. A classic example is the French expression chercher midi à quatorze heures—literally, “to look for noon at two o’clock.” Word for word, it’s perfectly understandable, yet it makes little sense to an English speaker. A translator instead preserves its meaning: don’t overcomplicate things. The work lies not in replacing words, but in interpretation: deciding what must remain, what can change, and how an idea continues to live in another language.
Revisiting a classic dish asks much the same.
At Michelin-starred Kása Palma, Chef Aaron’s latest degustation returns to French classics that shaped his years of training in Paris. But rather than recreating them, he interprets them through the distinctly personal language of his Cuisine d’Auteur. The experience also marks the first tasting menu developed alongside their new Beverage Director, Sebastian Narcisco, allowing both plate and glass to evolve together from the outset.
READ ALSO: The World Is Crazy About Ube
How The Cuisine d’Auteur Expression Of Chef Aaron Isip Reimagines French Classics
Chef Aaron’s French training has always been woven into Kása Palma’s identity, but never in a way that feels beholden to tradition. His cooking instead reflects the many places that have shaped him, from Philippine waters and produce to Southeast Asia, Latin America, and beyond. If the degustation revisits French classics (and you’ll see the names of familiar dishes throughout the menu), it does so through vocabulary that’s unmistakably his own.
A Rillette trades its traditional pork for sea cucumber. A Croque Madame arrives not with ham, but as a bite of yellowtail tuna and uni atop Japanese shokupan. The Cordon Bleu exchanges its familiar breadcrumb coating for an airy ube puff. Beyond mere ingredient substitutions, these are thoughtful reinterpretations, a culinary translation that asks what truly defines each classic in the first place.
Inside Kása Palma’s New Eight-Course Degustation And Wine Pairing
Three seafood-forward hors d’oeuvres opened the evening alongside a glass of Jean Vesselle Extra Brut Champagne. Sebastian explains the choice simply: sparkling wine awakens the palate before the menu settles into the seafood that has long defined Kása Palma.
One particularly memorable course is the savoury crab crème brûlée. Borrowing the texture and ritual of the French dessert while speaking almost entirely through blue swimmer crab, it’s proof that familiarity survives even when almost everything else has changed. This was paired with a Hewitson Belle Ville Rosé from the Barossa Valley in Australia. Sebastian shared that part of his goal is to get diners to explore classic, revered Old World styles, but grown in the New World such as Australia, where he trained.
Midway through dinner, another memorable moment comes not from the plate, but the glass. Sebastian invites us to revisit several of the seafood courses with both the Australian Rosé and a new glass of Kessler Zink Trocken, a German Riesling. Rather than searching for a “correct” pairing, the exercise reveals how differently each wine frames the same dish—one brighter and more angular, the other softer and more rounded. It also serves as an introduction to Kása Palma’s evolving wine program. While Sebastian has overseen pairings since joining the restaurant, this is the first menu conceived alongside his perspective from the outset, guided by wines chosen as much for their soul and story as their provenance.
Only toward the latter part of the degustation does the menu briefly step away from the ocean. The Cordon Bleu provides a richer, grounding moment. Paired with an Australian Grenache from McLaren Vale, the course continues Sebastian’s interest in looking beyond France for bottles capable of expressing familiar ideas through different terroirs, a fitting companion to Chef Aaron’s own reinterpretation of French classics.
A sorbet of seasonal native fruit, accompanied by Rinaldi Pink Moscato D’Asti, refreshes the palate before the evening’s closing note: a Tarte Tatin reimagined through chayote, cinnamon ice cream, moringa flan, and caramelized chicken skin, paired with a snappy Farigoule digestif. It’s a satisfying ending that returns to the question posed at the beginning of the meal. The apples may have become chayote, just as breadcrumbs gave way to ube much earlier in the evening, yet the dessert never ceases to feel like a Tarte Tatin.
A translator negotiates what must be carried forward and what can be transformed so that a work continues to live in another language. Chef Aaron is, of course, the author of his own cuisine. Yet in revisiting these French classics, he performs a remarkably similar task: preserving what gives each dish its identity while allowing it to become recognizably his. The result is, to borrow from Umberto Eco, “almost the same thing”: familiar enough to honor the original, yet different enough to reveal it anew.
Explore the new eight-course degustation of Kása Palma below.
Kása Palma’s eight-course degustation is priced at ₱6,500 per person, with an optional ₱3,000 per person beverage pairing. Kása Palma is located at 6042 R Palma, Poblacion, Makati City. Reservations are available on their website https://kasapalma.com/.
Photographs courtesy of Kása Palma
Frequently Asked Questions
Kása Palma’s new eight-course degustation is Chef Aaron Isip’s latest tasting menu, revisiting the French classics that shaped his culinary training in Paris through his signature Cuisine d’Auteur. The menu highlights Philippine seafood, local ingredients, and global influences while offering thoughtful reinterpretations of classic French dishes.
The eight-course degustation is priced at ₱6,500 per person. Guests may also opt for a beverage pairing for an additional ₱3,000 per person, curated by Beverage Director Sebastian Narcisco.
Rather than recreating French classics exactly, Chef Aaron reinterprets them through his own culinary perspective. Familiar dishes such as Rillette, Croque Madame, Cordon Bleu, and Tarte Tatin are reimagined using Philippine ingredients and the broader influences that define Kása Palma’s Cuisine d’Auteur.
The optional beverage pairing was developed alongside the new degustation menu and marks the first collaboration between Chef Aaron Isip and Beverage Director Sebastian Narcisco from the menu’s inception. It features wines chosen for their “soul and story,” including selections from Australia, Germany, and France, designed to complement and occasionally challenge each course.
Kása Palma is located at 6042 R. Palma Street, Poblacion, Makati City. Reservations for the new degustation experience can be made through Kása Palma’s official website.
