Asador Alfonso Is The First Phase of A Dream Destination

(SPOT.ph) “The form is kind of dramatic and sculptural but it comes from a place of dreams,” says the architect Carlo Calma, referring to the creative freedom he’s had designing his family’s countryside vacation home which he fondly calls the Lava Rock Project. But “a place of dreams” may as well describe the result of his years-long toil: this holiday home, and now also a restaurant, which is unlike any other structure we’ve seen in the Philippines.   
 
Built on his family’s 9.4 hectare lot in Alfonso, Cavite, the project began taking shape during the pandemic. He saw it as his love letter to his 94-year-old father Pablito “Pabling” Calma, a civil engineer and contractor. The younger Calma envisioned a private “healing and wellness space” set in a farmland where his dad can enjoy his sunset years surrounded by fruit plantations and farm animals.

But Carlo, who is also a restaurateur—he is co-owner of the award-winning Gallery by Chele—thought of opening a Spanish-themed restaurant, too, alongside the private home. And this was when his design took a turn: he wanted something that will seamlessly merge his family’s private space  with a public space where guests can dine, a Spanish roasting house to be specific.  
 
“Asador Alfonso, which is a Spanish roasting house, is also similar to what they have in Spain. It’s also normally located on an expansive farmland,” says Calma. The restaurant is his second partnership with Chef Chele Gonzales who will introduce traditional fares from the Castillan region of Spain. 

Also read: The Most Beautiful Restaurants in Manila, According to Design Pros

Designing Asador Alfonso

Like in his other architectural projects, Calma always allows the topography of a place to tell the story of his designs. In this case, the mountains that surround Cavite and the iconic Taal Volcano were the starting points of his narrative. “I’m always inspired first by the place. That is my normal attack, but I always use it in an abstract way--it’s always conceptual or sculptural. That’s my style, blurring the lines between art and architecture,” he shares. 

He considers the Lava Rock Project as one of his most ambitious designs yet. The structure, covering an estimated 1,500-sqm area, is an architectural feat that required installing deep cantilevers and faceted glass windows, as well as maneuvering concrete to achieve the origami-like folds that characterize the building’s architecture. The concrete roofing that seems to “spill over” to the ground is also his take on a flowing lava. “The entire building has five different parts, but it was intentionally designed to look like one whole structure,” explains Calma. 

Sprawled on the ground floor is the main restaurant which is flanked on the left and right by the family’s individual private villas, all facing east. The second floor is an extension of the restaurant and offers a view of the farmlands outside. The third level, where a deep 8-meter triangular cantilever juts out—“a feat of engineering,” Calma volunteers—is a loft that will serve as a private lounge and will have DJs for private events.  

Finally, the fourth floor is the family’s private space. Here, the Calmas can hang out and appreciate the majestic farmland below and the sky at night. “From the inside, it’s all about framing the sky and the land,” Carlo explains. 

The one request from Carlo Calma's dad

The Lava Rock Project wasn’t just designed as a visual marvel but to be a sensorial experience as well. “We wanted to level this up to appeal to the five senses,” Calma says. He took pains to introduce textures and sound into the whole design. The cantilevers are all strategically positioned not only to welcome and block sunlight at different times of the day but to enhance shadow play. The themed restaurant bathrooms—farm-inspired for males and flower-inspired for females—will be installed with sounds that reflect these themes.

Even the surfaces have a tactile quality to it using both high-end and low-end materials. The restaurant’s kitchen islands for example are made from expensive marbles from Brazil, while the floor tiles are of recycled materials gathered through the help of the local government unit of Cavite.   For the flooring, Calma used the equivalent of four tons of plastics or 600,000 mineral bottles. “The  texture of the floors in the restaurant is like a terrazzo while for the villas, it has a denser, kind of fossilized texture,” he explains. 

While he considers his father as his ‘client’ for the project, Carlo says he had free rein in the overall design of the home/restaurant, except for one tiny detail: his dad wanted all natural materials for the interiors, rattan included. Carlo welcomed the suggestion. “Maybe this is the most that I’ve done in terms of experimentation with furniture as well,” he says.  

Warm wood juxtaposed with concrete is the dominant combination in Asador Alfonso. The restaurant chairs with structural legs and solihiya backrests are designed by Carlo himself, and he also designed chairs for the private villas. Taking up his Dad’s challenge has led the prolific architect to really sink his teeth into furniture design more. “That’s the thing now,” he says. “I want to work with more craftsmen to create different types of furniture that I can plug into spaces.”  

Cavite's culinary and cultural destination 

Calma says the Lava Rock project is a work in progress. More art installations will be introduced next year to turn part of the property into a museum, while an amphitheater with water feature for events is in the works. “(Apart from the restaurant) we are also offering an experience…because it’s kind a of surprise to find a structure like this in a quaint street, sitting on an agricultural land. So we’re also kind of celebrating  slow or agricultural living,” Carlo adds. “That’s the kind of storytelling we wanted as we transform this into a cultural art destination.”  

On May 17, Asador Alfonso will be officially opened to the public for dining and private events. The place has its own helipad for visitors who want to go by private chopper (and there’s a guest who’ve visited the place that way, and garnered 2.2 million views on her Reels for it) but you can also take a car: it’s an hour and 45-minute drive from Makati. Set menus range from P3800 to P5000 but a la carte options are also available.

Calma recommends arriving just before 5 in the afternoon to catch the sunset, and to witness the place transform once the warm lights are turned on and the building becomes a glowing ‘lantern’ playing with the patterns of the architecture. To hear Carlo say it, it sounds like magic.  
 
Even if Calma has been working on the project for the last five years, studying the property’s landscape and doing the masterplan for the roads within it, the place continues to amaze him . “These past months kahit mainit, it still feels cold,” he observes. “Also, we have a lot of migratory birds during the daytime, and they would gather around the pool, so sabi ko, ‘Ah, maybe this is really a magical land.’”

Also read: This Craft Beer Crawl Should Be Your Next Reason to Visit Tagaytay

For Asador Alfonso reservations, message or call +639171507621 or go to tinyurl.com/ReservationsAsadorAlfonso or their Instagram.