Frunatic first opened it’s door in Star Vista back in 2013 as a wellness cafe with lifestyle elements, but ceased operations subsequently, probably because it was too ahead of it’s time. The cafe then focused on raw and 100% natural living food, where fruits are the main ingredients, with no preservatives, additives, processed sugar, or trans fats. All the food items in their menu was natural to the maximum. Everything was uncooked, served at room temperate with no ice for drinks and no heating for solids as it is believed nutrients are best preserved if we eat food raw, unprocessed as they are.
Fast-forward to 2017, Frunatic is back and the founders have upped the ante, reinventing the brand into a fine-dining wellness concept to promote healthy and therapeutic eating in Singapore. The food is served in a much more luxurious setting now and the price point had gone up as well, but sold in packages versus walk-ins. This time round, the world has changed a fair bit since, with everyone more concerned about food nutrition and the importance of a healthy diet to combat against illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol, all leading causes of coronary heart diseases and stroke. I myself am definitely more receptive to a healthier diet than four years ago.
Last week, the restaurant officially opened at the basement of Palais Renaissance in the Orchard shopping belt. The restaurant places emphasis on strictly natural therapeutic meals that boosts to “help maintain, restore and improve health aspirations of individuals”, providing customers with the option of tailored meals as well as various signature set meals.
Frunatic spent five years on research and development to come up with it’s dietary concept. The restaurant founder and director, Jason Fong, shared that he had invested over S$8 million in Frunatic, driven by his passion and conviction.
“As Asia gears towards consuming more organic food and beverages and adopts clean eating habits, the health and wellness sector continues to grow to meet these demands. Frunatic stresses on a strict production that preserves and maximises nutrients in meals as a regular supply of good nutrients helps to protect the body from environmental cellular damage and delay cellular malfunction that occurs with aging,” he added.
How different is a meal at Frunatic versus any other restaurants?
For one, it takes healthy eating to the extreme. Every course is meticulously prepared and presented, with a zero-tolerance policy and absolute restriction of diary, gluten, wheat, trans-fat, additives, cholestrol and all forms of preservatives. All the bad stuff are out and you really cannot eat any cleaner or healthier than this.
The attention to details is astonishing. Even the water used to wash the ingredients is alkaline ionised water to remove pesticides and insecticides. Cutting is done in the kitchen with ceramic knives only as a normal knife is said to have a rougher blade that causes temperature rise in the ingredient, resulting in oxidation and loss of nutrients.
In preparing the drinks, cold pressed juicers are used to retain natural vitamins and freshness, enzymes and minerals in the juices. For the dried fruits and vegetables served, dehydration is done under gentle conditions to extract water content to minimise loss of nutrients.
I sampled one of their omasake special set, priced at S$88. These were the items served:
Verdict?
This has got to to be the healthiest and most natural meal I have ever had in a fine-dining setting. Any more natural than this and you have to be eating raw fruits and vegetables in the forest or farm.
As I have been eating clean for the past few years to lose weight and regain my health, the diet was very much acceptable to me and in fact, pretty delicious compared to other clean meals I consume. Around the tables, I could see many other diners finding the concept a little strange still.
Do you feel full after eating just clean food like this at Frunatic?
You be surprised that the answer is yes. Maybe not full in the way that your stomach feel bloated, but in a good way, whereby you won’t feel hungry.
If I were to compare the new Frunatic offerings to the food items from the 2013 Frunatic, some leeways are now made to allow for cooking and heating like the brown rice main course for instance. Less extreme, but still extreme compared to any other healthy eateries in Singapore.
During the tasting, a Frunatic customer who is diabetes shared her health improvement after switching to a Frunatic diet. She is able to get off diabetes medication now and has better control of her blood sugar.
If you are interested to find out more about Frunatic and try out their food, visit the official website for more details.
Note that Frunatic do not entertain dine-ins, but only serve appointment based reservations. The courses at Frunatic are sold in various packages ranging from S$888 for their entry Frunatic Trial Package (10 sets of Frunatic Therapeutic Wellness Meal) to S$6000 for the Frunatic New Lifestyle Package (100 sets of Frunatic Therapeutic Wellness Meal and 4 x Assessment Review with a Frunatic Wellness Consultant).
Prices would appear to be on the steep side, but if you consider the attention to details in the food preparation, it’s a reasonable deal for those willing to pay for the Frunatic wellness concept.
For those who prefer light bites, Frunatic also runs a cafe section, Savour, just outside the restaurant, whereby you can order items off the menu:
I do not know of any other restaurants in Singapore which operate via a holistic wellness concept like Frunatic. The closest competitor I can think of is Mahota Commune at Kitchener Road, but their menu items are not as extreme in the food preparation process. Hence for those who are super into healthy eating and lifestyle wellness, Frunatic will be worth a visit.
390 Orchard Rd,
Palais Renaissance, #B1-06
Singapore 238871
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