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IT WAS really just a Beef Consommé, a Caesar Salad, and a Beef Tenderloin for dinner on Dec. 11. The thing is, all these dishes were served at the eco-luxury wellness resort The Farm at San Benito, and that made all the difference. The Farm, after all, is best known for its raw food and vegan-vegetarian orientation. That meat is now a focus on the menu, and is a seismic change.
The Farm at San Benito welcomed guests last month for a tasting at their new dining outlets, namely Souffle De Vie, a French fine-dining restaurant, and The Upperdeck, a Mediterranean wholefood, farm-fresh, heart-healthy restaurant. These join the resort’s roster of restaurants, rounding it out to five: Halal-certified Alive! Vegan Restaurant offering whole, plant-based living food gourmet cuisine; Prana, an Indian-vegetarian restaurant inspired by Ayurveda; and PESCE, a pescetarian restaurant.
“We realized that there’s actually a lot to offer with the right ingredients, the right organic cuisine,” said Rajan Uttamchandani, director of The Farm at San Benito, at a press conference. “We have something for every guest, every person… we want to have something for everyone in the family.”
Preet Singh, general manager of The Farm at San Benito added, “(Not) everybody’s on a vegan diet or organical(ly) supervised programs.” Some of their guests, after all, are just there to accompany people undergoing The Farm’s detox and wellness programs.
Mr. Uttamchandani said, “Our detox programs are still all available. Our wellness programs are still all available. The menus for these programs,” he said, “are very strict.”
“But if you’re here as an accompanying guest to someone doing the detox program, you shouldn’t be subjected to the same cuisine.”
Even if they’re serving meat now, it still keeps the essence of the wellness component at The Farm. “Guests can expect dishes crafted with fresh, organic, seasonal, and locally sourced ingredients, many of which are harvested directly from The Farm’s on-site vegetable and herb gardens.
“When The Farm first opened, its focus was exclusively on vegan raw living foods to support detoxification and natural healing. Over time, the menu evolved to include sustainably sourced meat, reflecting The Farm’s mission to encourage a gradual and accessible journey toward healthier eating habits. Pasture-raised chicken, wild-caught seafood, and grass-fed meat were introduced — all free from hormones and antibiotics,” he said in a statement.
“We have gardens here, we grow all our seasonal fruits and vegetables, which serve an organic farm-to-table concept to us,” he said during the press conference.
At the tasting, there was an appetizer of Scallops with Fennel-Beetroot Puree — wild-caught, they said, so it had a clean and sweet flavor with just a touch of the ocean. The Beef Consommé was a bit cleaner than usual, and a bit of a liver aftertaste. The salad was fresh (but nothing to write home about), but the beef, well: it had a mild, almost buttery flavor, and we pronounce it cleaner-tasting than what we can find in the city.
OTHER THINGS ON THE MENUBefore dinner, we were taken to a new section of The Farm, where we were shown their 15 new Acacial Wellness Residences — villas, 80% of which are spoken for. It’s luxury all the way: the four-bedroom homes have stunning views of the mountains surrounding the resort. These residences offer a 99-year lease long-term investment, and when they’re not in use, they can be included in the rental program. A villa is available for a 99-year lease for about P100 million according to a resort employee, while a unit can be rented for about P150,000 to P180,000 a night.
And that is not all. “It was announced in the media that Megaworld is exploring a partnership with us,” said Mr. Uttamchandani, specifically on a 25-hectare property adjacent to The Farm. “They’ll have access to The Farm, of course, and also embrace the wellness community lifestyle.”
In a statement, he said, “Through our partnership with Megaworld Corp., we are turning our vision of a holistic wellness community into reality with the San Benito Private Estate, a 25-hectare active wellness township adjacent to The Farm at San Benito. This groundbreaking project will redefine health-oriented living, seamlessly integrating the world-class wellness facilities of The Farm with a nature-inspired lifestyle. San Benito Private Estate is purposefully designed as a sanctuary for residents, blending wellness, community, and modern conveniences in an eco-sustainable environment. The township will feature residential village lots, low-rise condominiums, community gardens, a sports and leisure hub, commercial shops, and nature walk trails, all nestled in a lush, green landscape.”
Mr. Singh said, “As we grow, it’s also not just food. I think it’s as a whole place, as we grow. We’re going in different countries, we’re going in different places. We might even grow more in the Philippines. We are going to replicate all of this, perfect this, and go out.” — Joseph L. Garcia
