Planta — Restaurant in Khan Daun Penh

Just arrived back in Cambodia and popped into the closest vegan spot google featured. This place looked promising, however it’s mostly meat dishes with the exception of juices, a couple of salads, and about 2 vegan dishes. Went for the Vegan Pulled Pork and have to say it was disappointing. Like a sandwich made in a kids summer camp kitchen, it was just bland and boring. Jackfruit lacked sauce, and the cashew cream cheese was so thinly brushed onto an under toasted ciabatta that I didn’t even realize it was there. Raw union and slice of tomato used to try to create some volume. A spoon of tasteless coleslaw didn’t help.

Tip to kitchen…marinate your jackfruit in a decent bbq sauce, chop up the veggies and create a bed on a hot toasted open ciabatta and then add the cashew cream cream on the top or side of the sandwich. Make a proper creamy coleslaw and add to top or also on side. Drizzly some oil and maybe a vegan mayo over it.

This spot is down a walkway between building. If you like American country music streaming in from the bar next door, expats/tourists talking loudly, and bland overpriced ($5) food for a western palate, then this is for you. I will keep looking on better spots.

PS-nothing ‘ethical’ about most of the dishes...

This place has all the ingredients for an awesome experience - cool location, kitschy feel, and good place for conversation - but I didn’t love it. Avocado toast was akin to avocado on bread (not toasted) and shrimp dish was not flavorful. Omelette was excellent however. I never like to ding on service but here staff seemed like they’re still figuring out their roles. (Totally understandable post-pandemic). As an example, my girlfriend received utensils. Asking for ketchup resulted in a 5-6 minute wait when there was only one other customer in the place. Maybe it was an off day and - like I said, I liked a lot about the place. But so-so food and service with some room to improve would take me to brunch elsewhere. Maybe...

We visited during Khmer new year as it was one of the only places we could see open. What a mistake.. The side options (sweet potato fries and edamame) were fine, but then the chicken ciabatta came out.. The ciabatta was warm and the filling was stone cold (weird). Mine also had a hair on the top.. this put me off instantly. The chicken didn’t have any seasoning and the whole thing was just sloppy and not good, so we left the two chicken ciabatta’s. No one came over to check how the food was… i would avoid this place.. it’s overpriced, and has no...