PLANTA Queen — Restaurant in Toronto

If you've never had good vegan food, you have to try Planta! We had an AMEX dining credit to use and Planta Queen was one of the restaurants on the list, so our party of 4 decided to splurge and give it a try. We made reservations for a Saturday night at 8:30pm and the restaurant itself is huge, but quite busy even at 8:30pm. A little bit of a regret here though, because Sun-Fri after 8:30pm is actually happy hour and you can enjoy discounted food! It's only coincidentally Saturday that they don't have that promotion lol. Planta's Queen location has an Asian Fusion theme, but I believe the Yorkville location is different. A fellow Yelp Elite recommended that location to me so I guess I'll have to try it out!

We ordered lots of items so let's break it down:

1. Crispy Brussel Sprouts. This is a December exclusive item and probably my favourite of the evening. I hope they put it on their permanent menu! The sprouts were roasted to perfection and tossed in a sauce that complemented the smokiness perfectly.
2. Ahi Watermelon Nigiri. Supposed to mimic ahi tuna, but replaced with watermelon. I know this is trendy and a common thing that vegetarians/vegans use to replace tuna, but it's definitely not the same. Not much taste with the texture of watermelon on rice is.. not the best.
3. Crispy Gyoza. Just OK - nothing amazing. It does taste heavily of mushrooms.
4. Crab Rangoon Dip. My second favourite appy. The crispiness of the chips and the vegan cheesiness of the dip is insanely good. It can get a bit heavy, but strongly recommend this one!
5. Japanese Sweet Potatoes. Just average - nothing special nor notable.
6. Bao Slider. It's about $7 for just one and it's not really worth the price. The fried mushroom that you get in the bao is also tiny - doesn't feel very proportionate to the size of the bao itself nor the other fillings. I will say the taste is good though.
7. Udon Noodles with Truffle Mushroom Cream. The best out of all the mains. Despite being super creamy, it wasn't heavy at all, probably since it's plant-based. The udon was a bit overcooked and too soft, but taste was perfect.
8. Truffle Miso Ramen. Another December exclusive. We ordered the chick'n katsu to go with it but it wasn't worth the extra cost. The base ramen itself was good.
9. Truffle Fried Rice. The second best main. It does taste a bit like regular fried rice but it isn't soggy nor too crispy which we appreciated.
10. Drinks. Each of us got a drink - I got the matcha latte and it was just alright. I do wish it was sweeter than it was, but making it with oat milk was good! We also got the Chai, Turm It Up (mango & tumeric), and Dragon Power (dragonfruit, ginger, etc) - all of which were just okay. We also got "still water" which was Just Water branded, and it was like $9 for a box lol. It was more expensive than the other drinks we got!

Overall service was phenomenal. I believe Simon was our waiter and they explained everything very clearly since it was our groups first time to visit. The music in the restaurant is quite loud though so it was difficult to hear them speak. The atmosphere in the restaurant is also very, very dark. I felt like my vision was going blurry the longer I stayed, but definitely very chic and modern! Beware the prices are a bit on the higher side, but it's a given considering the location in Toronto. We spent a little above $60pp after tips by the end of the night but we did order a lot... And the tax-free dining thing started same day, so that...

I don’t often have sushi in a restaurant whose menu isn’t entirely Japanese, but Planta Queen’s nigiri is so inventive that you should try it once. As the ahi watermelon ($5.25 for two) and unagi eggplant ($5.25 for two) are placed before us, I’m marveled by how much they look like lean tuna and mackerel. In reality, the consistency and taste doesn’t resemble fish – the watermelon has a strong ginger flavour and the eggplant a slight smokiness – yet, it also doesn’t taste like the fruit or vegetable it’s made from. It just works!

The ahi watermelon makes its way into the rainbow roll ($15) and spicy tuna roll ($15) as well. Of the two, the rainbow roll has more interest: the soft pressed watermelon paired with creamy avocado and mayo, crispy romaine, and a sliver of bright shiso leaf. The spicy tuna roll is fine, but relies a lot on the spicy aioli for flavour.

You wouldn’t want an entire order of gomae ($12.25) for yourself. Even though it’s essentially just boiled spinach tossed in a sesame dressing with crisped rice thrown on top, the nutty sauce is also what makes it fairly rich as well. Yet, when shared, it’s a nice way to start the meal or even to finish off with something refreshing.

On the other hand, I could easily down an entire bowl of the mushroom dashi ($8.95). It’s everything you want during the winter: a warm bowl of rich consommé, enoki and shiitake mushrooms peppered throughout, and cubes of delicate tofu sitting at the bottom. It’s simple and heavenly.

Planta’s Hakka rice noodles ($17.50) doesn’t really taste like anything I’ve ever had at a Hakka restaurant, but it could easily grace the menu of a Thai establishment. The coconut green curry base has a lovely aroma and a hint of heat, but could use more salt. As it stands, the dish of rice noodles with tofu and Chinese broccoli (gai lan) was fine but didn’t overly excite.

The udon ($18.75) was a hundred times better. In this case, the rice noodles (since we were having the gluten free version) was tossed in truffle oil and coconut milk creating a creamy base that would make Alfredo weep. There’s no shortage of mushrooms in the dish and is finished off with some snow pea leaves for colour and freshness. Would this dish paired with a bowl of mushroom dashi be too much fungi for one person to handle? Challenge accepted.

In general, Planta Queen uses a lot of truffles, whether it be the infused oil or the real deal. Even the maitake mushroom fried rice ($28) comes with shaved truffle on top, which truthfully doesn’t add that much to the experience. Overall, I expected the dish to offer more – something bursting with wok hay and an umami essence galore. Instead, it was pretty average fried rice with shaved truffles on top.

After the heavier mains, we thought the lemon curd ($12.35) would be a lighter finish to the meal. It certainly was a refreshing end, but the combination of lemon custard with passion fruit gelato makes for such a tarte finish that I’m puckering up thinking of the bite. The meringue needed to be sweeter and the matcha powder dropped all together as the combination of acidic citrus with bitter powder wasn’t necessarily...

Came here for a Saturday night date with my gf. Overall, a very positive experience. When we arrived at 7:12, for our 7:15 reservation, we were promptly seated and given water. Sadly, this was followed up by waiting a solid 10 minutes until our server came to take our order. It was busy, and she was polite and apologetic, but that was a hard start (we were quite hungry lol). We ordered everything up front. Drinks: Cucumber mule and Red Hill larger. Sides: XO Tofu, Crispy Gyoza, and Chick'n fried mushrooms. Mains: Dan Dan Noodles and Kung Pao Eggplant (with a side of white rice). The drinks came quickly from the bar, which was really nice. The beer was good (16oz glass), and the cucumber mule was amazing! You could taste every ingredient, with cucumber being the cool highlight. Sweet, but the ginger still came through. The food itself came at a really nice pace. We started with the XO Tofu. The XO sauce was delicious. We weren't expecting the tofu to be as soft as it was, but it was still nice. The gyoza was amazing! Very crispy and packed with traditional flavour. The mushrooms were good. Although, I wish the mushrooms were given in larger pieces, it definitely felt like we were eating a lot of fried batter. To be clear, that isn't a horrible thing: the batter was on point, it honestly tasted like fried chicken to me lol. For the mains, which came a little later (again, this was great pacing), the dan dan was our clear winner. It was creamy, coconutty, and well cooked. The kamut topping was a really nice aspect: added more substance to the dish and another clear texture. The kung pao eggplant was okay. Honestly, it had a bit too many flavours going on for me (including a licorice-y undertone that wasn't for me). We got the brownie for dessert too. My gf mentioned that they change the dessert menu more frequently, which would explain why they don't have a printed menu, rather, the server just lists the three options. It was had to hear her, so we just ordered the first option (i.e. the brownie). It was delicious: moist, rich chocolate brownie, served with vanilla ice cream, chopped peanuts, and chocolate sauce. Lovely, no complaints! The ambience was classy, lively, and modern. Great spot for a date, or a fancier dinner our with friends or colleagues. Washrooms were clean and fresh. But just to note, on a busy Saturday night, there was a bit of a line for both the men's and women's room to use the WC. In sum, it was a great date night experience. Food was on point, drinks were delicious, service was super friendly and helpful, and the atmosphere was definitely Queen St. We...