Plant Bistro — Restaurant in Pulau Bali

Georgie and I had dinner at Plant Bistro last night. The restaurant is majestically perched on the Penestanan side of the Tjampuan River overlooking the jungle and both the bridges, the old and new that span the ravine where the 2 rivers meet near the ancient Gunung Lebah Temple. I first crossed the old, now unused bridge in 1983 on my first trip to Ubud. When you look up at the restaurant building from the bridge and Murni’s Warung it gives the illusion that the restaurant is floating above the jungle. The restaurant is located in the grounds of the locally famous Antonio Blanco Art Museum. I had been a vegetarian most of my life but I have recently started eating meat to bolster my protein reserves as I get older but I still love vegetables. Having said that I am not usually a fan of vegan restaurants that name their dishes after meat and fish dishes. Plant Bistro is the exception. I had deep fried konjac that was called Vegan Calamari, the chef got it right, spot on. The texture was there, the crispiness, the taste … a simple dish but fabulous. Earlier in the day I had a beautiful fresh salad with vegan salmon which was created from specially prepared watermelon, honestly you could almost not tell the difference. The vegan meals passed with flying colours. I also had a serving of buba ganoush which was creamy, tasty, spicy, absolutely perfect. The staff are super friendly, I was also incredibly impressed when Alit, the team leader came to our table toward the end of our meal to ask us if we had enjoyed the food. He was friendly, charming and genuinely interested in what we had to say. As we left he even organised samples of their amazing home made vegan ice cream, seriously it ranked among the best ice cream I have ever tried, you have to walk past the display on the way out so you really should do yourself a favour and try a serve. Five stars from me, just the view and location is...

I have been to the Plant Bistro four times for breakfast / lunch over the past 2 weeks.

The place, atmosphere & service are amazing. The food is also very creative, and it is easy to see the effort that is put into some of the more complex dishes, such as the vegan cheeses, vegan icecreams and vegan tuna - best ones I have ever had, by far.

One hiccup for us was on a specific dish, the breaded v-chicken. We got served what was clearly wheat gluten based (seitan) but... barely cooked. I'm talking a piece of dough that looked like it had been put on the pan for a few seconds each side. You could still pull it like dough, and it was of course so chewy that it was totally uneatable. I called the waiter and showed him, and he promptly sent it back after seeing the rubber-like consistency of it. What surprised us was that he came back later telling that basically, the cook couldn't do it another way - and suggested we ordered something else. Emphasising here that the waiter was very nice and understanding - the issue was solely coming from the kitchen.

A cooking mishap is completely acceptable, but we were surprised at the message from the Chef. Did it mean that he simply actually doesn't know how to cook the dish, and that future orders will also consist of raw dough? Is it a question of time, where there was just no time to prepare and cook the dough (the menu is quite long and with items requiring long prep time)?

Either way, a weird moment in an otherwise series of good experiences. 100% recommend the place... aside from one specific dish ;)

[EDIT: the answer from the owner below shows that they either have no idea how the dishes are made, or do not read reviews properly.... Wheat gluten can very much be "raw" ie. undercooked and therefore uneatable - which was definitely the case...

I would give my experience a 4/5 stars. I enjoyed the view and scenery of the restaurant itself very much it was very beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. I had trouble in the beginning of my dinner when I asked for a glass of water and was told they only had bottles. Luckily someone at another table called them out and said they did have glasses of water. Most tourists are under the conception that all water is bad if they do not have a personal bottle which is not true. Most if not all restaurants will have a pitcher or gallons of water that they have and are able to serve you free of charge. I did not appreciate being lied to as the restaurant itself seems to be one of high class I had no reason to suspect they would give me water from the tap. One may say it was a misunderstanding but I believe it was done with knowledge as I was apologized to after the situation occurred.

I see many people rave about the service in the reviews. I am not sure if I went on a wrong day or if I wasn’t the type of tourist they’d like to cater to but I wasn’t really impressed.

The food was decent I enjoyed my sushi the most I got a toona and avocado roll which was amazing. I also got a Mushroom and Avocado burger with a side salad. The salad was just lettuce and olive oil. I was expecting some other veggies in the salad or at least a real dressing. I did not end up eating the salad after the first taste. The burger was decent a bit dry of a patty I was a bit disappointed in it as it sounded delicious on paper.

Overall it was an okay experience. The ambiance saved my experience completely but I think there are many things to be improved upon. I am not sure if I’d come back to be completely honest the price I paid with the experience I received was...