Vegans may now celebrate. Plant is here Vegans and
vegetarians get very short shrift in South Africa. There are even some who
regard chicken as a vegetable in this meat obsessed country. And selections for
them in most restaurants are abysmal. A salad or a plate of steamed vegetables
are all they are usually offered. Today we were invited to Plant restaurant and
served a selection of totally vegan food, full of flavour, spice, texture and
enjoyment.
Plant
was opened in the Bo Kaap a year and a half ago by engineer Adien Aggenbach and
her partner Jacqueline Lahoud. It was such a success that they have now moved
to bigger more accessible premises at 8 Buiten Street, just off Long Street in central
Cape Town. If you are seeking good vegan or vegetarian food this place will be
an eye opener to you and your non
vegan friends.
The spacious restaurant has lots of
drop ins for breakfast, lunch and dinner
They are
open from 10 am to after 10 pm. And they are licensed to sell beers and wines
Soup of the day was potato and spinach
with tomato. Nourishing, thick and very flavourful
Yum, Nachos. Good corn Tortilla chips
topped with their own melted dairy free cheese, non-dairy sour cream, guacamole
and salsa plus a side of chilli. They make their own dairy-free cheese, eggless
mayo and smoke their own tempeh bacon. Tempeh is 100% organic and non-GMO
certified, their soy is non-GMO (organic where possible). They source local and
organic produce where available. Everything is vegan, 100% plant based and
prepared with love
Eggs and bacon? No, Tofu scramble with
slightly sweet smoked Tempeh bacon. Tempe is a fermented soy based product. The
tofu scramble did taste a little like egg mayonnaise and was very pleasant
Described on the menu as a Bunless
Mexican Tower, it consisted of two black bean patties, towered with homemade
sour cream, salsa, avocado and coriander. You can enjoy this spicy or
non-spicy. It was John's favourite and we had it spicy with a smoked chipotle
chilli sauce. It has great texture and flavour
We had lots of food to try and shared
them with both Adien and Jacqueline. This is the refried bean quesadilla. Not
all the food is Mexican themed, we just love it. There are plenty of other
choices
The Vish burger in a ciabatta bun. It
is actually a Nori (seaweed) encrusted potato steak, grilled and placed on a
bed of rocket, topped with tomato, raw onion and our delicious tartar sauce, served
on a ciabatta roll, with a side salad. The Nori does indeed impart a fish taste
to the burger
Lynne's favourite was the exotic mushroom,
raw vegetable and buckwheat noodle stuffed rice paper wraps served with two
different dipping sauces: homemade sweet chilli sauce and an excellent ginger
miso dressing
There is a large selection of
desserts. They are made without cane sugar. They use coconut blossom sugar and
maple syrup in the raw desserts
We managed only a taste of three: A
sticky almond Florentine, a wicked sugar free chocolate brownie and a truffle
made with apricots, dates and pecan nuts, coconut flakes, almonds and cashews
rolled into delicious balls
They also sell lots of vegan products
like mushroom biltong, Meat free mince and a chocolate protein shake
Thank you, we really enjoyed our vegan
lunch and will be back with some vegetarian friends soon
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015
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