Source: PLANTA Queen Website
Locations
Planta Queen is a plant-based restaurant with multiple locations in the United States and Canada. Their restaurants in New York City are located in NoMad and Williamsburg. The restaurant is known for its vegan and vegetarian dishes that are both flavorful and healthy. The restaurant's menu features a variety of dishes, including appetizers, entrees, desserts, and drinks.
Under the guidance of Steven Salm, the Founder and CEO, and David Lee, the Co-founder and Executive Chef, PLANTA was established in 2016 with the vision of broadening the reach and appeal of plant-based cuisine. The ethos behind PLANTA is to redefine the concept of guilt-free dining, where savoring delectable plant-based dishes becomes a delightful and guilt-free indulgence. With a commitment to cultivating a leading collective of 100% plant-based restaurants, PLANTA aims to reimagine, reinvent, and revitalize the culinary landscape, emphasizing the profound impact of plant-centric dining in transforming the culinary world.
The restaurant prides itself on an extensively curated menu, exclusively emphasizing vegetarian and vegan options. Despite the constraints imposed by the ingredients, their kitchen excels in crafting delectable dishes that even meat enthusiasts can savor.
Source: PLANTA Queen Website
The Food
Start with the small plates, which are built for the table rather than for one person sitting quietly with a fork. Cauliflower tots arrive crisp and easy to split, and the mushroom dumplings are delicate without falling apart on the way to your mouth. The buffalo cauliflower wings bring the heat and the mess of the original bar snack. Nobody at the table needs meat for any of it to work, and nobody seems to miss it either.
The entrees cover more ground than the plant-based label suggests. The sushi is the trick of Planta Queen's diverse menu: rolls built from plants that carry the shape, texture, and seasoning of the real thing, so the absence of fish registers late, if it registers at all. The fish, for the record, was never consulted about this. Bowls run hearty rather than virtuous, stacked with quinoa, kale, and sweet potato in portions that count as dinner. Sandwiches lean on tempeh and tofu for weight, and they hold together like sandwiches should.
Dessert keeps the same promise as the rest of the menu. Everything is made from plant-based ingredients, and none of it tastes like a compromise made for a label. The chocolate cake is rich in the way chocolate cake is supposed to be rich. Fresh churros arrive warm, and the banana bread pudding tastes like somebody's family recipe rather than a substitution. Order dessert here even if you usually skip it.
Order a few plates for the middle of the table and work across them. That is how this menu reads best: a crisp starter next to a warm dumpling, a roll next to a bowl.
Source: PLANTA Queen Website
Drinks and Cocktails
The drink menu gets the same care as the food, which is not a given at a restaurant with a cause. House cocktails are built on fresh herbs, house syrups, and fruit that does more than garnish the glass. The bartenders mix with a clear goal: drinks that look good in the room and taste good next to a table full of strongly flavored, plant-based food at dinner.
Beer and wine carry their share of the list. The wine picks are chosen to sit well next to the kitchen's food, from the lighter rolls to the richer bowls, and the beer side covers the crisp end of the shelf. Ask for a pairing if you are unsure. The staff answers that question often, and the list is built so that a right answer exists for most plates.
Not drinking is handled properly, too. Fresh juices and smoothies are made to order rather than poured from a carton, and the mocktails get real attention instead of a soda-and-lime shrug. It means the table can split down the middle on alcohol and nobody ends up holding a lesser drink. For a group dinner, that detail does more work than it first appears to do.
Conclusion
The room matches the food. Planta Queen is sleek and modern, with a wide dining room and an open kitchen, so you can watch your dinner come together from your seat.
Bring friends and order across the menu. This is plant-based cooking that does not ask for a curve, in a room that works for a night out or a family dinner. The vegetables have been training for this — show up hungry.
