The Restuarants: Plant Cafe, Cape Town

30 March 2014 - 02:02 By Kavish Chetty
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WHOLESOME: Plant knows how to wrap
WHOLESOME: Plant knows how to wrap

Cape Town's new vegan eatery makes it a delight to eat healthy, ethical food, writes Kavish Chetty

Plant is secreted away in a thin lane which edges the lower altitudes of a sprawling, cobblestoned Bo-Kaap. At present, it is the only café in Cape Town - after the gradual disappearance of such spaces as Bella Vegan - which consciously styles itself as a vegan eatery.

Veganism has long been obscured in the public imagination as a diet of pleasureless grains, an ascetic repertoire of pulses and nuts. But this "carni-centric" vision denies the kinds of creativity, adaptation and sensory promises to be found on plant-based menus across the world.

Plant is an intimate spot, minimally appointed with dark wooden tables and a shred of bold sunlight leaking through its open door. A superb monochrome portrait hangs on the wall: a heavy-antlered anthropomorphic deer, standing upright in the drapery of a regal gown. Plant's aim is to recreate the signature classics of an everyday café in the culinary idiom of the earth's natural resources. Their prices are inexpensive, the dishes unfussy and delicious, and they deliver their lunch-hour specialties around the CBD. Inside, the place throngs with well-upholstered models who have slunk down from the Loop Street agencies, or transatlantic tourists and vegetarian locals.

Plant was conceived by Adien Aggenbach, who speaks of the month-old café as a "better way to do activism". She is the founding director of the African Vegan Outreach programme, which aims to promote the values of compassion and non-violence in human-animal relations.

Plant offers a selection of cold-pressed juices, among them the beetroot (R32) with its luxuriant purple or the pulpy and thick "green juice" which bursts with the brightness of sweet apple and has the lingering flavours of celery and cucumber. They also offer smoothies of mint or mango and lime (R40).

The menu exiles all meat and dairy products, preferring to use soy and rice milks, creamy homemade (nut-based) cheeses and such sauces as a smoked paprika mayonnaise. The all-day breakfast wrap (R50) contains a scrambled tofu, coloured a furious yellow with turmeric. The texture is not spongy like egg, but firm and crumbly, perfectly seasoned, and added to by caramelised onion and chewy slivers of smoked tempeh "bacon". The mushroom burger (R45) uses a moist disc of grilled portobello as its patty, slathered with barbecue sauce and served with a salad of quinoa and chickpeas.

Elsewhere, you will find touches of the Asiatic, like the spicy mushroom paper rolls (R62), or sidewalk café standards like gruyère-style toasted sandwiches (R35) or bagels (R30). For dessert the fudge brownie, dense with peanut butter ganache and adorned with a curled crown of dried apricot, is splendid. Plant's aim is minimalism - not decadence, but balance. It heralds a very welcome rallying point for vegans and curious others in Cape Town.

  • Unit R1 Urban Hub, 142 Buitengracht Street, Cape Town, 0214220239

NAVIGATING THE MENU:

Drink: Green juice

Standout dish: Mushroom burger

Chef/Owner in the house: Yes

For food snobs: No

The maths: You can get a fine meal for two for around R100

Rating: Rating:*****

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