Location: 180 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.plantarestaurants.com/

I just talked about Shanghai Dim Sum, a dim sum restaurant in Richmond Hill that’s both delicious and delightfully affordable.

Well, Planta Queen serves dim sum on the weekends, and it’s the complete inverse of that — it’s ridiculously expensive and thoroughly mediocre.

I managed to try a few things, and while nothing was outright unpleasant, everything I tried was an inferior version of something you could get at a dim sum joint or elsewhere.  The dumplings were probably the worst offenders — the various fillings were fine, but the wrappers were flabby and overcooked.

Adding insult to injury?  They all ranged from 13 to 15 bucks for an order of four.  For 15 bucks, I could get 60 soup dumplings from Shanghai Dim Sum (well, I’m sure they have a limit per table, but you get the idea) — and those dumplings were about a million times better than any of the dumplings here.

The other things I tried — a dosa, fried mushrooms, dan dan noodles — were all decent enough, but again, they were crazy expensive and thoroughly inferior to the real deal.

The best thing I had — by far — was the chocolate cake.  The pastry chef here is clearly the real talent in the kitchen, because the cake was abundantly satisfying.  It was rich, fudgy, and slightly fruity, with a deep chocolately flavour.  It was amazing.