Planta Queen

Chase Hospitality Group president Steven Salm’s brief to interior design firm Nivek Remas: create an Asian version of his popular vegan restaurant chain. And the result: the most remarkable large-scale restaurant space we’ve seen in Toronto since Commute Design’s Oretta.

Located in what was Nota Bene on Queen near University, street market–style seating now fronts a coralline tunnel which leads into a series of dining arrangements, breaking up the otherwise open concept into individual spaces separated by low walls and powder-coated steel lattices, a move inspired by East Asian residential courtyards. Whereas Oretta is a single, cavernous chamber, Planta Queen creates intimate zones in what is usually a packed space, focusing attention with lighting in addition to the physical segmentation, and bringing it all together with a bold but complementary palette. At the rear of the restaurant, the translucent amber glass separating the dining area from the kitchen serves as a large-scale light diffuser. “We tested a few different colours,” Nivek Remas designer Samer Shaath says, “but that amber glow worked best. People just look better with warm tones.”

The strongest aesthetic statement in Planta Queen comes from the custom wallcoverings by Toronto’s Candice Kaye Design. Its mega-floral imagery is set against dark organic backgrounds and punctuated with koi fish and the occasional dragon. The motifs are reflected in dishes like chef David Lee’s Ahi watermelon nigiri and cocktails like the Full Moon, whose bright pink dragon-fruit juice and lantern-like points of light stand out among the subdued hues to create a rare level of interplay between food and design.