plant 13.

Plant 13 was introduced to me by a friend who sang praises of their pulled pork bun.  It's located in a bit of a where-the-heck-am-I place with construction sites on both sides of the restaurant and hence it's quite easy to miss if you're not looking for it.  The restaurant is touted as an American style (Georgia, specifically) brunch/lunch eatery but does do dinner as well.  I've yet to try their dinner menu but I'm definitely looking forward to the day that I do judging by my lunch experience.

So, what was for lunch that day? Both my friend and I ordered the Plant 13 Sampler (since we wanted to try everything) and decided to share two sides of onion rings and battered fries.

Plant 13 Sampler (po boy, pulled pork bun and grilled cheese with mushroom sandwich): $16

The po boy is a long toasted bun with spicy deep-fried chicken and lettuce with mayonnaise as its sauce.  It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't something that blew my mind.  I found the chicken slightly soggy in some places and it kind of fell apart as I tried to eat it, although that's probably just me being incapable of eating properly.  The pulled pork bun was also a little disappointing after hearing such raving reviews from my friend.  However, she did say it was a different kind of bun from the one she had previously eaten which she preferred over the one given in the sampler. The pork was sweet and stringy, while the coleslaw was creamy and crunchy.  My favourite was the grilled cheese sandwich with mushrooms.  I had originally wanted to just order the larger version by itself, but decided to go with the sampler instead.  The bread was beautifully toasted with a crunchy outside and soft filling, and the mushrooms and cheese were creamily salty.

L-R: onion rings and chipotle mayonnaise: $8, battered fries with bacon and nacho cheese: $8

The onion rings were the best onion rings I have ever had.  They're just so much better than the onion rings found at Hungry Jacks with their fresh, oily crispiness and juicy onion insides.  They were also really big, larger the size of the mayonnaise dish.  The chipotle mayonnaise was underwhelming.  From the moment it came out, there was already a congealed surface on the top.  What was puzzling was that the mayonnaise beneath the congealed layer was still warm which meant it must have been fresh.  I know chipotle mayonnaise is supposed to have a thick texture but it didn't explain why the top was actually hard.  Anyway, moving on the battered fries.  These were crunchy without being burnt, and there were pieces of bacon throughout the dish.  These were crunchy as well, which matched well with the fries.  The fries were super tasty and I could have easily gone through two servings of them without much trouble.

My friend knew the owner of the restaurant and he came to our table and had a bit of a chat with us.  He told us about the development of his whisky collection for the place (which is extensively impressive) and was very friendly.  He also had the coolest accent - a mixture of Georgian, Texan and Australian.  The waitress who served us was also helpful. Overall it was a great dining experience and the restaurant itself had a very interesting interior design.