La Tour Goes Plant Based

Aina Haina Cafe overhauls its menu to offer plant-based French-inspired dishes.

Above: Macaron selection at Planted

Opened in 2011 as a branch of the popular Ba-Le Sandwich shop restaurants, La Tour Cafe is a casual french inspired cafe with four locations spread from Pearl City to Aina Haina.

In 2023 La Tour Cafe’s Aina Haina location underwent a drastic overhaul by switching their ingredients to make their menu vegan.

Utilising alternatives to eggs, dairy and meat the chain cafes were able to adjust their menu to keep their popular dishes successfully. 

Above: Planted interior and menu

At Planted, the popular French dip - a baguette traditionally filled with Wagyu beef - contains a variety of caramelised mushrooms, their Banh Mi replaces pork with p*rk, and vegan cheese alternatives are used for their grilled cheese and sandwiches.

La Tour Bakehouse provides bread and pastries for all locations with Planted offering vegan-friendly shokupan (milk bread), burger buns, and macarons.   

Reviews from the vegan food app Happy Cow have praised the flavour of the menu items with reviews averaging 4.3 stars.

Other La Tour Cafes will retain their original menu, and some small non-vegan items such as macarons, crispbreads and crackers are available at Planted.