The Plants

A casual, mostly plant-based kitchen on Zanzibar's east coast at Paje, plating carrot-ginger soup, *pho*, coconut chana daal and mango fried rice for the village's resident kitesurfing and yoga crowd.

The Plants is a small terrace kitchen set back from the lagoon in Paje, the east-coast village where Zanzibar’s reef cuts a tidal pool wide enough to host the island’s kitesurfing school crowd from morning through the long afternoon wind. The room is barefoot-casual, with timber stools, painted concrete, kanga textiles in the window, and a kitchen that opens onto the seating so you can smell the spice grinder before you reach the menu.

The cooking leans Asian and Indian-inflected, which suits a village whose visitors arrive salty, sun-tired and very ready for something to land warm in a bowl. The carrot-ginger soup is the one for an overcast morning; pho stretches the menu into Vietnamese territory with a clean vegetable broth and a fistful of herbs; coconut chana daal runs the menu’s most-ordered evening plate, ladled over rice and topped with crisp shallots; and mango fried rice does the unlikely work of fixing both a long board session and a slightly enthusiastic hour at the village’s beach bar. The menu reads predominantly vegan, though some dishes incorporate egg or cheese, so strict vegans should confirm at order.

For the Luxa Terra Zanzibar itinerary, The Plants is the lunch spot that quietly proves plant-forward eating belongs in a beach town as easily as in a capital city. Eat at the long bench, leave the shoes by the door, and let Paje’s wind do what Paje’s wind does for the rest of the afternoon.