A Salute To All Things Disney, But Mostly Food - A Feb 15 Dining Report - That's a Wrap 7/18

Those potstickers look yummy...do you know if they are the same as the ones at Kona Cafe? I could have lived on those. The egg rolls look good too! Oh and how come such crazy crowds at the entrance that day? Was there a reason?
I've never had them at Kona, but I would think they are different since Yak n Yeti is a Landry's not disney owned restaurant.

Still have no idea what those crowds were about. Definitely like nothing we've ever experienced at AK.

Yak and Yeti looks great! It almost made the list for last year's trip, after reading your review I think it's a must do for next March. Those wontons........yum, yum, yum!
You should definitely check it out. Especially if you are there when it is hot, its a great break from the parks.

Great review of Yak & Yeti. I too had heard a lot about those menu items and I'm glad you enjoyed them. I have to add another one to my must-try list.
Don't ya just love it when all the disboarding time pays off with a good order ; )

Glad you enjoyed Yak & Yeti so much! Its such a nice break while enjoying Animal Kingdom.
Agreed. I'm not sure we would have even tried it had flame tree not been shut down.

I do love Yak and Yeti! Their portions are large so we usually split some things there. Last time we just ordered a bunch of the appetizers and some drinks to share! Those wontons always look so delicious, but I don't like cream cheese :( I might have to make DH order them sometime so I can sneak a bite to make 100% sure that I don't like them ;)
It was definitely nice to share a few things. Jason and I almost always split appetizers for our meals in the pre-Casey era. It was nice to get back to the adults we used to be ; )

Definitely try the wontons. I didn't find them exceptionally cream cheesy so maybe you would like them. If not your hubby will be happy to have them all to himself ; )

Yak and Yeti looks amazing! I really want to try it sometime but we haven't gotten around to it yet. AK has become my second favorite park (behind MK) as of last trip.
Woohoo another member of the AK #2 park!!!!!
 
Loving your reviews and writing style, you've had me LOL a number of times! Have a wonderful trip next month!
:thanks: (Just had to use this emoji because I totally think this is a pole dancing thank you) But seriously, thanks!

So excited you're going back to WDW! I love POFQ and think you will, too. I can't comment on the beignets. Somehow, I've managed a stay at POFQ and POR and haven't tried them. They look incredible, though!

I've only been to Yak and Yeti once. I had the honey chicken and it was just okay, like you said. It seems the apps are where it's at, while the entrees seems to be pretty meh. I definitely agree that the break from the park is welcome, and think I'd probably try it again and order differently. Thanks for your input here!
Hey Adgie! No beignets at either resort. You must have some kinda restraint.

The apps are definitely where Yak n Yeti is at. Think next time we may just order more of those and make our own personal little pupu platter.

For reals?!? You look great! I surely thought you were in your early 30's.
:love1: Could totally kiss ya for that one! I like to think all the extra pounds I carry around keep the wrinkles at bay. At least that's the line I keep trying to get Jason to buy off on ; )

AGREED! Epcot is my favorite park :-)duck:) but AK is almost passing up MK for me :-)duck:)
DUCK!!!!!!! Used to love Epcot, just disappointed its become so static lately. But ya know I still love the drinks they are serving ; )

I was going to say, you should dip these in the potsticker sauce, but you beat me to it.:thumbsup2
Definitely a winning combo

I truly, truly believe that Sriracha makes EVERYTHING better. We go through one bottle a month. That's how gnarly we are about Sriracha
We are right there with ya. Between Sriacha and some random hot sauce we stole from our resort in Mexico, we find very little one of the two doesn't work on.

No way, I would have tried talking to a manager or something. But glad that your meal ended up being a hit. I would love to try this place someday!
This wasn't the only time we'd encountered the issue. Had trouble trying to buy things too. Apparently disney hasn't cracked the code on that one too.

You are making me want to go to Y&Y. Those wontons are on my list.
Go, run, wontons are waiting....

I've often said that one of the things that I prefer at the Value resorts is that their bus stops have queues. I don't like how the bus stops are a free-for-all at the Moderates and Deluxes.
Oh no, I didn't realize the moderates didn't have queues too. We'll see how POFQ in the dead of summer goes in a few weeks. Makes no sense to me though.

Ugh, I might have had to bail on that too. Finding myself standing in the FP line for longer that the posted Stand-By time would set me off!
It was beyond ridiculous and the cast member acted like I was crazy to even question waiting.

You totally just sold me on these! YUM!
Go get um Billie!

Oh man. I've often come so close to booking at ADR here JUST for this dessert. I really gotta try this someday!
You should pop into the bar sometime and just have them there. It was pretty large and I didn't see anyone eating there (as I was secretly wishing we were)
 
We made a last minute reservation for Yak & Yeti, too, about 4 hours ahead of time. I had been wanting tor try the famous won ton dessert that everyone raves about, but we were just too full to eat another bite. We got the pot stickers and they were really good that night. The sauce is the best part, but the pot stickers were good, too. I devoured my Teriyaki Mahi Mahi. It was really good. My husband had the Crispy honey chicken and declared it just all right.

We have a five night trip booked for October so I'm not sure we have time to slip another last minute Yak & Yeti ADR there again, but you never know. I only have one dinner booked now. It turns out we kind of like it that way. :)
I thought I was too full for the wontons too and then I just couldn't resist. So glad I did. I'd love to know what they put in the potsticker sauce. I can still recall its exact taste it was so good. Where was your hubby's review before we ordered the chicken ; )
Yeah for another trip and not going all ADR crazy :love:

I second those wontons, such heaven on a plate!!! I love Y&Y :)
Heaven indeed

Yay for a surprise trip! Since you'll be going at least twice this year are you going to get another TiW card?

I love pork egg rolls and those ones sound especially good. I need to stop reading dining reports because then I want to eat all the foods. Your Jiko review is amazing. It's the signature that appeals to me the most.
You know another TiW card is in our future. We typically get 3 trips off the AP's and TiW card though they've been on different schedules. Probably won't be able to get it before our first meal, but should have it in hand soon there after.

Dining reviews are definitely known to set me off on a few cravings. I'm with ya on the signature meals, the perfect culmination of disney food and service.

Sorry to hear about your bus trouble. And that was a ridiculous crowd of people at AK. I wonder if they had some problems and opened a little a later. We weren't considering Yak & Yeti until we were waiting outside to place orders in the counter service and others were walking into the nice air conditioning. It might be a must-do in the future for that reason alone. The food looks fantastic also and it's a lot of things that I would eat especially those pot stickers.
I still have no idea what brought that crowd on, I'd never seen anything like it.

Definitely give Yak n Yeti a whirl. As you said if nothing else for the AK alone, but the food makes it worth it.

We ate at Y &Y for the first time last trip- the fried green bean app was good, honey chicken entree was just 'alright', but the wonton dessert was worth the price of the entire meal:cloud9:

According to your ticker, it looks like we have very similar plans at the beginning of September! :cool1::beach:
Mmm, fried green means, don't know how I missed that one. Sounds like we may be sipping some lapu lapu's together ; ) Did you get a "magical" deal too?

Just caught up, nice reviews!!!
Thanks! More coming up soon
 


We'd left off with a great lunch at Yak n Yeti and from there headed over to visit Fiki (aka Rafiki to everyone but Casey) over at Planet Watch. Between the characters, goats, train, and opportunity to earn some wilderness explorer badges - Casey loves it here. While waiting in line for Fiki my child decided to show off her best animal faces:







It was a little chilly and misty this day, weather that is apparently not conducive to chipmunks (though I think someone forgot to tell the ones that live in our neighborhood) so Chip N Dale were inside too with no line whatsoever



We were probably over there for an hour or so before heading for a FP through the savannah's of Africa and then catching some really creepy bugs under the tree of life. Disney really should get an exterminator to look into that situation ; )

Then it was time for one of Casey's favorite AK activities: The Dinoland Dance Party. We'd found this by accident a few trips back and have made sure we catch it every time since then. For those unfamiliar its always a mix of characters that dance with everyone for 15 mins or so. Casey absolutely loves it, but unfortunately for anyone who hasn't done this, it is sadly now gone. Not sure why Disney decided to stop it, but bad Disney, bad!!!! Here's a few of my favorite pics:







While Casey was enjoying the dance party and her responsible parent (aka yours truly) was monitoring her, the other parent snuck off for in search of snacks. He found some cinnamon glazed almonds over at the Dino Diner. Please do enjoy Jason's nuts (and insert your own punchline here)

These were nice and sweet and had a good flavor. For some reason I was expecting them to be warm, but they were decidedly cold.

Before we left for the day we caught a showing of the Nemo Show, which we'd never seen before. I'm sure I'll get some haters out there but I really didn't like this. I knew it was Avenue Q-esque and the puppetry was fantastic - especially Crush - but the music was just plain awful. Of course not the songs that were actually from Nemo, but the rest sounded like something even I could have written. I'm glad we tried it (Jason for the record is still bitter though), but we'll stick to the lion king show from now on. #EndRant


After Nemo we let Casey finish out the day right where we began at her Rascal Park before we headed back to AKL.

And now for what you all are really here for FOOD!!!!!! Our plan for the night had been to grab something quick at AKL and then head to MK for fireworks, but it was so chilly that we decided staying in was best. So on the way back to the resort I checked for a reservation at Sanaa. Our options were either 8:30 (too late) or 5:30 (aka in about 10 minutes) so we just hoped off the bus at Kidani and went with the ladder.

We weren't seated by a window as we had been in a previous visit, but it was getting dark already so it wasn't a big deal. It had been a while since we'd eaten lunch and we were all famished, so we decided to start with the Indian Style Bread Service.

You are given your choice of bread types from Traditional Naan, Garlic Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kulcha, and Pappadum. Not wanting to distract from the accompaniments we went with the traditional naan. Speaking of accompaniments you can select 5 or go with the full kit and caboodle of nine. Clearly from the photo we went all in and enjoyed the following: Red Chile Sambal, Cucumber Raita, Coriander Chutney, Mango Chutney, Coconut Chutney, Garlic Pickle, Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle, Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus, and Tamarind Chutney.

Very long explanation out of the way, this was FANTASTIC. I won't get into each sauce as with the exception of the jalapeno (way too spicy) and garlic pickle (just plain weird) we enjoyed them all. Miss. Casey, who plowed through an entire bread by herself, liked the tamarin the best as she declared it tasted like cinammon. Jason and I agreed that the coconut chutney was our favorite. This was sweet with a little bit of spice and would taste amazing on some ice cream. A close second was the coriander chutney for me and the red chilie sambal for my heat loving hubby. Of course the only issue with this wonderful plate of food, was the bread to accompaniment ratio. We ended up ordering another 2 breads which we were charged $1.99 for.

To go with our food Jason and I decided to each try a flight of wine. As neither of us knows much about South African wine this was a great way to explore some new tastes and more importantly help us zone in on what we wanted for a full bottle ; ) Here is a quick pick of the wines and the really blurry menu (I firmly blame all the wine for the photo quality):



I got the durban which came with a gewurztraminer, cabernet, and chakalaka (love that name) blend which is made from mostly syrah. Jason got the Johannesburg which came with a pinotage, syrah, and a syrah blend. His syrah blend ended up being our favorite so we ordered a bottle of it: The Edgebaston Pepper Pot. This was a full bodied spicy wine that had some fruit and pepper notes (go figure from the name).

Casey still has a few years before she can indulge in some mama juice (her name for wine) but she enjoyed some light up lemonade.


For our entree's Jason and I were having a hard time deciding so ultimately we elected to share 2 entrees amongst the 3 of us. First were 2 selections from the "Slow-cooked in Gravy, Simple and Well-seasoned" part of the menu.

This is the lamb vindaloo on the left and durban shrimp on the right. Unfortunately the lamb itself was a little overcooked, but the vindaloo sauce was delicious and had a good curry flavor with some ginger undertones. Casey ended up eating most of the lamb. Onto the shrimp which were thankfully cooked perfectly, but it was crazy spicy. I'm a girl who likes spice and this was H-O-T HOT! We ended up using coconut chuntey from the bread service to help temper the heat.

Our other entree selection came from Sanaa Vegetarian Sampler section wherein we chose Paneer Tikka and Spicy Chickpeas and Potatoes.

The paneer had a bit of a strange chewy texture, but like with the lamb the sauce was amazing. The tikka was good and creamy from the yogurt that was likely in it and had a great curry flavor. The star of both dishes though was without question the chickpeas and potatoes. They had a depth of flavor from lots of garlic and corriander and also some sweetness from the tomato sauce that was in it. The chickpeas themselves were nice and tender. I could have eaten an entire vat of those for my meal. With both entrees we'd selected the basmati rice which was nice and buttery.

This was our second visit to Sanaa and like the first time it did not disappoint. The food is definitely a nod to Indian cooking, but includes some African spices. If you go during the day eating the Savannah views just can't be beat. And as a one credit table service on the dining plan, its a great deal. With our Tables in Wonderland Card we saved $16.27.

I'm sure no one will be surprised that we finished off the night back in our room with more South African wine. Liquid desserts really are the best after all ; )

Up next our last day in the world and sadly our least favorite meal of the trip.
 


That bread service looks amazing. I love naan....especially the garlic kind...but I understand your rationale for getting the plain with all those fabulous dips. That looked like it could have made a meal in itself. The rest looked good too of course...but a lot of food!!
 
I would love to try the naan and all nine of the dips, although I'd skip the hot one. But in general I find the food choices at the AKL restaurants to be a little scary since there are so many things that I never heard of. :eek: I've never been very adventurous when it came to food. But your meal looks good. :)
 
We'd just left MK and were headed for our "value" resort Animal Kingdom Lodge. In my warped mind it somehow offset the cost of WL if we moved to AKL for the last two days of our trip. Only I can justify a deluxe villa by "downgrading" to a standard deluxe ; ) #DisneyMath

We'd signed up for the text with direct to room, but never received anything. I was a little concerned that our room wouldn't be ready, but thankfully it was. Strange though they had no record of me checking in online (foreshadowing, this would come up again). But in fairly short order we were whisked off to our "standard" room and were shocked to find this outside our window...



As I understand there are some standard rooms with savannah views because they are over the people pens (aka where us mortals go in case of an emergency so we don't get eaten by the cute animals). I didn't know this before we left and was literally jumping with excitement. Casey on the other hand was more excited about this little bad boy...

We were also granted a bunk bed, which Casey thought was pure heaven. Here are a few more room pics.




We consulted our trusty AKL schedule of events and saw they had a musical instrument demonstration going on. We took Casey and had some fun learning to play African instruments. Then we explored the resort a bit and saw some wildlife in its "natural" habitat





Then we saw this most majestic beast in all of his glory.


And a blurry close-up

Ahh, the wonders of the savannah ; )

From there we swung by Mara for some provisions (aka some South African Pinotage for our nightcap) and then headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. Earlier in the day we knew we were tired and wanted to take it easy this evening so we were happy to score a 7pm reservation to one of our Disney favorites, Jiko.

We were seated very quickly and soon was presented with some bread.

The bread was pretty standard issue, but the Tandoori spiced butter was delicious. I'm curious why they call it Tandoori though, because as far as I know that is a cooking method, but I think they just incorporate the spices inherent in Tandoori Chicken. For me I picked mostly picked up curry and some ginger in the background. Either way it compliment the otherwise bland bread.

While we contemplated our food choices, Casey and I showed off our spokesmodel sides. Our pretty catalog look...

And the not so pretty Mad magazine centerfolds...


Having not had lunch we were hungry so some appetizers were in order. Jason ordered the Grilled Wild Boar Tenderloin

This was served with Mealie Pap, Chakalaka (South African vegetable relish, thank you google), Truffle Oil, and Micro Cilantro. This picture doesn't look all that good, but it was delicious. Wild boar as I understand has less fat than its domestic brethren which made this slightly tough, but it was cooked a perfect medium rare. The chakalaka added some nice spice and the pap (grit like substance) paired nicely with it. Only complaint is that neither Jason nor I could detect much truffle flavor.

I ordered the North African Carrot Soup with Sweet Potatoes, Ginger, Pink Lady Apples, and Black Garlic Ice Cream

This, hands down, was the best thing I ate in Disney all week and may very well be the best thing I've ever eaten at Disney. A deceptively simple soup, this was smooth and creamy and had a complexity of flavor to it that was simply amazing.. Carrots mixed with ginger and some cinnamon notes and a hint of sweetness, I literally could have bathed in this stuff would that not be frowned upon. The garlic "ice cream" added a subtle garlic flavor and some freshness to the soup. In case you can't tell I was in complete and utter soup love. If they ever take this off the menu I will personally lead the picket line ; )

For our entree's Jason decided to keep his pork-thing going and chose the Nigerian Spiced Berkshire Double-Cut Pork Chop with
Braised Greens, Ancient Grain Risotto, and Apple Butter

Yes ladies and gentleman, this was as good as it looked. Hands down the best pork of the trip and his favorite entree. I'd never had a chop that big before and with the spiced char on the outside, it almost tasted like beef. It was tender and moist and the butter accompaniment added some sweetness. The risotto had a nice tomato flavor, though it wasn't as creamy as I like. The greens on the other hand were delicious. Well seasoned, with a slight spice the only issue was there wasn't enough of them ; )

Casey and I shared the Piri Piri Snapper

This is served with Truffled Mealie Pap, Cauliflower, Romanesca, and Roasted Tomato Beurre Monté. I know I'm really throwing down the superlatives tonight, but this was the single best fish dish I ever recall eating. The snapper itself was mild tasting, though a denser "meatier" fish and the beurre monte (an emulsified butter, thank you Chef Jason for the last minute assist) had a robust tomato flavor. Jason thinks they actually cooked the fish in the beurre monte to not just put the flavor on top, but deliver it throughout the fish. Unlike in Jason's appetizer, the pap had an amazing truffle flavor and I could have devoured a vat of the it alone. This was served with carrots and some green substance that I later deciphered was romanesca cauliflower. They were very good and complimented the fish nicely.

I didn't take any pictures, but for drinks (cause ya know those were flowing) I had some South African Sauvignon Blanc and Jason stared with a Tusker beer and then had a South African Pinotage, which taste very much like a Shiraz to me.

We elected to have dessert back in our room later and settled up the bill for what has become our legendary best Disney meal ever. From the service to the drinks to the appetizers and the entrees, each and every item built upon the next and it was a perfect evening. One that I'm not even sure could be topped, but we have Victoria and Albert's booked for our September trip so we'll see. With our Tables in Wonderland Card we saved $31.70.

After a long day, Casey was clearly tired so we retired to our room. As Casey slept in her bunk, Jason and I indulged in the Pinotage and zebra domes we'd picked up earlier at Mara in our bed.

I'd read about the legendary zebra domes for years and was excited to finally try them. They had a good chocolate mouse flavor and consistency to them, but they were a bit looser than I expected as I thought more cake was underneath the elusive dome. I'm also not a huge white chocolate fan, so these were not really for me. Of course that did not hinder me from eating my two ; )

Up next we yak it up in the Animal Kingdom, in only the best of ways....


really odd question, but we're staying at AKL soon, with the bunks! how was the comfort of the bunks? any difference from the value resort beds?
 
Sanaa is my #1 can't wait to experience restaurant of our upcoming trip. And knowing they do wine flights, has just made it all the more anticipatory!!!
 
I had a light lunch so looking at the bread service right now has my tummy growling big time :rotfl2: Oh how we love Sanaa and the naan there with all the sauces is just plain amazing! I have never had a bad meal there, bad service yes, but loooove the food their!! Thank you so much for sharing.
 
Chip N Dale were inside too with no line whatsoever

Lucky!

Then it was time for one of Casey's favorite AK activities: The Dinoland Dance Party.

How did I not know about this?!?!

but unfortunately for anyone who hasn't done this, it is sadly now gone.

Noooo!!!

Very long explanation out of the way, this was FANTASTIC.

This bread service looks fantastic. It might be the only reason I go to AKL in the future.

As neither of us knows much about South African wine this was a great way to explore some new tastes and more importantly help us zone in on what we wanted for a full bottle ;

Yum. I'm pretty familiar with South African wines because they're good and more affordable than other regions. With that said, I don't recognize most of these. Yet another reason to go. ;)

Casey still has a few years before she can indulge in some mama juice (her name for wine)

:rotfl:


The star of both dishes though was without question the chickpeas and potatoes. They had a depth of flavor from lots of garlic and corriander and also some sweetness from the tomato sauce that was in it. The chickpeas themselves were nice and tender. I could have eaten an entire vat of those for my meal.

This sounds delicious! I hope we get a chance to try it. Thank you for sharing your review. :goodvibes
 
Sanaa is one of my absolute favorites! I'm with you, I think the coconut chutney is the best one. I didn't know you could order more bread (even if it is an extra fee) so that's really good to know - so many sauces, so little bread! And I got the durban shrimp the first time I was there, and it was also way too spicy for me. I went with something else the second time we ate there. The butter chicken is my absolute favorite. Now I'm hungry for Sanaa again!
 
Great update and how awesome, an impromptu dinner at Sanaa!

We ended up ordering another 2 breads which we were charged $1.99 for.

I am glad to hear you can do this. We are eating here on our trip we are about to take and I have always thought it doesn't look like much bread when you get all sauces, so it's good to know you can order a couple of extra pieces.

Can't wait to read more!
 
So glad that I took a sneak peak at your DR while I was at the airport and made sure I carried my Annual Pass with me for discounts. I totally agree, why can't this and the TIW card be stored in your magic band like all our other information?

Love, love Saana. I haven't tried the lamb, but love that spicy shrimp. And the naan bread is worth the trip over there.
 
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So cute! I've never seen Chip & Dale without a line... Man, did you get lucky! :goodvibes

Please do enjoy Jason's nuts (and insert your own punchline here)
Oh, Kari. :rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2:

Before we left for the day we caught a showing of the Nemo Show, which we'd never seen before. I'm sure I'll get some haters out there but I really didn't like this. I knew it was Avenue Q-esque and the puppetry was fantastic - especially Crush - but the music was just plain awful. Of course not the songs that were actually from Nemo, but the rest sounded like something even I could have written. I'm glad we tried it (Jason for the record is still bitter though), but we'll stick to the lion king show from now on. #EndRant
I've never had any interest in the Nemo show, for all of the above reasons. :sad2: But I have a first-timers and a Nemo fan with me on the next trip, so I have a feeling that I'm going to be subjected to it in December.

(I firmly blame all the wine for the photo quality)
Seems legit. o_O

Casey still has a few years before she can indulge in some mama juice (her name for wine)
"Mama juice." That's awesome. :rotfl:
 
I've been craving naan for about two weeks now, thanks to all of the reviews I read of Sanaa. I'm glad you had another great meal there. I would like to try a lunch so I can have that view! Looks like such a beautiful restaurant. Can't wait to read more of your reviews!
 
Hi Kari! :wave2:
I'm following along. Just got caught up to Cali Grill but wanted to say hello and let you know I'm really enjoying your DR! We have a trip planned for next year and are going to try the DDP so I really love all of your signature restaurant reviews ....since we have never been to any of them! 8-) I'm a self proclaimed research junkie so thanks for your great detailed reviews!!

Kelly
 

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