Ok I managed to lose the company early so I am going to get the first reviews in tonight.
For once we managed to score a wonderfully timed flight out of Montreal. Normally to catch a flight we end up hauling our sorry butts out of bed at the inhumane hour of 4:00 am, dress, brush our teeth, and then dress sleeping children who we then have to carry out to the car. They are still a bit too young to get the excitement of the day and are more interested in curling up into the fetal position while you try to get their pants on!
This time however, our flight took off at 9:30 am and landed in Orlando at 12:30. Yes thats right folks, a direct flight! Needless to say by the time we made our way via the occasionally speedy Magical Express to the beautiful Polynesian resort, we were hungry! We really didnt want to eat too much though since we had much anticipated adrs at Kona Café later on. So we decided to get one adult meal and one child meal and split them. This was our fist time at the Polynesian and so it took us a few tries to find captain Cooks but once we arrived, DH took the girls to find a free table while I tried to figure out the complex touch screen system. Ok
look at all the thumb nails
so lets try
Noodle Stir Fry! And for the kids, you cant go wrong with chicken nuggets. After that it all got very confusing. To make a long story short, after holding up the line a couple of times, I finally got the dining plan all straight and headed to the table with grub!
The Noodle Stir Fry was fantastic! I have actually been trying to nab the recipe ever since I got home so if anyone out there has it, please feel free to forward it on! It has amazing flavor and tender chicken pieces, semi-crunchy vegetables and soft udon noodles. DH and I fought over the last bites.
The chicken nuggets went over well. The girls ate them all along with grapes and Jell-O but they were more interested in our noodles. Both girls are fairly adventurous eaters. The have little choice since at my house you are rarely served the same meal twice in at least a month! They really did like our dessert however. it was a chocolate muffin with loads of icing, a chocolate micky and sprinkles.
We headed out to Magic Kingdom for a quick trip and the returned for a 6:05 adr at the Kona Café. I have to say we were a tiny bit late for this adr. We knew we would be but tried to squeeze in that one last ride. We had no trouble getting a table however and we were quickly led to a table for 4. The girls were given some crayons and stuff to color with.
The new dining plan doesnt include appetizers but honestly I think that is my favorite part of the meal. Sometimes I would rather just have the appetizer and a dessert along with maybe a nice wine or cocktail and forget the whole entrée! So when we did order and appetizer, it was usually something I wanted but DH agreed to share. Today we ordered the pot stickers; Wok seared duck dumplings with creamy ginger soy sauce
These were wonderful. I have not had a lot of duck before and what I did have I wasnt that fond of but here the pot stickers were little bundles of flavor and the sauce accompanies it very well. There were a lot more on the plate but I remember a little late to take the picture. We were quite hungry!
About the time we were done the appetizer, the waitress appeared with a giant roll and some macadamia nut butter. I had forgotten about this and apparently our waitress almost did herself! Thank goodness she didnt though as this was a little slice of heaven. In my experience mixing butter with sugar and nuts is usually a prelude to licking the spoon. Well I am here to tell you that if you go heavy on the butter and spread the whole thing on a warm soft bread roll, the result is almost better than batter!
For an entrée I ordered the Tuna Oscar - Served with fried green tomatoes, tempura-fried jumbo lump crab, and wasabi hollandaise. I have read a lot about this and since I love sushi and wasabi I figured this was a good choice. I have to say it was just ok. I think this may have just been because it wasnt what I expected. I loved tempura fried jumbo crab and I loved the sauce, but there was so much tuna there was no way I was going to finish it all. The tuna was too warm to suit me I think.
DH headed straight for the Beef Teriyaki. Did I mention he likes steaks? This turned out to be his favorite steak of the week. He has yet to stop talking about it. It was cooked just to his liking, charred a bit on the outside and slightly pink on the inside. The sauce was absolutely amazing with grilled pineapple. He ordered this again later in the week when we returned for an impromptu encore.
The kids menu I find very unadventurous. DH5 had the chicken noodle soup, and the mac and cheese. She polished off the soup, but barely touched the mac and cheese. I have no idea what that says about the mac and cheese but the way I see it, she loved the soup and what 5 year old eats more than an entire bowl of soup for a meal?
DD 3 ordered grilled chicken, pasta with sauce and melted cheese and veggies. She didnt eat a whole lot of it, but she ate a ton of bread beforehand. This girl is a sucker for a warm baguette so this was like candy for her. She is a pretty tiny little thing so after the bread, the rest of her meal held little appeal.
For Dessert we decided to skip the kids desserts and order a Kona Kone for us all to share and we got the Chocolate Macadamia Nut Tart to take back to the hotel room. The girls loved the Kone. They adore cotton candy and the generic smarties went over well too. I appreciated the flat bottomed cone which was glued to the plate with chocolate. It made me think of the taco shell commercials where they guys keep trying to find a way to keep the taco shell standing up but I digress
Even together the four of us could not finish the cone so we finally gave up and headed for our room.
Later on when the girls were asleep and DH and I were sitting out on our little patio I caved in and dove into the macadamia nut torte. I never did take a picture of it more's the pity. I ended up eating the whole thing! It is the sweetest dessert I may have ever had. It is like caramel pie with macadamia nuts and chocolate on top. Delish!
So to wrap up the day, we loved the food at Captain Cooks even if the computerized system left me more than a little confused as to the procedure. So far it is the best counter service food we have ever encountered at a resort.
Kona Café was probably on of our favorite restaurants now and we will definitely be returning on our next trip no matter how many new places there are to explore!
Up next: Fanning the Flames and Is it a Yak or a Yeti?