Okay, and now for a much more interesting review - Tusker House! I was very excited about this meal. This was the first meal I had booked after planning my trip, and I think it's the only ADR I didn't change at some point.
I spent the whole morning at Animal Kingdom, though I didn't do much before lunch, just Kilimanjaro Safari and Expedition Everest, and I saw a showing of Festival of the Lion King. I also noticed, while walking to and from Africa and Camp Minnie-Mickey, Pizzafari's new breakfast menu, which sounded so good, including a breakfast panini, and a spinach and goat cheese frittata. I really wish I had eaten breakfast there instead of my boring fruit at Pop. Hopefully they still have the same menu next year.
My ADR at Tusker House was for 11:30, which is when they open for lunch. It does take them awhile to get started on seating I've noticed, I guess this is because the breakfast diners are still finishing as the lunch diners start arriving, and they have to completely clear the room of characters and change over the buffet. I have read however, that starting in December I believe, that lunch will become a character meal as well, which to me is dissapointing, since Tusker House was somewhat a hidden gem, and a real bargain at $21, and you know that becoming a character meal will change that, plus for dinner, I'd rather eat at Boma.
Anyway, my server here was nice. She sent the chef out to walk me through the buffet and show me what I could and couldn't eat. The chef was nice enough, however I think I expected too much from reading other's experiences, as I wasn't offered anything for dessert, and I wasn't offered any veganized versions of anything. Also, the chef told me the samosas, which I was looking foward too, were not vegan. Apparently then have some kind of egg wash on them.
On to what I could, and did, eat;
On my first plate I had, going clockwise, green beans, what I think was the saffron-infused cabbage, white rice, pearl cous cous, tandoori tofu, marrakesh cous cous, and roasted potatoes.
The green beans were well cooked, though they were just that, green beans, but at least they added some color to my plate, the cabbage was tasty, but not something I needed any more of, the rice and pearl cous cous were both fine, but pretty bland and boring. The tandoori tofu was tasty, but I thought the tofu seemed a little dried out and over cooked. I make a very similar tofu dish at home, and while the taste is pretty much the same, I like the texture of the tofu I use much better. The marrakesh cous cous was very flavorful, it had some interesting spice combination in it, and was very tasty. The roasted potatoes were delicious as well. Though they were "just potatoes" whatever seasoning they used on them was really good, they were cooked well, and I just really liked them.
Aside from more potatoes and marrakesh cous cous on my second plate, I also raided the cold side of the buffet. This time I tried, tabbouleh, some kind of grain salad, hummus, mango chutney, and dried fruit chutney. I also had a plate with a pile of pita bread to use for all my dips and stuff, but I apparently didn't take a picture of that.
The tabbouleh and salad were good, but honestly if I didn't take pictures of my food, I probably wouldn't have remembered them. The hummus was good too, better then the hummus at Everything Pop, but still not as good as the kind I eat at home, (seriously Sabra hummus, some of the best stuff ever.) I really liked the two chutneys I had. They were both kind of sweet, but not overly sweet. The dried fruit one was especially tasty, and had things like raisins and dried apricots in it, and I think I also recall some figs. It was just really good.
I was dissapointed that there was no dessert option for me, though I suppose I could've just had some more fruit. Or some more chutney, lol, but by that point I was pretty full anyway.
Overall I really like Tusker House, but with the coming inclusion of characters I won't be hurrying back. Though dinner will still be character-free, I'd much rather go to Boma given the choice for similar food. Though considering I probably will go back to eating fish anytime I'm in Disney, and I know from last year's trip the salmon at Tusker House is excellant, maybe I'll eat here again. So for me Tusker House is really a high maybe, which if you know how I am with ADRs, means it will be coming and going off my ADR list daily.