We had a 6:00 pm ADR at Jiko: The Cooking Place, the Signature Dining TS restaurant at AKL. The restaurant is located directly opposite Boma on the level lower than the lobby. Walk past the seemingly perpetual crowd in the Boma waiting area into the relative peace and quiet of Jiko.
We were headed to AK, which had pm EMH, after dinner. Even still, we dressed appropriately for dinner. I wore a black skirt made of travel fabric and a jewel toned quick dry shirt. DH and DS both wore polo shirts, made for athletes out of quick dry fabric, and similar shorts. Yes, we fully anticipated, and looked forward to, getting totally drenched on the Kali River Rapids. We drove ourselves, so we had a change of shoes in the car. My outfit dressed up the party, but we were still in keeping with the majority of diners. (Can you tell I have a THING about park campy dress at some of the Signatures?) Here we are, pictured much later that night:
I wasn't happy with the 6:00 pm ADR, but I took it, of course. After witnessing the way of the crowd at CG the previous night, I felt confident that if we arrived early, we would still be seated in short order.
I was right.
We checked in, were given our buzzer, and headed over to the lounge area. We hadn't even figured out where we would sit to wait when the buzzer announced that we could be seated.
If I had to pick a single adjective to describe Jiko, I would say, subdued. There was a low key vibe going on. Dark stained woods. Subtle native inspired fabrics. Very little artifical lighting. The majority of light being provided by the floor to ceiling windows that overlook a pretty little stream/bridge vignette that is the path to the pool area. There was also light provided from the open kitchen area where, we were informed by our hostess, all of the appetizers are prepared.
There was unreserved bar seating at the appetizer kitchen area. I think there were three or four stools in one section and four or five in another. You could watch the two chefs up close and personal.
Which reminds me. There was also bar seating at California Grille. Just a few seats that overlooked where the sushi was being prepared. If I were to compare the two, I would think that the Jiko one would be more fun. At CG, you had your back to the beautiful view. At Jiko, the setting was almost fireplace like with the raised wood fired oven in the kitchen area.
We barely entered the restaurant. We were seated in a wonderful booth. It was unusual in that it was two bench seats facing each other with the retangular table between, but the booths were open on both ends, making in and out access much easier than the typical single access booth.
We were seated with a view of the open kitchen on one side and separated from the area in the window area from an aisle on the other side. Despite being in the middle of it all, it felt quite separated from any other diners, very intimate feeling. It wasn't even 5:30 pm.
This picture from the wdwinfo page here on the Dis could have been our booth. You can see the counter seating at the kitchen.
The restaurant clearly continued deeper into the building but I didn't have occasion to see it.
Our server, Tiffany, was super chatty. She took a shine to DS because her DS is only one grade older. I think DH would have prefered less chatty, but since he married a Chatty Cathy, I think he can get overloaded. I enjoyed her.
We had forgone wearing the anniversary buttons tonight. It just didn't seem right, so we didn't.
But we did decide that we were in the mood for some wine; we asked Tiffany for a recommendation. Based on the criteria of cold, light, refreshing, appropriate to the heat of the day, she recommended a Sauvignon Blanc, which the receipt says Warwick. This was an excellent choice. A middle of road cost at $53 a bottle. Based on her recommendation, I recommended to her that she try the Sauvignon Blanc from Kim Crawford in New Zealand.
Still in the sharing appetizer mode, we settled on the Chef's Specialty Flatbread with sun-dried tomato, artichokes, goat cheese and rocket pesto and the Taste of Africa with kalamata olive hummus, Durban Tikka Masala, and Malay spinach-lentil dip, with Lentil papadam, whole wheal lavosh, and Flax seed Naan bread.
We just said no to the fruit plate or salad for DS. Why order what wouldn't be eaten? We were still debating our entrees and didn't order them yet.
The house bread arrived in a delicate but sturdy beadwork basket. There were two types of bread inside. Both were tasty, but DS preferred the one that was purely bread to the one with added flax seeds. The butter was out of this world good. Tiffany said it was Tandori butter. I can see how some would call it curry butter, and it was similar in that earthy, spicy, as opposed to herb-y, quality. It was NOT hot spicy, just wonderfully flavorful. A good accompaniment to a rather plain but super fluffy bread. I was so hungry, and enjoying it so much, I didn't photograph the bread or the butter.
Soon after our appetizers arrived. Just so you can get a clue as to "subdued" lighting, I left the bread for the Taste of Africa picture unaltered. You can also see the light colored wine in that picture.
The African dips were fun to sample. The overall fav was the hummus with kalamata olives. The lentil one was very good also, very distinctive, almost sharp which was surprising in such a dish. The red one didn't really blend in with all the other flavors going on. The Naan bread was the best in the basket. I've had Naan bread at Indian buffets and this was similar to that. Very nice.
DS combo bread plate:
All I can say is YUM!!! The flatbread was outstanding. Tiffany had recommended the BBQ chicken one, but we knew that the goat cheese on the Chef's would be more to our liking. There wasn't too much of any one thing on the bread. Each bite was like a new combo.
Somewhere in the timeline, we actually ordered our entrees. The adult menu offers a filet with white macaroni and cheese. The child filet would come with a potato side dish, which I asked to be replaced with the mac and cheese like the adult dish. Gladly.
The filet was small, as is typical of the child portions in WDW, but it was excellently prepared. It was super tender and tasty. My meat lovin boy was well pleased. And for once, with a pasta side dish, DS's hunger was more satisfied with his own plate. I don't know if that mac and cheese was also the one on the kid menu, or if that is the same as the adult side dish, but it was fabulous. DS ate every bite. Which was a good thing, because he would NOT be interested at all in DH's Swahili Curry Shrimp - with East African Curry Sauce, Artichokes, and Coconut Rice:
Which, in the words of DH, was OUTSTANDING, this trip's chosen word for what DH thought was super duper ally-ooper tasty food. Interestingly enough, the curry in his dish was totally different from the curry in my dish, Roasted Lamb Loin- with herbed cous cous, figs, sun-dried cherries and red curry sauce:
Which was absolutely heavenly. Until very recently, I thought that I didn't like lamb. Lamb apparently has a special chemical not found in other meats that is supposed to be a marvelous diet addition. A recommended one serving a week, actually. So I tried a Loin Chop. Very good. This dish was a loin cut also. I LOVED it. My meat loving DS also enjoyed it, after much encouragement, but he still prefers a cow, he says.
Please note. Unlike Thai curry, which can be clear your sinuses hot, African curry is mild. Curry is really a generic term for a mixture of spices, some curries with as many 20 different spices. This is how curries generally get some sort of preceeding adjective, like East African, or red to help get a clue as to what their make up might be. Both of our curry dishes were mild.
It was dessert time. It was such a shame that both DH and I left food on our plate to leave room for dessert. My meat was gone, because DS helped polish that off, but DH was almost in shock in that he wasn't eating more of his. He wanted SO MUCH to take it home and have it for lunch the next day, as if we were at home and not on vacation. That said. If you are on a budget, but want to experience Jiko, the portions here are definitely share worthy, especially if you indulge in a multi-course meal.
DS ordered the second ranking dessert of the trip. Jiko "Fun-do" assorted finger treats with chocolate-caramel fondue.
If he would have liked more of the dipping choices, this might have ranked number one. As it was, he didn't care for all the choices and so he left much of it on his plate.
DH enjoyed coffee with his dessert, which counted toward his beverage on the
DDP. DH and I each were tempted by the Tanzanian Chocolate Cheesecake with chocolate ganache, amarula sauce, and lavender ice cream.
This was super rich. Overly rich. Thick, heavish, sticking to the fork kind of rich. Yummy. But unless you are one of THOSE chocolate lovers, you might leave about half of it on your plate like DH and I did. Surprising, the lavendar ice cream was tasty. A little weird. I think of soap and other bathroom products when I think of lavendar. I hadn't really thought of it as a culinary herb.
The bill, which closed out at 7:19pm:
KM Filet $13.00
KM Fun Do 7.00
Shrimp 31.00
Coffee 2.19
Chocolate 8.00
Lamb 34.00
Chocolate 8.00
Flat Bread 9.00
Taste of Africa 9.00
Total $129.07 (with tax)
Wine $53.00, $56.45 OOP with tax
Jiko was fabulous food in a very pleasant to dine in atmosphere. It was the quietest restaurant in our experience. The crowd was by far the most adult crowd of any of the Signature Dining we visited. The booth behind us did have a young one, somewhere in the two to three-year old range. She started to pitch a fit and the mother wisely left the restaurant to care for her daughter. Her disruption was a stand out here. I saw that she was able to return without too much time passing and could enjoy the majority of her meal.
If I were staying at AKL/AKV, I would without a doubt return to eat here on my next visit. Having had the leisurely meal, I could even just sit at the bar to have what might be a less time consuming meal. This menu had many items that I would like to try. It appeals to DH and I and the type of food we often enjoy when eating out. That is, something that we would be hard pressed to make at home. The kids meal was probably one of the best ones for DS because he got the best of his favs, steak and pasta, with a couple strawberries, which he will actually eat for some fiber.
