Continuing on with the Disney trip recaps, let's talk about FOOOOD! One of Christian and my favorite parts of a Disney trip is trying all the new treats and snacks. We had a quicker visit this time and focused mainly on Animal Kingdom Lodge restaurants and the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival. Outside of that we did have a few snacks at Magic Kingdom, the Grand Floridian and Animal Kingdom.
Animal Kingdom Lodge
We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge for the first time this trip so I wanted to take full advantage and eat at all the restaurants. We even grabbed a quick treat from the quick service location, The Mara. The only places we didn't eat at the hotel were the pool lounges and bars. Maybe we'll do that on another trip!
Jiko - The Cooking Place
We wanted to do something extra special to celebrate our anniversary and Jiko was the perfect choice! The restaurant is beautiful and in the center of the dining room you can see some chefs cooking meats. There is also another kitchen where they cook the rest of the food. Christian and I aren't drinkers but Jiko is known for their huge selection of wines. This is a Signature Restaurant so it is one of the most expensive options at Disney World.
Our meal started with DELICIOUS breads - Egyptian bread & Giraffe bread served with Jiko butter and black sea salt. These were sooo good, I wish we could have had more. Next we shared Mozambique Peri Peri Prawns in a Lemon-Garlic Butter and Bird's Eye Peppers. These were just okay, not worth the $22 in our opinion. Christian had the Oak-grilled Filet Mignon with Four-Cheese Macaroni, Rainbow Cauliflower and Chocolate-Red Wine Demi-glace. He did not like the macaroni, said it was gloopy and not great. I had the Heritage Chicken - Sumac-roasted Breast, Grains of Paradise-infused Carolina Gold Rice, Dukkha-dusted Broccolini, Peach Gastrique. This was really good, I loved the little baby popcorn it came with, such a fun touch! We finished our meal with a complimentary Anniversary Dessert that our waiter surprised us with! It was chocolate mousse and chocolate brownie with a couple blueberries, I'm not exactly sure of the details because it’s not on the menu.
Boma - Flavors of Africa
Another AKL restaurant I was really looking forward to was the buffet at Boma. We had dinner there on our last night and stuffed our faces. We were going to have breakfast here on our last day but Christian had a stomachache so we cancelled the reservation. Now we have an excuse to go back to Animal Kingdom Lodge on our next trip!
There is a huge selection of foods at the buffet so you're sure to find something you like. They even have mac & cheese and chicken tenders for the picky eaters. Normally that would be me, but I tried the other options instead and they were all great. My favorites were the Durban Chicken, Peanut Rice, Tunisian Couscous and Shrimp Salad and Hazelnut Brownie. Christian loved the Spiced Pork Ribs with Tamarind-Honey Barbecue Sauce, and one of the soups (I think it was the Sambal Chicken Corn Chowder) The Mealie bread was also fun, basically corn muffins. Our waiter also brought us chocolate mini muffins as an anniversary treat! (they have the same cupcakes, but vanilla on the buffet line.)
Sanaa
I'll admit the main reason I wanted to eat at Sanaa was for the Indian Bread Service and views of the animals. Unfortunately we had a blocked window view so we didn't have the best view of the animals, but at least it was a window seat! Sanaa is located in the Kidani Village section of Animal Kingdom Lodge so we walked over from the lobby. There is also a shuttle that will take you from the main building at Jambo House to the Kidani Village Lobby.
As I mentioned above, we HAD to get the Indian-style Bread Service. It comes with 5 Breads: Traditional Naan, Garlic-Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kulcha, and Paneer Paratha. You also get 9 accompaniments (sauces) - Cucumber Raita, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Tamarind Chutney, Coriander Chutney, Garlic Pickle, Red Chile Sambal, and Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle. My favorite was the coriander chutney, Christian loved the red chile sambal.
We opted to share an entree because we knew the bread would be very filling. Our choice was the Zanzibari Vegetable Curry with Chicken. Very delicious! But the star of the meal was definitely the bread. Once again our waiter brought out a complimentary dessert to help us celebrate our anniversary! I think it was Kulfi, Indian-style ice cream (off menu.) I let Christian have it because I'm not a fan of yoghurt and that's one of the main ingredients. I got all the fruit!
The Mara
We didn't have a full meal at this Quick Service location, but we did make sure to grab a treat! After much discussion we ended up with the Mickey Chocolate Chip Cookie with vanilla frosting and chocolate ganache. We ate half after dinner and the second half for breakfast the next morning, ha ha!
EPCOT Food & Wine Festival
One of our favorite times to visit Disney World is during the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival. So many great bites to be had! We weren't planning on doing many theme park days besides Animal Kingdom for Wild Africa Trek and Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party but when the trip was getting closer we couldn't bear to not try some Food & Wine eats! (We also used it as an excuse to ride Guardians of the Galaxy 3 days)
There was a lot more that we wanted to try but we also had some big meals planned at our hotel so we only snacked on a few things per day. The festival goes through November 19th so there's still plenty of time to head to EPCOT!
Earth Eats
The only beverage we got, because we prefer to just have free water, ha ha. The Strawberry Freeze featuring Twinings Lemon & Ginger Herbal Tea was really delicious and light. I much preferred it to the Violet Lemonade we had at the Flower & Garden Festival in May. It also comes in an alcoholic version with cucumber & mint vodka.
Hawai'i
This was a stop for Christian, he got the Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet-and-Sour DOLE Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayonnaise and the Passion Fruit Cheesecake with Toasted Macadamia Nuts. He said the cheesecake wasn't as amazing as the Wildflower Honey-Mascarpone Cheesecake he had at Flower & Garden but it was still very tasty.
Australia
Next a stop for me! I got the Grilled Sweet-and-Spicy Bush Berry Shrimp with Pineapple, Pepper, Onion and Snap Peas and Lamington, a yellow cake with raspberry filling dipped in chocolate and coconut. I have had both of these previously at the festival but they had slight changes made. The lamington had toasted coconut and added the raspberry filling, I think I preferred the original way I had it, BUT this one was bigger, so I can't complain too much!
Refreshment Port - Canada
I feel like I'm playing ping-pong. This was another stop for Christian to get his beloved Poutine. He's been obsessed since he had it in Montreal in 2018. He went for the Traditional Poutine with french fries, beef gravy, Boursin garlic & fine herbs crumbles and cheese curds.
Tangerine Cafe: Flavors of the Medina - Morocco
Back to me for some tasty Moroccan eats! I got the Chermoula Chicken Grilled Kebabs with carrot-chickpea salad and garlic aioli (on the side because I don't like it.) The next day I went back for the Stone-baked Moroccan Bread with Hummus, Chermoula and Zhoug Dips. Soooo good!
Spain
Oh look, another for me! I ALWAYS get the Paella in Spain, it's a staple at the festival but always changes slightly. This time it came with rice, chorizo and shrimp. Yum.
The Alps
Time for what I think was Christian's favorite eat of the trip. Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese with Riesling-poached Pears, Red Wine-braised Figs, Candied Pecans, Honey and Cranberry Toast. They actually melt the cheese off the block to order, pretty cool! He almost went back for it another day but decided to have Fish & Chips instead. Even a duck wanted in on the snack, but don't worry, we didn't share!
Kenya
Yep. More shrimp. I don't know what it is, but whenever I see shrimp and any form of spices on a menu I must have it! The Piri Piri Skewered Shrimp with Citrus-scented couscous was sooo good! The only annoying thing was eating around the tails with the wet sauce, was definitely a messy bite. Bring wet wipes!
India
Last, but not least, we shared the Potato and Pea Samosa with Coriander-Lime Cream. Super tasty and would definitely get this again. I don't usually do sauces but the cream was delicious.
Yorkshire County Fish Shop - UK (not Festival)
Christian and I always talk about getting the fish & chips in the United Kingdom but there's always so much else to eat. This trip we decided to just do it! It's expensive at about $13, but still very tasty!
L'Artisan des Glaces - France (not Festival)
Another treat that I have always wanted to try but normally skip is the chocolate macaron ice cream sandwich. I decided to switch it up from my usual double scoop of dark chocolate ice cream and splurge on it. It was really good, but the macaron overpowered the flavor of the ice cream and, since the ice cream is so amazing on its own, I think I'll just get ice cream in the future.
Animal Kingdom
We only spent half a day at Animal Kingdom on our trip and 3 hours of that was on a special tour so there wasn't much time for in-park food.
Tamu Tamu Refreshments
This Guava and Cream Cheese Danish is one of Christian's must-eat's every trip. Normally I would get a treat here too, but they didn't have my tiger tail pastry so I just waited until our lunch.
Wild Africa Trek
Including this even though it was part of a special experience. Make sure to read my full review of Wild Africa Trek. In the middle of our experience we got to stop at the boma on the Harambe Wildlife Reserve for some snacks. Our meal came in a nice cool tiffin filled with delicious goodies! (Mine was without cheese as I made a request prior to our tour that I did not like it.)
Magic Kingdom
After our morning at Animal Kingdom we headed back to the hotel to get ready for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We arrived at the park around 3:30, just in time for some snacks! We wanted to eat more at the party but ran out of time.
Sunshine Tree Terrace
Our first stop after entering Magic Kingdom was to get the I Lava You Float! It's Fanta Strawberry Soda and Passion Fruit flavor served with DOLE Whip Orange and topped with Popping Candy. This is another must-have treat any time we're at Disney World. So delicious! They had a similar Halloween version during the party but we didn't have time to grab it. (Jack-O-Lantern Float: Citrus swirl with Fanta Orange, brown sugar whipped cream, and graham cracker crumbs)
Cheshire Cafe
Time for a special Halloween version of my absolute favorite treat - Binx Pastry Tail: Cat tail drizzled with dark chocolate and topped with Binx chocolate piece. This is the same as the Cheshire Cat Tail just with different colored drizzle and an added white chocolate medallion.
Casey's Corner
Time for Christian's dinner! He opted for the Pain and Panic Hot Dog: An all-beef hot dog, sweet and spicy onion relish, and sriracha mustard topped with spicy cheese-flavored snack. He said it was really good, but also very messy. I had wanted to try the Hades Hot Dog (spicy beef and pork hot dog, Hades’ relish, and pickles served with house-made violet mustard) at The Friar's Nook during the party but we ended up just running to get chicken tenders from Cosmic Ray's right before fireworks instead. (We literally left the restaurant two minutes before fireworks started, ha ha. We were in such a rush I didn't even get a photo!
The Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Gasparilla Island Grill
Before our trip we made sure to keep up on all the Halloween treats that were available. The Bewitching Minnie Mouse Cupcake, a cookies 'n cream-filled chocolate cupcake enrobed in ganache made our list of "try to get there to try it." We ended up going on our first evening at Disney. We landed at 6:30, got to our first hotel by 7:30 and headed to EPCOT to try a couple Food & Wine treats before heading to Magic Kingdom for Extended Evening Hours. Rather than go straight to Magic Kingdom at 9 we decided to kill some time at The Grand Floridian and grabbed the cupcake (and caught a bit of the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the restaurant.) We always love cookies and cream so this was super tasty!
We were also tempted by the Black Flame Candle cake and Hocus Pocus "Amuck" Cakes, but it was already pretty late so we didn't want to get sick!
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