Another day, another business trip another Dining Review from Italy! FINISHED!

[IowaTater]

Tuesday, 4/30

On Tuesday I had breakfast at Kona Café, a favorite of mine. As I have already tried most of the menu, I went back to the first item I have had here: the Big Kahuna.

And THIS is the whole reason we are going to Kona for breakfast

DH is a very picky eater so as we were perusing the online menus, we stumbled across this and his immediate response was "BOOK IT!"

It looks amazing. Good thing we're doing a lot of walking after eating it!

 

[Alby]

I wish I had a job that meant I got to visit WDW on a regular basis

It has its moments

What is in the potato gratin at Yachtsman? Are there onions in it? Cheese?

There is lots of cheese, onions are not prominent but I believe they're present

Am looking forward to reading more of your reviews.

thanks a lot! coming!

 

[Alby]

Love your reviews! Great pics!!

thanks and welcome!

And THIS is the whole reason we are going to Kona for breakfast

DH is a very picky eater so as we were perusing the online menus, we stumbled across this and his immediate response was "BOOK IT!"

It looks amazing. Good thing we're doing a lot of walking after eating it!

The Big Kahuna and Kona are very nice, especially on a first experience.
there is something for everyone.

I hope you enjoy it!

 

[Alby]

Today was a Magic Kingdom day, and I had lunch at Columbia Harbor House.
I had planned to have the clam chowder (which I love, if you happen to be in the MK in winter, try it!) but the sun had come out and had been roasting me for a couple of hours, and I felt too hot for soup.

I had the Anchors Aweigh Sandwich (with tuna, lettuce and tomato) and fries.
They were fresh and very good, and hit the spot.

In the evening, there was a first for me: the Hoop Dee Doo Review!

First of all, I had corn bread with hazelnut butter. It was wonderful! Sweet but not overly sweet, with the perfect bread texture.

Then I had the salad, a very tasty mixture of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, onions, carrots and cheese.
I was already full even before the entrees arrived!

But all too quickly my table was covered by buckets of fried chicken (it was the first fried chicken of my life, as its not a usual dish in Italy. It was good, but I think I prefer it baked)

ribs (I dont like them, but it has nothing to do with the specific quality of these ones)

baked beans (very good, although I prefer the Flame Tree BBQ ones)

sweet corn (delicious! I didnt expect it, but I ate quite a lot of it)

mashed potatoes (I was so full at this point that I hardly tasted them. They were good, anyway)

Finally, I had the strawberry shortcake, and I am really sorry I was so full, because it was fantastic!

Summing it up, I can say that I enjoyed the food here a lot, but that there is definitely too much of it (although being solo could be one of the reasons, as I cant imagine that these are single portions).

I had a few doubts in booking HDDR as I was on my own, but I had lots of fun. They arranged a small table for me directly front and center, inserted between 2 large parties, and I could perfectly see everything.
Luckily, as I dont like attention, they didnt single me out despite my position, but gently teased mostly fathers and kids instead.
Among all the performers, I particularly liked this lady, she is really talented.

The only slight negative was service, which was not very attentive, but not a real issue.
Actually, the only real negative was getting there: I thought 1 hour would be enough to get from the Polynesian to Fort Wilderness, but it wasnt so, and I got there slightly late.
Plan transportation carefully!

Id rate the HDDR a 5 out of 5: J
My winner item: the cornbread with butter!

 

[Alby]

Wednesday, 5/1
Wednesday wasn’t a park day as I had other business to attend, but I managed a couple of Disney meals anyway.
I needed an early breakfast, and I booked Chef Mickey’s at 7 am. If you are jet – lagged like me, or an early riser anyway, I strongly suggest to do it because the food is very fresh at that time, and the restaurant still relatively quiet.

I didn’t have high expectations, based on reviews I have read here, but I enjoyed Chef Mickey’s tremendously.
The characters were lots of fun, Minnie was especially nice to me: she asked a lady nearby to take a few pictures of us together, and came back to me again during the napkin parade.

After a much needed cup of coffee and orange juice,

I had – clockwise from top: watermelon and cantaloupe, eggs with sausage bites, sausage, Portoguese potatoes with peppers, creamy potatoes, breakfast potatoes, hashbrowns (OK, there were “some” potatoes on my plate), breakfast pizza and a croissant.

On my second plate (yes, I had the courage to have another) I had: more creamy potatoes and hashbrowns, apple, raisins and yogurt salad, a biscuit with gravy and a Mickey waffle.

And that was it! (whew!)

I’d rate this breakfast a 5 out of 5: (mainly due to atmosphere)
My winner item: the creamy potatoes.

 

[wilma-bride]

Still loving the reviews. I'm not the biggest fan of ribs either - it's rare for me to order them or enjoy them.

 

[Alby]

Still loving the reviews. I'm not the biggest fan of ribs either - it's rare for me to order them or enjoy them.

Thanks Wilma-Bride!
I thought my problem with ribs was only because I've never tasted them before going to WDW!

 

[Alby]

After a long day, I had dinner in DTD, at House of Blues.
I love Cajun cuisine, and it didn’t disappoint.

As I couldn’t decide (again) between two entrees, I decided to have both, and it was a great idea for the sake of this review!

First of all, I had the signature Shrimp and grits. This dish is in my top 3 out of the whole vacation!

It contained a generous number of shrimp cooked in a tomato, garlic and cream sauce, with a grit cake underneath.
The shrimp meat itself wasn’t particularly tasty, but the delicious sauce more than made up for it, and when it soaked the grit cake it was heavenly!

Afterwards, I had the jambalaya. It was spicy, but not overly so, very well done and chock full of chicken and Andouille sausage. Actually, if I have a complaint, is that there was too much meat and not enough rice!

I enjoyed my dinner here very much: the restaurant was fairly quiet, service was prompt and the food was very good.
It is a good place to take a relaxing brake in the middle of a shopping marathon!

I’d rate this dinner a 5 out of 5: 
My winner item: the shrimp sauce.

 

[blancah76]

Enjoying the reviews
I must make it to Kona one day, the food there always looks so good

 

[wilma-bride]

We ate at HOB on our trip last August and really enjoyed it. It will become a regular dining place of choice for us, I think.

 

[darthtatty]

great reviews, looks like you had some lovely meals.

 

[sephorachick]

Wednesday, 5/1
Wednesday wasn’t a park day as I had other business to attend, but I managed a couple of Disney meals anyway.
I needed an early breakfast, and I booked Chef Mickey’s at 7 am. If you are jet – lagged like me, or an early riser anyway, I strongly suggest to do it because the food is very fresh at that time, and the restaurant still relatively quiet.

I didn’t have high expectations, based on reviews I have read here, but I enjoyed Chef Mickey’s tremendously.
The characters were lots of fun, Minnie was especially nice to me: she asked a lady nearby to take a few pictures of us together, and came back to me again during the napkin parade.

After a much needed cup of coffee and orange juice,

I had – clockwise from top: watermelon and cantaloupe, eggs with sausage bites, sausage, Portoguese potatoes with peppers, creamy potatoes, breakfast potatoes, hashbrowns (OK, there were “some” potatoes on my plate), breakfast pizza and a croissant.

On my second plate (yes, I had the courage to have another) I had: more creamy potatoes and hashbrowns, apple, raisins and yogurt salad, a biscuit with gravy and a Mickey waffle.

And that was it! (whew!)

I’d rate this breakfast a 5 out of 5: (mainly due to atmosphere)
My winner item: the creamy potatoes.

I had 2 servings of the creamy potatoes as well. They were AMAZING! I've searched high & low for the recipe w/ no luck ----

 

[Alby]

I had 2 servings of the creamy potatoes as well. They were AMAZING! I've searched high & low for the recipe w/ no luck ----

Weren't they? Fantastic, and I loved the hashbrowns as well.

Enjoying the reviews
I must make it to Kona one day, the food there always looks so good

Thanks a lot! you must try it, quiet and lovely food!

 

[Alby]

We ate at HOB on our trip last August and really enjoyed it. It will become a regular dining place of choice for us, I think.

Same here!

I can't wait to try the cornbread and the Voodoo shrimp appetizer.

 

[Alby]

Thursday, 5/2

This was again an Epcot day, and I had breakfast at Kouzzina.
This was maybe the breakfast I enjoyed less: service was very slow, despite an empty restaurant, and it was difficult to attract the servers attention.
This happened last year as well, so maybe next time I will give Kouzzina a pass.

Food was good but not great, but to be fair, maybe I was starting to feel too full all this time to enjoy anything in particular.

I had a cranberry juice, and a bowl of fresh fruit, which was good, but the strawberries and grapes were not really ripe.

My entrée was the signature stacked breakfast, which includes eggs, sweet potato hash, artichoke spread and chicken sausage (or bacon).
The spread on the olive bread was really tasty (if unexpectedly slightly sour& maybe there was some vinegar in the spread?), while the rest was somewhat bland.
The hash was very different from last year: it was made only of sweet potatoes (no ordinary ones mixed in) and there were no onions.

Id rate this breakfast a 2& or maybe 3& out of 5:
My winner item: the artichoke spread.

 

[Alby]

I had lunch in Epcot, at the Germany booth.

I had the savory bread pudding with mushrooms and peas and the potato pancake with apple sauce.

The bread pudding was fantastic. It was tasty, creamy and reminded me of the ones I have actually eaten in Germany and Austria.

The pancake, on the other hand, was slightly burned and a little strange: it didn’t taste like anything I have ever tried. But don’t let this discourage you, it is probably just not to my taste!

In the afternoon, after a Soarin ride, I bought a couple of Sunshine Seasons snacks.

I had a brownie (I had hoped for a “gourmet” brownie, the S’mores one for example, but none were available), which was dark (can you see it in the picture?) and very good if a bit too thick and chocolate-y… if that’s possible!

And I had a pecan sticky bun, which was good without being anything special.

Both snacks were very fresh, and were still good when I ate them on the following afternoon.

 

[NHTikiBeckie]

Loving the reviews!

 

[Alby]

For my last dinner I had Polynesiam private dining food, as I needed to spend the evening in my room.
I was very satisfied with it! They were quick and the food was hot when I got it, despite a very rainy night.
I wasnt very hungry, so I had only three appetizers.

I had an interesting watermelon and lobster soup, which had a subtle and delicious watermelon taste which made it really stand out.

My second appetizer were the crab cakes, which were bland, but full of crab.

Finally, I had the pot stickers, which were really really good and had nothing less than the Kona ones (they are probably the same).

Id rate this dinner a 4 out of 5:
My winner item: the watermelon soup.

 

[Alby]

Friday, 5/3

On my final day, I had breakfast in the Animal Kingdom, at Tusker House.

I particularly enjoyed character meals on this trip, and this was no exception: I had fun with the characters, I appreciated the small parade Mickey has with kids and I loved the atmosphere.

Being in a park and a full hour later than my Chef Mickey breakfast, though, I found it more chaotic.
It was nevertheless lovely to enter and take pictures of an empty AK.

Tusker House offers several unusual breakfast items, and despite being stuffed from the previous days, I rate this breakfast high.

On my first plate, I had sweet potato and raisins salad (good if a bit sweet… duh!), tater tots (very good), banana bread (very good), bread pudding with cherry sauce (very good), frittata (the best one I’ve had in WDW, although this doesn0t say a whole lot because I find them all a bit bland), ham (not very tasty), fried plantains (I have had better ones in African restaurants), breakfast potatoes (good).
I am sorry that this review is becoming telegraphic (potatoes – good, ham – not good)… I think I was starting to suffer from breakfast overload!

besides jungle juice (or whatever it is called here) and coffee.

Then I had a Mickey waffle (delicious as usual), fruit, biscuit with gravy (good, better than the ones in Cape may but not as much as the ones in 1900 Park Fare), mealie pap (good and different, if not VERY tasty), and I think bobotie with corn crust (good).

Finally, I had some yogurt with almonds and dried fruit, which was very good and refreshing.

Maybe my review doesn’t sound very enthusiastic, but I will go back to Tusker House for sure, and I rate it a 4 out of 5: . Earlier in the trip it could have possibly been a 5!
My winner item: maybe the mealie pap because it was new and interesting.

 

[Alby]

My last lunch was in Sanaa, and it was one of the best of the trip.
I love the atmosphere of Kidani, so quiet and exotic, and the savanna views, although they are not so full of animals as they could be.

I had the bread service with Naan, garlic – ginger Naan and Onion kulcha

accompanied by (counterclockwise from top) cucumber raita, mango chutney and coconut chutney.

For anybody unfamiliar with it, you can order three breads and three accompaniments, and I believe that now you can order all the accompaniments for a couple of dollars more. This was not available on my visit, but I think it is a clever way to find you favorite!

I liked the bread service very much: it is a lovely way to try different exotic tastes in small quantities.
To be honest, the breads did not taste very different from one another to me, but they were all very good.
I would have a hard time to say which condiment I liked more: the cucumber raita was spicy and refreshing, the coconut chutney was the most exotic to me and very interesting, and the mando chutney was sweet and spicy at the same time, and very good.

But the best was still to come: my entrée! I had the butter chicken (right) and the Durban spicy chicken (left) slowly cooked in gravy with 5 grain pilaf.
It was delicious! The butter chicken was one the best dishes of my trip, and pilaf was just right in taste and quantity to soak up the sauces. The Durban spicy chicken was not tasty enough to compensate the spice, but it was good nevertheless.

Sanaa closed my trip with a bang, and I will be back for sure.

I’d rate this lunch a 5 out of 5:
My winner item: the butter chicken.