~Good food is like music you can taste~ NEWS 07/11

[englishrose47]

I'm still here guys!! Heading out to Epcot tonight for dinner at La Hacienda de San Angel. I will update when I get back tonight

I am waiting !!!!!

 

[gardengirl628]

Love live reports! Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Kona Cafe​

The past few years we have eaten at the Kona Island Sushi Bar. While we love the sushi, the bar itself isn't that comfortable. So this trip we decided to eat in the restaurant itself.

We started out with drinks:

A lapu lapu for me and longboard lagers for DMom & DDad

This was followed by the delicious hawaiian bread and macadamia nut honey butter!

I could eat an entire loaf of this bread - it is divine.

Our meal consisted of several shared items - sushi and then appetizers.

Volcano Roll - an interesting take on the spicy tuna roll in that the spicy is all around the roll, but not inside it. The roll itself consists of fresh succulent tuna and crisp pickled vegetables. It is then topped with spicy mayo, tempura crunch, edible flowers and a seafood salad. Delicious!

California Luau Roll - replaces the cucumber in a traditional California Roll with pineapple. A nice tropical twist.

Shrimp Tempura Roll - this is great, but pales in comparison to the shrimp tempura roll at the California Grill. For me, the shrimp are a bit too large.

Sticky Wings with Mustard Drizzle - fantastic as always, sweet, salty, earthy and VERY sticky!

Polynesian BBQ Ribs - These were delicious. Very tender and succulent, the sauce was complex and intriguing. We think there was tamarind and Chinese 5 spice among other ingredients. There was a slight issue - they were served stone cold initially. We sent them back and when they returned they were nice and hot, and very tasty.

Fried Rock Shrimp with Passion Fruit Sauce - these were quite good. The passion fruit was tangy and accented the sweetness of the rock shrimp very nicely.

Kona Salad - One of DMom's favorites

 

[englishrose47]

Wow that is a LOT of food !!Can't bring myself to eat sushi, but it always looks interesting !!!

 

[wilma-bride]

Loving your reviews so far. I am SO disappointed abo0ut the Tavern Fried Cheese at LTT. After droolin gover pictures of it for years, we had finally decided to vist LTT in August for the cheese appetiser and the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake. Not sure if we will bother to go now.

Your food at Kona looks delicious. We love the bread too and the wings. Loved the sound of those Asian ribs too.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Oh man does the food at Kona look fantastic! Are the ribs and shrimp new? I might cancel the Wave for Kona on our arrival night....

 

[Krissalee]

Yum! I haven't been to Kona in years. I can make my ADRs in 2 weeks and may have to figure out a way to fit Kona in. Great idea to make a meal of sushi and apps!

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Oh man does the food at Kona look fantastic! Are the ribs and shrimp new? I might cancel the Wave for Kona on our arrival night....

I added Kona as a lunch after seeing this review! I don't even like shrimp and that looks delish! Hoping DH will have it so I can try one!

As a side note, can't wait to hear your plans, Nicki! I think I am finally done tweaking ours!

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

The food looks wonderful!!!!

Thanks!!

Wow the dip looks amazing! Can't wait to hear about Jiko, as we had a very bad dinner there last May and hopefully hearing something good will make me want to try it again some day.

The dip was fantastic! Jiko coming up in a sec

LTT looks really good - I think DH would really enjoy it
Love the little patriotic cup cake !!

The cupcake was surprisingly good! It was moist and quite tasty.

Great start! I can't wait to hear about Jiko!

Thanks my Jiko review should be up in a few minutes.

Congrats on getting into the MBA program!!!! Best wishes!

I am thoroughly enjoying your reviews. Keep 'em coming!

Thank you and glad you are enjoying the reviews!

Joining in! The last-minute-ADR fairy was certainly being kind to you. Or perhaps the credit card guarantee is indeed helping. Who cares, I want to know about your two CG dinners.

Only one CG dinner this time. The last minute reservation fairy is very kind to me!

I am waiting !!!!!

More coming!

Love live reports! Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us.

No problem I love live reports too, and the free wi-fi has been pretty good so far!

Wow that is a LOT of food !!Can't bring myself to eat sushi, but it always looks interesting !!!

It was quite a lot of food. Sushi isn't that intimidating if you start with cooked items like the California luau roll (cooked crab, pineapple and avocado etc...)

Loving your reviews so far. I am SO disappointed abo0ut the Tavern Fried Cheese at LTT. After droolin gover pictures of it for years, we had finally decided to vist LTT in August for the cheese appetiser and the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake. Not sure if we will bother to go now.

Your food at Kona looks delicious. We love the bread too and the wings. Loved the sound of those Asian ribs too.

We were very disappointed in the change at LTT too!

Oh man does the food at Kona look fantastic! Are the ribs and shrimp new? I might cancel the Wave for Kona on our arrival night....

Kona was fantastic! The ribs and the shrimp were new items and they were very good! The ribs were my favorite of the two though.

Yum! I haven't been to Kona in years. I can make my ADRs in 2 weeks and may have to figure out a way to fit Kona in. Great idea to make a meal of sushi and apps!

It had been years since we had eaten at Kona ad well, as we typically just grabbed sushi from the sushi bar.

I added Kona as a lunch after seeing this review! I don't even like shrimp and that looks delish! Hoping DH will have it so I can try one!

As a side note, can't wait to hear your plans, Nicki! I think I am finally done tweaking ours!

Glad my review helped you add a meal at Kona! We love lunch there as well!

 

[Pinkgirl]

Hello, can I join in too I love a live report. I'm feeling rather stuffed just looking at all the food you had at Kona. I wish that I liked Sushi *** it all looks so good. Looking forward to more.

 

[Linda67]

Wow, what a feast at Kona Cafe !!
It all looks delicious. I love sushi but have never tried it at Kona
Did you get to La Hacienda? I am curious to know what you thought

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Jiko​

We love the feel of Animal Kingdom Lodge and we are looking forward to staying there in the future. The lobby is just so beautiful!!

Jiko is one of our favorite restaurants of Disney property. The atmosphere is exotic and so relaxing. Our favorite server, Dawn, was working the night we dined and we requested her section. We were seated at this amazing table along the sunset wall. It was an oval shaped booth that would seat betweenv3 and 5 adults comfortably.

This was the view from the table

DDad and DMom ordered a bottle of Rudy Shultz Shiraz ($67) and I had a glass of Jam Jar Shiraz ($9)

My artistic attempt at a place setting

Shortly after we placed our orders Dawn brought us bread (Etheopian Wheat and Flaxseed) with Tandoori Butter.

I wish I could replicate this butter at home! The sweet, savory, tangy and earthy notes are delicious!

We started with a few appetizers.

The cheese plate ($14)

The selections from left to right are:
MT TAM - a cow's milk triple cream from the US
Pleasant Ridge Reserve - a cow's milk semi-firm cheese from the US
Fromage d'Affinois de Brebis - a sheep's milk soft ripened cheese from France
Pecorino Toscano - a sheep's milk aged cheese from Italy
Smokey Oregon Blue - a cow's milk blue cheese from the US

The accompaniments were a mixed berry compote, a fig and almond bar, a cherry jelee and date crostini.

As always, these cheeses were a very pleasant start to the meal.

We also shared the Grilled Wild Boar Tenderloin with Mealie Pap, Chakalaka, White Truffle Oil and Micro Cilantro ($16)

The boar is served medium rare and it has a slightly deeper flavor than pork, almost like pork meets elk or bison. The mealie pap is similar to polenta and the Chakalaka similar to ratatouille. A very nicely composed dish.

Lastly, my favorite appetizer at Jiko, the Crispy Beef "Bobotie" Roll with Cucumber Raita, Green Mango Atjar, and Honey-Roasted Groundnuts ($9)

These are heavenly! The richly spiced tender beef, the cool, creamy cucumber raita, the brightness of the crisp mango Atjar and the crunch of the ground nuts - delicious!

After our shared appetizers, we moved on to entrees.

I had the Braised Beef Shortrib with Butter-whipped potatoes, pearl onions, baby carrots and Cabernet-Blood Orange Sauce ($41)

This entree had two changes from the version I had in October.bthe potatoes formerly had truffles in them and the sauce was Cabernet-Tamarind. I quite liked the changes. The removal of the truffle lightens the dish and allows the beef flavor to shine through. The blood orange in the sauce adds a tartness ad brightness that was missing. The tamarind was a bit heavy on the palette, which is suitable for a fall dish, but the lightness in the changes reflects a seasonality to the menu.

DMom had the Berkshire Pork Tenderloin with Tandoori Squash Purée, Black Eyed Peas, Piquillo Pepper Relish and Zough Oil ($34)

She requested the relish and oil on the side and used them sparingly. She loved this dish. The pork was tender, the black eyed peas provided texture and the squash purée added a hint of spice.

DDad ordered the Oak-grilled Filet Mignon with Grilled Aspargus, Roasted Cipolini Onions, "Injera" pudding and Cabernet Reduction ($43)

Injera is a type of flour, and was used to make an item similar to a Yorkshire pudding. DDad loved this dish, the vegetables went nicely with the oak-grilled filet and the pudding had a nutty flavor.

For dessert we tried two of the four new items on the menu (DMom had the only old dessert on the menu)

I had the Chocoate and Tea Safari - Vanilla Rooibos-Tanzanian Chocolate Cake, Free Form "Kit Kat" and Green Tea Ice Cream ($10)

My god! I never would have guessed that chocolate and green tea would go together so well! The cake was rich and dense with a vanilla rooibos mousse on the top. The kit kat was nutty and caramelized and the green tea ice cream smoothed out all the flavors.

DDad had the Lime Scented Creme Brûlée with Key Lime-Mango Chutney and Vanilla Meringue Cookie ($9)

This was a very subtle dessert, with lime notes as the finish, rather than an upfront punch of lime.

DMom had the Seasonal Apple Tart with Dabo Crumb Crust, Almond-Frangipane, Apple Cider Syrup and Vanilla Ice Cream

This was the no sugar added option, and was the only old item on the dessert menu. Nonetheless, she enjoyed it.

We also enjoyed after dinner drinks.

An amarula on the rocks for DDad ($9), a zebratinibfor me ($9.50) and a harmony tea for DMom ($6.29)

At the end of the night we were presented with Tanzanian Chocolate and Pistachio Crackle Cookies.

Then we rolled out to our car

The subtotal before TIW was $286.79. TIW saved us $57.36, and our total with gratuity was $295.97.

We can't wait to return in December

:

 

[dixonsontour]

jiko looks fabulous

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Jiko looks wonderful! We almost always enjoy the food there, and I always notice plenty of authentic African touches on the menu (some people complain that the menu has been "dumbed down", but as a half-South African, the menu still has plenty that I enjoy). The injera side sounds really interesting - injera bread is common in Ethiopian cuisine and it has a unique tangy flavor; I love the idea of making a pudding out of it. And that dessert with both rooibos and green tea sounds like something I have to try.

Great reviews - looking forward to more.

 

[englishrose47]

The African Yorkshire pudd looks fascinating !! My family loves the yorkshires I make from time to time !! I would LOVE the cheese plate !! As for the desserts 1 of each please !!!

 

[Belle_373]

I love the Jam Jar Shiraz but haven't been able to find it in Canada.

 

[Linda67]

Looks like a wonderful meal at Jiko

I really like the sound of the "kit kat" dessert

 

[vettegirl]

Glad to hear you had a great meal at Jiko. When we went we were never given a bread basket, so it's good to know you can get it.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

Jiko looks fantastic! Especially dessert!

 

[klacey1]

Sooo subscribing!