Category Archives: Food Review

Satu’li Canteen – May 2, 2019 (and Pongu pongu)

One of the quick service locations we’d talked about trying, but never actually found the time on previous trips was Satu’li Canteen, located in Pandora at Animal Kingdom. Since we didn’t want to waste too much time eating during the VIP tour, we made the group decision to eat here. While we were being transported from Hollywood Studios over to Animal Kingdom, we were instructed to place our order through the Mobile Order option on the MDE app, but to wait on touching the “Prepare My Order” button. Our VIP tour guides instructed us to hit “I’m here, prepare my order” as soon as we got off Flight of Passage. There was a few hiccups since the Wi-Fi signal isn’t great inside that building and the app crashed for a few of us, but we eventually all managed to get our orders placed as we walked towards the restaurant.

As we walked past Pongu Pongu, Luke jumped into line. We hadn’t ordered drinks with our meals at Satu’li, since we knew we’d prefer Pongu Pongu. I headed next door to the restaurant to wait for the notification that our food was ready. Our VIP guides had actually called ahead, and there was a section of the restaurant blocked off just for us – such a nice touch to ensure we all got to sit at adjoining tables!

First up, our drinks from Pongu Pongu. I had the Night Blossom – non-alcoholic mixture of limeade with apple and desert pear flavors topped with passion fruit boba balls, $5.99

I’d tried this for the first time on our December trip, and I loved it! It sounds strange, but it’s so good! I didn’t know I loved boba balls so much haha. I could do without the paper straw though, I hate those things. I’m a very slow eater/drinker, so the straw is always so mushy before I’m even half way through my drink – gross.

Luke went for the Hawkes Grog Ale – green in color with a fruity hop character (a taste of apricot and peach, a hint of wheat on the finish); 22 oz, $10.25

This was also something Luke had bought in December, so clearly he likes it? You can order this at Satu’li as well, but I wanted the Night Blossom which is only available at Pongu Pongu.

And for our food – I ordered the Chopped Wood-Grilled Chicken Bowl – wood-grilled chicken thighs marinated with garlic and olive oil topped with crunchy vegetable slaw and boba balls served with your choice of base and sauce, $12.49. I chose the noodles base and the Creamy Herb Dressing for my sauce.

This was good, but I don’t think I’d order this exact combination again. The noodles are clearly cooked in sesame oil, which I absolutely hate (and is often a trigger food for my Crohn’s disease – it ended up being ok, but it’s been an issue in the past). I don’t typically like chicken thighs, but this was really good! It had a bit of charcoal flavour due to being cooked over a fire, and it wasn’t greasy at all. I also loved the sauce I chose – I would just change my base next time!

Luke also went for the Chopped Wood-Grilled Chicken Bowl – wood-grilled chicken thighs marinated with garlic and olive oil topped with crunchy vegetable slaw and boba balls served with your choice of base and sauce, $12.49. He opted for the Red & Sweet Potato base and the Charred Green Onion Vinaigrette for his sauce.

I definitely preferred my sauce, but I think this would be my choice for a base next time. Luke says he highly recommends going to the men’s bathroom there, the smell of the cooking meat wafted in there and made it actually smell good (his words, not mine haha).

We also had to try the desserts! Luke selected the Blueberry Cream Cheese Mousse – with passion fruit curd, $5.29

This was so good! I even remembered to take a picture of the inside!

The cream cheese mousse was obviously blueberry-flavoured, and the yellow was a custard-type stuff, and the white bit at the top was meringue.

I went for the other dessert option – Chocolate Cake – chocolate cake with a crunchy cookie layer, banana cream and Goji berries, $5.29.

I also took a picture of the inside of this one!

I don’t hear much about this, everyone is always talking about the Blueberry dessert – but this was amazing! I loved it so much! The banana cream was on top with the goji berries, and that is pineapple in the bowl. This was also more of a chocolate mousse than a cake – no complaints from me!

Overall, this was a great meal! It’s definitely one of the better quick service restaurants out there, and it’s nice to have a somewhat healthy meal option.

Our total cost was ~$55 with tax for our food from Satu’li and our drinks at Pongu Pongu – and we will be back to both!

Total food cost: $252

Homecomin’ – May 1, 2019

One of our favourite restaurants anywhere is Chef Art Smith’s Homecomin’. After falling in love with the place on our 2017 trip, we held our wedding reception there as part of our January 2018 trip. We also really enjoy starting our trip here with supper on our arrival night, and this trip was no exception.

We checked in at the hostess stand outside the restaurant, and we only waited about 5 minutes before I received a text message saying our table was ready and to head inside. As soon as we walked in, I spotted the main man himself – Chef Art Smith! I was fangirling hard, and mentioned to the hostess showing us to our table how excited I was to see him in his restaurant, and how special this place was for us after holding our reception on the patio the day of our wedding. She immediately went over to him and clearly told him that, because the next thing we knew he was making his way over to our table! He was so friendly, and shook our hands and asked if we’d like a picture, and thanked us for coming back to eat again. Eeeeee! I mean, just look at my giant, dorky grin hahaha:

After our famous-person meet and greet, we sat down and started making the difficult decisions about what to order. First decision was drinks!

Since it was our first night and I’d barely slept in days, I decided it was a great time to really overindulge, and ordered a 22-ounce squeeze bottle of Rumshine Punch – Strawberry RumShine, blackberry brandy, banana liqueur, pineapple juice and house-made grenadine, $22.

Look at how adorable this squeeze bottle is! And the drink was extremely delicious, and despite being strong it went down easy. Maybe a little too easy, spoiler alert – I was feeling pretty good by the time this meal was over hahaha. Also – you can take this bottle back and it’s $13 for refills 🙂

Luke’s first drink order was the Florida Crush – Tito’s handmade vodka muddled with orange and strawberries, a splash of fresh squeezed Florida orange juice and agave syrup, $12

Luke had tried this drink here back in December, and he thought that one was mixed a bit better than this one.

Also – we had one of the best tables in the restaurant, along the back wall overlooking the water. It was a perfect way to really kick off our vacation!

We decided to go all out on this meal, and order an appetizer, entree and dessert each. My appetizer wasn’t really exciting, but I was thinking ahead and ordered a basket of Cheddar Cheese Drop Biscuits – $7

I love these so much, and since I knew we had an early start to our day tomorrow these would make a great breakfast. There were 6 in here – we ate three of them and saved three of them for breakfast.

It’s not officially stated on the menu, but you can order a half-order of the Church Lady Deviled Eggs – southern style deviled eggs $12 for 6 eggs ($6 for a half order)

I don’t like eggs, so I’ve never tried these, but Luke has had them a few times and always enjoys them. He really likes putting a bit of the house-made Hot Sauce on them. I also asked for his input, and he called these “Heaven’s Cholesterol Bombs”.

Next up – entrees! We really wanted to try something different, but I didn’t want to change it up too much. I always get the Fried Chicken, so this time I ordered the Fried Chicken & Doughnuts – two pieces of Chef Art Smith’s famous fried chicken served with house-made sugar doughnuts and creamy mashed potatoes, $27.

The only difference from the other chicken dish is doughnuts instead of a biscuit, and I believe the pieces of chicken are smaller with this one (but that’s not based on anything other than the multiple pictures I have of the non-doughnut based chicken dish). The chicken was just as delicious as I remembered. I also ask for a side of their southern gravy every time too, it’s so good on top of the mashed potatoes or used to dip pieces of chicken (or biscuit!) into. The doughnuts were also clearly fresh, and they are served with maple syrup to dip into (or pour over top of them – no judgement). It was really sweet, but such a great contrast to the savoury chicken/potatoes.

Luke really switched it up and decided to try the Cuban Sandwich – house smoked pork, shaved country ham, house made pickles, yellow mustard and Swiss cheese pressed between slices of fresh Cuban bread, served with house-made barbecue chips drizzled with icebox dressing, $18

I didn’t try this (I don’t like mustard), but Luke really enjoyed it! I did steal a few of the chips though, they were nice and fresh and crispy. I really enjoy their icebox dressing as well. In Luke’s words – the bread was toasted to a perfect crispiness, the pulled pork was excellent and complimented well with the ham and mustard. He was also a little apprehensive about ordering it at first because he’s loved all the other things he’s tried here, but he was so happy he took a chance on a new item!

At some point, Luke ordered another drink, Blue Hooch – Blue Flame moonshine, lemon-infused moonshine, blue curacao, house-made simple syrup, fresh lemon juice and a splash of Sprite, $13

This was my favourite of the three drinks we had during this meal, and I might have helped Luke out by drinking half of it… (he did help me with my RunShine Punch too, I’m not that much of a lush hahaha).

Finally, we somehow found room for dessert (ok fine, I packed up half of my mashed potatoes and one piece of my chicken just so I’d have room…). Luke ordered the Shine Cake – Chef Art’s signature dessert. An adult-only butter cake soaked with moonshine syrup, served with seasonal fruit gastrique and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, $11

This is always great – I mean, who doesn’t love getting drunk on cake?! It’s a large piece (it’s bigger than it looks in the picture), and I definitely helped him with this buttery perfection. It’s also strong enough to keep your buzz going a little longer…

I went for my favourite dessert on the menu – Hamilton County Chocolate Pecan Pie – a 100 year old traditional Smith Family Farm recipe served with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, $11

I know it doesn’t look super impressive from my awesome dark photo, but this is so good! I’m not a huge pie person – but I love this one! It’s served warm so the chocolate is a little melty, and the pecans are nice and salty. I try to avoid ice cream for the most part (dairy seems to be a trigger food for my Crohn’s), so I only ate about half of that scoop, but it pairs perfectly with the pie.

I forgot to take a picture of the receipt, but it was just under $130 with my 10% annual pass discount.

Total food cost: $197

Boma – January 2, 2018

One of Luke’s favourite meals from our 2017 trip was breakfast at Boma, so we made a reservation to return there. Our reservation was early, 7:30am, but we were there on time and were seated in a fairly empty restaurant.                



Our waitress took our drink order (juice for both of us – I can’t remember what they call it at Boma, but it’s the same delicious POG juice they serve at many other locations on property, and a coffee for Luke). We went then went up to the buffet.

My first plate, starting at the top and going clockwise: a plantain, strawberries and grapes, bread pudding with pecan caramel sauce, asparagus, carved turkey and tater tots. Not overly exciting, but everything was really good, I especially love that sauce for the bread pudding!

My second plate: made to order omelet with bacon, ham and mozzarella. I don’t typically eat eggs, but I just can’t pass up the opportunity to have an omelet that’s made to order. I didn’t finish this entire thing, as eggs are a food that bother my stomach (I have GI issues), but I did enjoy what I ate of this!

Luke’s first plate, starting at the top and going clockwise: goat cheese and chives scrambled eggs, turkey bobotie, asparagus, bacon, ham, tater tots and smoked salmon. The bobotie was one of the main reasons he loved this place so much, and he really enjoyed it again.

Also – proof of our drinks haha –

Luke also had a bowl of African fruit salad

Luke had a second plate of food, but I obviously didn’t take a picture of it, and it was so long ago now that neither one of us remember what he had -opps.

The cost for this meal was $27/each (it’s probably more now, most buffet prices seem to have increased since this trip). I was able to use my Tables in Wonderland card again (after being blacked out the previous two days), so our total bill came to $55.73 with the 18% gratuity added in.

This is a great option for breakfast, although it is a bit out of the way. We did skip it on our last trip to Disney (December 2018), but we are staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge on our upcoming trip (May 2019), so we do have plans to eat both breakfast and supper at Boma 🙂

Tables in Wonderland original cost: $150                                                    Break Even Point Before this meal: $130.60                                            Savings this Meal: $10.80                                                                                     Total Until Breaking Even: $119.80

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)       Estimated Cost of this meal: $53.25                                                                   Actual Cost: $46.01 (before tip)                                                     Over/Under: Under by $7.24                                                             Remaining: $2143.45

Saana – January 2, 2018

Possibly my favourite meal from our 2017 trip was at Saana, so it was a no-brainer for us to return there. We did the same thing we did on the previous trip, and made a late reservation for after the park closed. (Technically I think Animal Kingdom was open until 9pm that night, but we left after the early show of Rivers of Light and headed over to AKL for our 8pm reservation).

We arrived a little early to check in, around 7:40, but they were running behind and we were handed a pager. We found a bench to sit on, and then we waited. It was pretty much 8pm on the nose before we were called and led to a two-top table by a window. It would have been a fantastic spot to animal watch if it wasn’t already dark out…

First up were drinks. I kept it simple with a Coke, but Luke ordered a Kande Coconut Cooler – a refreshing combination of Starr African rum, coconut, vanilla ice cream and orange juice, $10.

 We knew exactly what we wanted to eat, and wasted no time ordering their Indian Style Bread Service –  Traditional Naan, Garlic Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kulcha and Paneer Paratha with Red Chile Sambal, Cucumber Raita, Coriander Chutney, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Garlic Pickle, Spicy Jalapeno-lime pickle, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Tamarind Chutney, $16. There is one type of bread I don’t care for, but I can never remember which one it is so we just order them all (Luke likes all of them). I do wish they offered a coconut naan though, that’s my absolute favourite whenever I go to an Indian restaurant.

This was just as delicious as we remembered, and we really enjoyed taking our time trying out each bread with each dip – I even tried the super spicy ones. The hummus was much better than I remembered it being, but my favourite was probably the Tamarind Chutney – which isn’t a huge surprise, I eat that all the time with Vegetable Pakoras. Luke loves spicy, and his favourite was the Garlic Pickle.

For our main meal, we decided to share the Potje Inspired. I don’t see it on the menu, but they allowed us to choose 3 items (2 meat, 1 veg) for an additional cost – I don’t know if this has been discontinued or if you just need to ask for it. We were charged $37 for this. We actually ordered the exact same three items as we had the year before, the butter chicken, the chickpea wat and the braised beef. I somehow forgot to take pictures of any of it, we were hungry and started digging in as soon as it was brought to our table haha. So, here is a picture of what it looked like in 2017 when we ate there…

I love that chickpea Wat, it’s full of flavour, but isn’t too spicy. The butter chicken is ok, I’ve had better (we live in a neighbourhood that is predominantly Indian, so there are some amazing restaurants around us with incredible butter chicken, vindaloo, tikka masala, etc). The braised beef is tender and delicious.

This was another great meal at Saana, and it is one I’d have a difficult time skipping. Maybe next trip we’ll book an earlier supper so we can see the animals!

Tables in Wonderland original cost: $150                                                 Break Even Point Before this meal: $110.18                                         Savings this Meal: $12.60                                                                                   Total Until Breaking Even: $97.58

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)       Estimated Cost of this meal: $98.52                                                         Actual Cost: $53.68                                                                               Over/Under: Under by $44.84                                                               Remaining: $2048.75

California Grill – January 1, 2018

We had it in our heads that we needed to watch the fireworks at least once from the 15th floor observation deck at the Contemporary Grill, and this was the only place to squeeze in a reservation. We knew we wouldn’t be hungry after eating at a buffet but we figured we would go grab a drink and an appetizer or dessert.

We finished up at 1900 Park Fare later than we thought we would, and headed straight for the monorail. As we arrived at the Contemporary, we heard the first fireworks go off, so we hustled over to the check-in counter for the Cali Grill and they quickly put us into the private elevator leading to the restaurant. While in the elevator, a cast member told us that as soon as we arrived at the restaurant, we should head directly outside and our table would be waiting for us once Happily Ever After was finished.

We took her advice and headed out onto the observation deck. We had missed less than 5 minutes of the 18 minute long show, and we knew we’d be seeing it later in the week so we weren’t upset. It was also a pretty cold night, especially up that high with the wind blowing , so the deck wasn’t crowded at all and we had no issues finding a great spot to watch despite being late. Most people were huddled inside, not brave enough to come out into the cold for a better view.  It was a great view though, and we enjoyed Happily Ever After for our first (of many viewings on this trip). I honestly only took two or three pictures, I wanted to just enjoy the show.

Once the fireworks had ended, we made our way back inside, where our table was ready for us. We knew we weren’t hungry at all, so we decided to share an appetizer, eat quickly and allow them to turn over our table to another couple who would spend more money than us.

Like ordered a drink as well, the Blackberry Lemonade- which doesn’t appear to be on the menu any longer, and I didn’t get a picture of the description. It was $13, and Luke didn’t love it. The stir stick was cute though with its little monorail! 

We wanted to share an appetizer, but there wasn’t much on the menu that appealed to a picky eater like myself. We ultimately ended up ordering the Pepperoni Pizza -House-made Pepperoni, Tomato Conserva, Fontina, Asiago, Parmesan, Mozzarella, Basil-Oregano Pistou, $16.

I did not like this at all.  I tend to like wood-oven pizza, but this had too much char on it, it tasted more burnt than anything else. I also hated the basil-oregano pistou (which is weird, because I tend to like the flavours of both of those herbs) – but I have no idea what a pistou is so maybe that’s the part I didn’t like?

Our server did bring us a basket of bread, and I did eat some of that. I enjoyed the fancy butter haha. I love bread, and I’m not difficult to please with that stuff…

Our total bill came to $29.19 after saving $1.60 on our pizza with my annual pass.

I know there are so many huge fans of California Grill out there, but I wasn’t overly impressed. Although, I do recognize that we did not give it a fair shot, neither one of us ordered a steak (or an entree of any kind for that matter). We actually have reservations for the brunch there on our trip next May, where we will be sure to show up nice and hungry and be able to give this restaurant another chance.

No TIW – blackout day

Predicted food budget: $2631.67 (does not include tip)       Estimated Cost of this meal: $60.71                                                          Actual Cost: $29.19 (before tip)                                                    Over/Under: Under by $31.52                                                                         Remaining: $2189.46

 

 

Homecomin’ – December 31, 2017

Easily one of our favourite meals from our 2017 trip was at Homecomin’. We actually loved it so much that we decided it was the perfect venue for our wedding reception- fried chicken while wearing a wedding dress? Yes please! We knew we would not be brave enough to enter any of the theme parks on New Year’s Eve, so we planned on spending time in Disney Springs that night. Despite having the reception booked at Homecomin’ the following week, we decided we needed to eat there on our own as well. We made a late reservation, 8:50pm since we were going to be volunteering at Give Kids the World until 6pm and we weren’t sure how long it would take to get back to Disney property.

After walking around Disney Springs, we checked in to Homecomin’ early where they told us we probably wouldn’t be seated until our ADR time since they were busy. They handed us a pager, and Luke decided to run to the public bathroom right across from the restaurant since we were expecting a 15-20 minute wait. Of course, the pager went off about 90 seconds later and we were led to a table in the bar side of the restaurant. – I was excited for a minimal wait since I’d been dreaming about their food haha!
We were handed menus which we didn’t really need since we knew exactly what we both wanted to order already.

Of course, first up were drinks! I ordered my favourite, the Moonshine Mash – watermelon infused moonshine, fresh watermelon, lime juice and simple syrup, $12. My drink was as delicious as I remembered it, and it was not the last one I had on this trip…

Luke opted for the Rumshine Punch –  strawberry rumshine, blackberry brandy, banana liqueur, pineapple juice and house-made grenadine, $12

For food, we both pretty much knew what we wanted before we even got there. Luke wanted a few appetizers so he ordered the Church Lady Deviled Eggs – HFK style whole deviled eggs, $12 and the Thigh-High Chicken Biscuits – three biscuits topped with Chef Art Smith’s famous fried chicken thighs and bread and butter pickles. Drizzled with honey, $15.

Luke had tried the deviled eggs the previous year, and they once again did not disappoint. I rarely (if ever eat eggs), so I skipped trying these. The chicken biscuits were a new item for us to try, but we’d read/heard lots of great things about them – and they were fantastic! I’m not even a big fan of chicken thighs, I prefer white meat, but this stuff was cooked so well I enjoyed it. I’m also not a big fan of pickles, so I did remove those from the few bites I had, but the honey was a nice addition to the already delicious biscuits. Luke loves their hot sauce, and added it to both his eggs and his chicken biscuits.

I wanted fried chicken, so I ordered Art’s Famous Fried Chicken – buttermilk brined for 24 hours then perfectly fried served with creamy mashed potatoes and a cheddar drop biscuit, $28.

At one point, Luke asked me if I was angry at him for something since I was being so quiet – I was just too busy stuffing my face with fried chicken that I didn’t even realize I wasn’t talking! I guess that’s a sign I was enjoying my meal haha. The chicken is so juicy and tender, the cheddar drop biscuits are amazing (I’ve heard that the secret ingredient in those is cream cheese, but I have no proof of this) and the mashed potatoes were creamy and  delicious. I did have a side of gravy as well – which is southern sausage gravy and has a really great flavour!

At some point, Luke ordered another drink, a Muleshine – Tim Smith’s Climax Moonshine, peach puree, fresh lime juice and a splash of Q Spectacular Ginger Beer, $13.

Luke loves mules, so I’m surprised he didn’t start with this drink! He actually preferred his first drink a bit more, but there was nothing left of this one.

Despite being stuffed, there’s always room for dessert when you’re at Homecomin’ – there’s only a few options, but all the ones we’ve tried have been great!

We decided to share something, so we ordered a slice of Hamilton County Chocolate Pecan Pie – a 100 year-old traditional Smith Family Farm recipe. Served with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, $10.

This was amazing – my new favourite dessert! It seriously doesn’t look like much, but it was so rich and chocolately and filled with pecans – and those pecans by the scoop of ice cream were candied -yum! We actually have one of Chef Art Smith’s cookbooks, and Luke made this pie one day. It turned out really well, and was so delicious!

The place was really busy this night, since it was NYE. People were having a good time, and since we were sitting beside the bar we could see the amount of drinks the bartenders were making – it was a lot. The service was a little slow that night, since it was one of the bartenders assigned to our table – but no real complaints!

Our total bill came to $100.64 after saving 10% with my annual pass.

TIW black out day – But I was able to save 10% using my Annual Pass

Predicted food budget: $2631.67                                                                             Estimated Cost of this meal: $152.30 ( I budgeted more drinking, it was NYE after all! But, we were tired and didn’t feel like any more)     Actual Cost: $100.64                                                                             Over/Under: Under by $51.66                                                                 Remaining: $2346.73

Next meal: 1900 Park Fare

Narcoossee’s Brunch – December 31, 2017

We had a lengthy wish list of dining options we wanted to fit into this trip, and one of the fancy brunches were at the top of the list. I was leaning a bit more towards the Brunch at the Top at the California Grill, but on our ADR day we were able to book Narcoossee’s, so that’s the one we were going with. I’m now glad this is the one we did, as it ended up being canceled shortly after this trip. We were both excited for it!

We caught an Uber from Pop Century over to the Grand Floridian, and walked over to Narcoossee’s.

Our reservation was at 11:25, and the restaurant was fairly empty. After we checked in, I had to stand and admire this thing for a few minutes – so impressive!

It only took a few minutes before we were led to our seats, a 4-top right by a window with a great view of Seven Seas Lagoon and Cinderella’s Castle in the background.

The brunch menu at Narccoossee’s was a prix fixe, and included drinks, an appetizer, an entree and a dessert plate.

When our server came to take our order, we both went for a Mimosa, and Luke also asked for French-press coffee (we thought there might be an upcharge for this, but there wasn’t). Our server, Nelson, also came back with glasses of water, lemon slices and Mickey straws for us as well (our server told us the straws were a New Year’s Eve present, so I don’t think they gave these out all the time).

We also had a basket of pastries brought to our table – croissants, cheese danishes and mini citrus muffins.

Accompaniments for the pastries were fresh jam and fancy butter (if I remember correctly, that was hibiscus on top – I call butter with anything added to it “fancy butter”).

I’m not typically a big pastry person – I like white bread but could care less about croissants. That said, if all croissants tasted like that one, I would eat them a lot more frequently! It was so flaky and fresh and buttery (also helped along by me smearing butter all over it haha). I tried the danish, but I’m still not a fan (no complaints from Luke, it meant he got to eat both of them haha). The mini muffins were pretty good, nice and moist and really delicious with that jam.

We could each choose an appetizer, so that was an easy choice for me – I don’t eat seafood of any kind (personal preference, not an allergy), and three of the four options had something from the sea (crab, shrimp and salmon). So, I went for the only other option, the Romaine Salad – tender leaves of romaine, marinated half-dried tomatoes, shaved pecorino Romano, garlicky focaccia croutons and creamy Caesar dressing.

This was pretty good, although fairly standard. Yes, I realize Caesar dressing typically has anchovies in it, but for some reason I’m okay with it.

Luke wanted to try something different, and since he has a mild shellfish allergy he decided salmon would be the safest bet, so he asked for the Salmon Rillette with fine herb Bavarols – served with whole-grain cranberry baguettes. Neither one of us knew exactly what he had just ordered (we are not fancy foodies at all), but what showed up was nothing like we could have imagined.

Luke wasn’t 100% sure how to eat this, so he just started spooning it onto the baguette pieces they provided. Clearly he wasn’t putting it on thick enough, he had a lot of the salmon mixture left once he quickly ran out of bread. He did like it though – although he wishes he had just gone with the Caesar salad as well.

Entree’s were a difficult decision, I really wanted to try multiple. I’ve heard that the servers will sometimes bring you more than one entree at these brunches, but despite my not-so-subtle hints at that, our server never mentioned that as an option so we decided on one each.

Luke opted for the Chicken and Waffles – crispy fried boneless breast and thigh with creamy collard greens on a waffle with maple-bacon bourbon jam, house-made apple butter and candied walnut crumble.

The syrup came in a separate little dish to pour on yourself

This sounded amazing, and was one of the front runners for my top choice of entree, but it really wasn’t that great. Luke described it as McNuggets on an okay waffle. He didn’t hate it, but he really regrets not getting the other entree he was eyeing up – the Swordfish. He felt that the Chicken and Waffles was not worth the price we paid for this meal – but he blames himself for choosing the safe and comfortable option over being a little more adventurous. 

I went for the Steak and Eggs – black angus hanger steak, two cage free brown eggs any style, marble potato home fries and truffle aioli.

This was a winner (although the plating left a bit to be desired)! I don’t eat eggs very often, they can sometimes be a trigger food that aggravates my Crohn’s disease, so while ordering I let Luke decide on those (he kept it simple and asked for scrambled). I did steal a little bite of them, and they were ok… I’m actually weird and when I do eat them, I like my scrambled eggs really browned up (basically burnt by egg standards haha). Those potatoes though, oh man. Incredible. I probably could have made an entire meal just out of those! The truffle aioli on top of them was fantastic, I didn’t want to share any with Luke (but of course I did since he was a bit disappointed in his meal).

The steak, while not the fanciest cut, was perfectly cooked well done as requested. I really enjoyed it! I know – I’m about to hear all the boo’s from you rare-medium steak people – I just can’t do it. If there’s so much as a speck of blood on my plate, I’m done. I prefer my steak to no longer be mooing…

The dessert was a Trio of Desserts – Valencia blood orange bar, triple chocolate cake and lemon blueberry timbale. I believe they only brought us one plate of these for the two of us to share – I’m not sure if that’s standard, but I’m sure we could have asked for a second one. However, we were both really full by this point, and sharing the three desserts was more than enough. We also didn’t want to take any with us, as we were not heading back to our hotel room for awhile and didn’t feel like carrying them around.

They were all really good! I loved the edible gold on the triple chocolate cake (which didn’t actually have any taste, but I just felt so fancy eating it – not hard to tell we don’t eat out at nice places very often haha). The chocolate cake was my favourite of the three desserts, which wasn’t a huge surprise to me. I’m not always a huge lemon or blueberry fan, but this timbale was ok. I honestly have no idea what timbale even is (a common theme with this meal haha) but it was good. I also liked the orange-flavoured one – but I tend to like anything orange.

After we ate, we headed out onto the deck overlooking the water. Such a nice view!

Since it was New Year’s Eve, it was a blackout day for my Tables in Wonderland card. However, I was able to use my annual pass discount, so it was at least something (10% discount). The total cost for both of us came to $132.28 before tip.

This brunch disappeared a few weeks later, which is too bad since I’ve heard the brunch at California Grill has gone downhill a bit. Even if it were still an option, I’m not sure if this would be something I’d do every single time (there are other meals/experiences I enjoyed more on this trip), but I’m really glad we did this at least once. We both definitely felt like I made the better decisions when it came to the menu, but Luke didn’t hate the three or four mimosas he had haha (they were bottomless!).

TIW – black out day

Predicted food budget: $2631.67                                                                             Estimated Cost of this meal: $146.97                                                                     Actual Cost: $132.38                                                                               Over/Under: Under by $14.59                                                                   Remaining: $2447.37

Next meal: Homecomin’

Tusker House – January 11, 2018

One of Luke’s favourite character meals on property is at Tusker House at Animal Kingdom, and it has become one of our go-to’s on every trip. I made this reservation for 12 people, but only 5 of us actually ended up making it there for it – a few people were flying home that day, a group had went to Universal Studios for the day and a few were enjoying the hotel pool for the day. The cast members didn’t seem to mind too much when we checked in that our numbers were lower than expected. Enjoying this  meal would be Luke, my Dad, Ashley, Mike and I.

I checked in for our 10:45 reservation pretty much on time, and we only had to wait a few minutes before being called. We were led to a table in the room to the right of the buffet. Our waitress came over right away to take our drink orders (coffee, water and POG juice – or jungle juice as I believe they call it there), and we headed up to the buffet. I only took pictures of my own plates.

Plate #1: some bacon, a biscuit with gravy, banana bread pudding with a vanilla sauce.

The bacon was standard Disney bacon, the biscuit and gravy was ok, but the star of this plate was the bread pudding. I wish it didn’t have raisins in it, but that just gives me something to pick out haha.

Plate #2 (starting at 12 o’clock and going clockwise): ham, a roll with butter, curry chicken and basmati rice, roasted carrots, breakfast potatoes, a single corn dog nugget and mashed potatoes with gravy.

I enjoyed everything on this plate.  I didn’t really take any notes from this meal, sorry – I was pretty exhausted after the wedding the day before!

10:45am is the sweet spot for a reservation at Tusker House, since it allows you to hit both the breakfast buffet and the lunch buffet as they switch it over – this makes me very happy as I don’t really care for breakfast foods.

Of course, Tusker House is a character meal with four Safari-clad characters making their way around the restaurant while you eat. The first one to approach our table was the one and only Mr. Donald Duck. I wish Ashley and Mike would come with us to Disney every time just so I can watch Mike with the characters – I absolutely loved how happy it made him!

Next up was Daisy Duck, followed by the main mouse himself, and finally Goofy.

       This is the first character at this meal that my Dad agreed to have his picture taken with – he’s just not super into the character meet and greets.

By this point, we had all finished eating, but there’s always room for desserts when at Disney! We headed up for some sweets – and apparently I changed my mind once I got up there haha.

From 12 o’clock going clockwise: some kind of strawberry cake thing, a slice of pork, some green beans, a single cube of cheese (who gets just one cube?!), a few grapes, some kind of chocolate tart-like thing and a double chocolate muffin? brownie? Again, my notes on this day were terrible.

I remember liking the muffin/brownie thing the best of the desserts – but have nothing on the other items.

Donald and Mickey both stopped by again, and I made Dad take pictures with me.

When the bill came out, my Dad offered to pay for the entire table, which was so nice of him! I had already pulled out my Annual Pass and my Tables in Wonderland card, and our waitress told us she would apply the discount even though it wouldn’t be paid on my card (I thought the name on the TIW card had to match the card used to pay for the meal – hence why we’d been all paying cash at meals, but she assured us it would be fine). The total for all 5 of us came to $175.44 after the discount (and including the 18% auto gratuity that comes with using TIW). The waitress charged us for breakfast pricing of $34/person – typically when Luke and I go at that time we’ve always been charged the lunch pricing of $45. During our meal we had chatted with our waitress about our wedding the day before, so I’m not sure if this was just a bit of pixie dust or if they are supposed to charge you based on when you sat down compared to when you finished eating.

Tables in Wonderland Original Cost: $150                                            Break Even Point Before this Meal: $0                                                 Savings this Meal: $34                                                                                           Total Saved: Full cost of card +$297.34

Predicted food budget: $2631.67                                                                            Estimated Cost of this meal: $95.85 (Luke and I, based on $45/each – the lunch price)                                                                                                                   Actual Cost: $0 – thanks Dad!                                                                                   Over/Under: Under by $95.85                                                                  Remaining: $531.67

Next meal: Nomad Lounge

Trader Sam’s – November 13, 2017

We had went to Trader Sams on our last trip to Disneyland on our first night there, it was Luke’s request for his birthday after enjoying our first experience at the Trader Sam’s in Florida a few weeks earlier. We knew we wanted to go at some point during this trip, so once we were both starting to feel hungry  and a little cranky, we decided it was time for a drink.

Trader Sam’s is a small, heavily themed bar located by the Disneyland Hotel.

It is based off the Jungle Cruise ride, and has no shortage of things to look at on the walls.

I wasn’t feeling great by the time we got there, so I decided alcohol was not a good idea, so I tried one of the non-alcoholic drinks on the menu, the Schweitzer Falls – the AMAZING… the COLOSSAL… the STUPENDOUS…the eighth wonder of the world… Dr. Albert Falls’ favourite (over the rocks). Tropical juices and Sam’s Gorilla Grog topped with Sprite – $5.25

I enjoyed this (and not just because it had a glow cube – although that didn’t hurt haha). It was sweet, which I’m a fan of.

Luke wanted alcohol, and he wanted to try something he hadn’t tried before, so his choice was the Krakatoa Punch – there’s no escaping falling in lava with this exotic eruption of flavor! Reserve and Spiced rums, orgeat (almond) syrup, Sam’s Gorilla Grog and hibiscus grenadine. Served in a souvenir Tiki mug. $23.50 with a souvenir mug

I did try his drink – it was good, but very strong (like all drinks at Trader Sam’s). They also were not serving the drinks in souvenir mugs, but hey did have these ones in stock for us to bring home.

We also decided to split some food, and once again ordered the Pu-Pu Platter – sweet and spicy Asian wings, fried spring rolls, panko-crusted Chinese long beans, lettuce mix and sriracha aioli, $17

I always think I like spring rolls, but after my first bite I remember I’m not a huge fan haha. No worries though, Luke really liked these so he ate them both. The Asian wings were a little too spicy for my liking, so again, Luke had those. The beans though – yum!  I loved these in January when we had them, and, despite me not feeling the greatest at this point, I was able to assist in putting a decent dent in that pile of beans. The Sriracha aioli was really good with the beans, I didn’t find it too spicy at all.

Luke had enjoyed it so much last time that he also decided to order the Angus 1/3 LB Hawaiian Cheeseburger – ground angus burger with teriyaki sauce, fresh caramelized pineapple, havarti cheese, bacon, lettuce and tomato on a brioche bun. Includes your choice of one of the following sides: sweet potato fries, classic french fries or island fruit – $13

I wasn’t interested in the burger, but Luke liked it a lot. I was excited when I saw shoestring fries, and I might have claimed quite a few of those for myself…

Basically, my entire meal here consisted of french fries and beans haha, but it was delicious and I wouldn’t change it – vacation mode!

We happened to overhear a server talking about the limited edition Haunted Mansion mugs that had been released a few weeks earlier – we had just assumed they were sold out, but turns out they weren’t! We excitedly asked for one of those to take home, and didn’t even care about the cost haha (it was $25 for the mug alone). It’s so amazing though!

Our total bill was $84.54 after saving 15% using my Annual Pass.

Plaza Inn – November 11, 2017

One of our repeat meals from our previous trip to Disneyland was at the Plaza Inn for breakfast. We again had a reservation for first thing in the morning on the Saturday we were there, and were able to enter a fairly empty park. We checked in to the restaurant, paid up front for our meal (a requirement here – also, hurray for AP discounts!), were handed our Plaza Inn pins and were led to our table. Along the way, we ran into my favourite, Eeyore, so naturally we had to stop for hugs.

We also found some chipmunks before I even had a chance to take off my sunglasses, so we took some selfies 🙂

Chip, Dale and Eeyore loved Luke’s shirt, and made a big deal out of it haha.

Of all the character meals we’ve done at Disneyland and Walt Disney World (and it’s actually quite a few), none of them compare to this one for number of characters. Most character meals have four, sometimes five characters – this one typically has nine or ten. We had already seen three before even sitting down.

The food here is pretty basic breakfast fare. It’s a buffet, but the cast members tend to serve you, you just let them know what you’d like.

I had a made to order omelet with bacon, ham and cheese to start. I tend to stay away from eggs, they don’t always agree with me, but I just can’t help myself when I see an omelet station! I also had a glass of apple juice.

The omelet was obviously fresh, as I watched it being made. It was more eggs than I wanted to eat, so I didn’t finish it all, but I did enjoy it. There was a lot of bacon and ham, and a generous serving of cheese on top.

I grabbed a second plate with some bacon, ham and a piece of chicken-fried steak with country gravy.

This stuff was all ok. Nothing was spectacular, but I don’t eat come to Plaza Inn at breakfast for the food.

Luke’s first plate contained hash browns, sausage, scrambled eggs and bacon, along with a yogurt/granola/berry parfait and a small plate with a chocolate pastry and some fruit.

Again, this was all ok. Disney bacon is always good. The hashbrowns weren’t great, but everything else was fine.

Our first visitor to our table was T-I-double-Gah-er, who was his usual bouncy self!

Next up was a villain, Mr. Captain Hook.

Max was next (Luke’s faces are hilarious in these pictures)

One of my favourites, Winnie the Pooh stopped by to see us next.

Eeyore then stopped by, and even though we had already taken pictures with him when we first entered the restaurant, we had to get some more 🙂

The 8th character we saw was the Fairy Godmother

We noticed we had time before the next character stopped by, so we headed over to grab more food. I grabbed a slice of french toast and a Mickey waffle, and a small plate of fruit (strawberries, watermelon, orange slices, grapes and honeydew melon), along with a little jello cup. Luke grabbed a second plate as well, but I have no idea what he had since I forgot to take a picture.

I like the french toast here, I had it last time we ate at Plaza as well. It’s nothing special, but the warm syrup is a nice touch. Mickey waffles are a classic staple when eating breakfast at Disney, and they all taste the same. I’ve realized over time that I might be allergic to honeydew, it always makes my mouth feel funny so I only had a small bite of that. I enjoyed the rest of it though.

I decided to run to the bathroom, thinking I had enough time before Piglet made his way over to our table. However, the bathroom is outside of the restaurant, so I just missed him by the time I got back. I saw Piglet about to head outside to visit with the people out there, so I ran over and managed to get a few selfies with him.

Minnie Mouse is technically the host of this meal, but she was not making her way around the restaurant and instead was standing outside by the main entrance. They were having guests get their picture with her before entering the restaurant, and then coming around trying to sell those pictures. Don’t even get me started on how much this bothers me – I paid $1500 for my Premier Annual Pass, over $30/person to eat breakfast, and now you want me to pay another $30 for a picture with Minnie Mouse. No, just no. This is taking the greed to a whole other level. I did insist on stopping to get a picture with Minnie before we left, and I asked the photographer how to get our picture. He kept telling me I would need to pay for it but I kept resisting, but eventually he let me know that I could go to the Photopass store on Main Street and they would be able to load my pictures on to my account for free since I had photopass included with my annual pass. So – anytime a Disney restaurant wants you to purchase photos, mention this and see if the cast member will confirm that this is an option.

The total cost of this meal was $62.28 after tax. This included a 15% discount thanks to my annual pass.