On our last trip, this restaurant hadn't existed yet, and we had read some great reviews so we were really excited to try it:
Sanaa, the African-inspired restaurant at Animal Kingdom Lodge's Kidani Village.
One of the main draws here, apart from the food, is that if you get a table close to a window, you get to dine with a view of the animals in the Kidani savannah.
I had really been looking forward to that, so I was delighted when we were shown to this table (and had this slightly overexposed zebra already waiting patiently for us):
Isn't that just the best of views?
The menu at Sanaa offers lots of samplers, giving you a change to try different things and usually even choosing something like "three out of five", making this a great spot for adventurous eaters or people wishing to try lots of different dishes and not minding the fact that there will not be a lot of each single thing there.
This is one of the appetizers we shared, and my decidedly yummy Mango Lassi in the background (DH had a Mega-Berry Smoothie):
The Sampler for Two - Potato and Pea Samosa, Pulled Duck with Red Curry Sauce, Roasted Cauliflower.
Very tasty, especially the duck! Oh, and don't you just love the beautiful table design?
Even though that sampler was billed as an appetizer for Two, it only counted as a one-person appetizer on the Deluxe Dining Plan, so we also shared The Salad Sampler, which gave us a choice of three salads out of five:
We chose the Chickpeas with cucumber and tomato, the Kachumbar (cucumber), and the Carrot, orange, and mint salads.
The other choices would have been Roasted Beets (which was out pretty much at once because I strongly dislike beets) and Watermelon, lime, and radish (which also sounded very good).
We quickly decided that we would also decide on our main courses together and split both of them.
The first one was the Vegetarian Sampler, allowing a choice of two dishes (out of four available) and served with either Basmati Rice or Five-Grain Pilaf:
We had the Vegetables and Chickpeas with Green Curry Sauce, and the Stewed Lentils. The chickpeas were a great choice, but the lentils were a bit bland and we did not much care for their slightly unappetizing colour and texture, either. We should probably have chosen the Spicy Cauliflower, Onions, Tomatoes, and Mint instead something to remember for next time!
Our other main course - Slow Cooked in Gravy, Simple and Well Seasoned, where we got a Choice of two of three possible variations, again served with either Basmati Rice or Five-grain pilaf:
We chose the Chicken with Red Curry Sauce, the Shrimp with Green Curry Sauce, and the Basmati rice to go with it. We could also have had Beef Short Ribs, and the fact that my DH let me talk him away from them towards the two curry dishes is a big sign of how much he loves me.
While we were enjoying our food, an ostrich outside seemed to be doing the same:
Apparently, he was constantly snapping flying insects out of the air. As we couldn't see the insects, however, he looked decidedly odd wandering around with his mouth open and continually snapping at the air as if he was singing an aria with the volume turned off
.
Anyway, moving on to desserts. There were two alternatives offered that had mangoes in them, and those are one of my favoured fruit, so I was happy. One of these contained tapioca though, which I have never had before and didn't feel like trying today, so my choice was clear:
The Mango Pudding simply delicious. (Sorry about the rather unappetizing empty glass in the background! SCHULTERZUCKEN)
Meanwhile, DH had this:
The Dessert Sampler - Chocolate Cake, Passion Fruit Kulfi, and Chai Cream.
All in all, this was a wonderful meal. We loved the inspired ethnic cooking, as well as the chance to sample so many different dishes. The view with all the wild animals was wonderful and added so much to the atmosphere - and since the restaurant was so new, everything just seemed so clean and sparkling new.
A wonderful restaurant and an absolute must for our next trip!
Coming up next: Dinner at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue!