If you are a foodie and a Disney foodie, like myself then a Disney food trip to Sanaa is a must. It has a beautiful blend of African and Ethiopian inspired dishes. You can locate Sana’a at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.
You are able to use your Disney Dining at Sanaa if you have the Deluxe Dining package. I highly recommend stopping in at least for the bread service.
Animal Kingdom Savanna
Let’s start from the beginning. When we first arrived at the Animal Kingdom Lodge it is beautifully decorated with African inspired artwork and wood carvings and is peaceful and serene.
After reading several blogs, I discovered that you can go down to the first floor and go out onto the viewing deck. The viewing deck allows you to view one of the savannas at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. We were able to see zebra, gazelles, kudzu, ostriches and more animals that I can’t remember all of their names, over 30 different species. Of course, my favorite was seeing the giraffes eat.
If you time your arrival, you might even get to see them feeding and watch the animals. I recommend planning to arrive about an hour before your reservation. We arrived around 6 o’clock for about an hour to an hour and a half before our dinner reservation.
The Animal Kingdom Lodge hosts a Night Safari and a Ultimate Nights of Adventure VIP Tour. Therefore, if you go when it is dark outside you can pay additional for a night tour, and have night vision goggles. Both of the tours require advanced reservation so you might can time it with your dinner reservation.
Experience Sanaa
Sanaa is located also on the first floor as well. The attendants were friendly, greeting us when we walked up after receiving the text message that our table was ready. My favorite decor at the beginning was the sign and its loops and swirls in the baskets. It was beautiful and Instagram worthy.
Make sure to take note of all the hanging lamps and other artwork that is at the restaurant as it’s very stunning and very eclectic. You will find Sanaa to be beautifully decorated, but not overdone.
But that’s not why you came here to hear about the decor you want to know about the food. My recommendation is to get everything. I am already planning a solo trip to get all the food I didn’t get last time, and ordering more drinks (yummy).
We were celebrating my sister’s birthday, and the party included my mother, brother-in-law, and my sister. One of the reasons this restaurant was chosen was the fact that it is vegan-friendly.
Appetizers or Full Meal
For an appetizer, we ordered the bread service. If you read the blogs on Sanaa, you will see that this is what everyone talks about. Since my sister is vegan, so we opted to get the regular bread service and the vegan naan.
We also partook of the cheese service and soup.
Indian-style Bread Service
The vegan bread service includes three pieces of vegan naan, which just does not include butter and is still relatively flavorful, as reported by my sister. Regular bread service includes 5 large pieces of naan, you can opt for one flavor or try all 5, we opted for all 5 flavors (one of each). The dip was 10 different flavors, that were arranged from mild to spicy to “burn your tongue off” spicy.
Choice of Five Pieces of bread and with all Nine Accompaniments – Traditional Naan, Garlic-Ginger Naan, Spiced Naan, Onion Kulcha, or Paneer Paratha. Accompaniments – Cucumber Raita, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Mango Chutney, Tomato-Date Jam, Tamarind Chutney, Coriander Chutney, Garlic Pickle, Red Chile Sambal, or Spicy Jalapeño-Lime Pickle ~$18.00
Out of the dips, there was only one that was not vegan-friendly. It was the creamy white one, but it was still good and the one my mother preferred as it was the mildest. Luckily, out of the family we each had our section of the sauces we liked and didn’t have to share too much as our pallets differ. The good thing is there are so much bread and sauce for people who shared that without wanting more.
Artisanal Cheese Selection
Being a cheese addict, I had to order the cheese platter. Luckily, I am the only one who wanted some and therefore didn’t have to share.
There are four different types of cheeses, some crisps, and accouterments. You can see an attached image of the various types of cheeses that were offered and they were delicious I did want more but only because I’m a cheese-aholic.
The Artisanal Cheese Selection will run you about $12.00.
Soup Selections
My brother-in-law did get a soup, opting for the potato cream-based soup of the day.
They had various types of soups to choose from. He said that it was very delicious and had large chunks of potatoes that were cooked to perfection and nice and soft. ~ $9.00
Bottoms Up
Let’s talk about drinks! Not being familiar with African wines, I chose to do a white wine flight at Sanaa. I found them to be flavorful, very smooth; all well balanced and paired well with the bread service and the cheese platter. My sister, on the other hand, opted for a Mojito, which she wanted more of and will partake of next time as well.
African Starr Mojito
Starr African Rum, Van der Hum Tangerine Liqueur from South Africa, fresh Lime Juice, and Mint. $12.50
Dinner is Served
But let’s talk about dinner, the menu is not super expensive (compared to character dining) but it does have several different options. You can go to Sanaa Dinner Menu to see the various dinner options.
We each had the Potjie Inspired Journey. You can see the options below:
Choose one from the Journey – Goan Seafood Curry, Butter Chicken, Braised Beef, or Spicy Durban Shrimp.
Choose one from the Harvest – Chickpea Wat, Aloo Masala, Paneer Tikka, Lentil Dhal, or Cilantro-Coconut Vegetables.
Served with scented Basmati Rice.
This will run you $28.00 each, but we had a lot of leftovers (maybe we shouldn’t have had all that bread).
My mother chose the Butter Chicken and Cilantro-Coconut Vegetables, the butter chicken is spicy. Sister opted for two harvests, the Chickpea Wat and Cilantro-Coconut Vegetables. Brother-in-Law tried the Goan Seafood Curry and Cilantro-Coconut Vegetables. I tried the Braised Beef and Chickpea Wat.
My mother found the butter chicken to be extremely spicy for her taste and wishes she would have chosen the braised beef. Everyone else loved their meal, claiming it was flavorful, spicy, and worthy of going multiple times!!!
The Grand Finale- Desserts!
For a decant dessert we choose the African Triple Chocolate Mousse. This. Cake. Is. Everything!!!!! It is worth getting even if you take it home, it was creamy and dreamy and very rich. Writing about it makes me want to eat now!!
Final Thoughts on Sanaa
I would say if you are staying in the area, are a local or Disney food junkie Sanaa is a must. It is flavorful dishes that won’t break the bank and for Disney Dining it is truly a step above the park food. The atmosphere alone makes it an experience but the food. OK, I’m drooling now and going ahead and planning my next trip.
For help with planning and booking your next Disney vacation and dining experience, contact me. I am a Disney Authorized Travel Genie with Magic Lamp Vacations. My services are complimentary.
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