Day 7 Continued...
Side note: In all my raving about how awesome the hurricane festivities were, I forgot to mention the one major disappointment for me which was that our Brunch at the Top had been cancelled on Sunday and I was looking forward to that meal more than any other. When we were stuck in the room I had called and added two nights to our stay, but we would be leaving Saturday morning so no other opportunity to go to the brunch. Guess what the first ADR I made for our upcoming April trip was??? It better stick this time because it’s the last time we’ll be when Asher will be free and I’m not sure I’ll be willing to shell out $50 something for his meal until he’s big enough to do some damage.
Back to business though, we left Via Napoli and I think we rode Frozen Ever After with a FP+, the first time on the attraction for us. I think I would like it if they would just slow the boats down, you can hardly see what’s going on in each scene because you move through so quickly. Hopefully they can do that when the lines aren’t so long in eighteen years or so. Since we were right by Kringla, Chad wanted to pick up some lefse, his favorite pastry treat in all of WDW. He got two so he could eat one and save one for later. The lefse were very good, we agreed that the bread seems thicker and softer than in the past and also the butter filling was sweeter. We’ve always enjoyed the lack of sweetness, but the sweeter version is good too and is probably more appealing to the American masses. I never pass up a chance to get something at Kringla, so I got a troll horn, which I had never had but always looks nice in photo reviews. I didn’t notice if they were using cloudberries or lingonberries at the time. Kringla is one of my favorite stops for treats because the desserts are light, fluffy, and not overly sweet and the troll horn didn’t disappoint. The whipped cream was fresh and the pastry was flaky with a nice crunch from the sugar coating. I would get it again if I can manage to pass up rice cream or school bread.
It was nap time and I was determined to get to the pool for some solo time since I hadn’t had a turn yet and we were supposed to be trading off nap duty. I managed to enjoy a margarita in the sun, move to a shady spot, then order a Castaway IPA before Chad and Asher came shuffling in. After some pool time, we started thinking about dinner and I was feeling the urge to get over to AKL, our favorite resort and DVC home. I would have chosen Jiko, but I let Chad choose and his pick was Sanaa because he wanted something more casual and I didn’t have any complaints because I love all the restaurants over there anyway.
We freshened up, put on more presentable attire, and made our way to AKL. Since we had our TIW card, we took advantage of the free valet parking which is a great perk if you have a vehicle. We had just a few minutes before the ADR time I had reserved earlier and made our way down to Sanaa after a quick perusal of the gift shop.
After being seated quickly in a great spot by a window overlooking the savanna, we ordered our usual drinks when there, the African Starr Mojito for Chad and a glass of South African chenin blanc for me, which is one of my favorite wine varietals that can be a bit harder to find on restaurant menus.
Even though it was our third visit to Sanaa, we had never ordered the bread service before and decided it was definitely time for us to do so, with all nine accompaniments. We all destroyed the naan, it was delicious, our favorite being the garlic-ginger. Chad and I both preferred the spicy accompaniments, particularly the coriander chutney and red chile sambal. Asher ate the raita with a spoon. I think next time I would get the 9 again, but see if we can double up on some and eliminate the sweet ones.
Deciding on entrees was difficult for both of us, but we both eventually decided on the Potjie Inspired. I was trying to choose something for my entrée that Asher would also like and chose the braised beef and chickpea wat for my selections. Chad chose the spicy Durban shrimp on my recommendation and the lentil dhal. I ended up regretting my choices as both the beef and chickpeas had a strong clove flavor that I didn’t enjoy and not much else going on flavor-wise. Chad’s shrimp dish was nowhere near as spicy as when I’ve had it previously and his lentils were too firm. Overall, I just found the spice and flavor profiles to be lacking compared to what we’ve had there in the past. I wish I had ordered something else because Asher had filled up on bread and yogurt anyway and wasn’t very interested in my dishes. I have learned my lesson though, which is that one doesn’t want to pass up the bread service at Sanaa, but I would have been perfectly satisfied with just another appetizer like maybe the charcuterie or oxtail, something heavy on protein for sure. The entrees were disappointing, I hope it was just an off night and they haven’t dumbed down the flavors as much as it seemed. The bread service was on point though and we enjoyed our drinks.
We checked out the animals on the savannah for a bit, but it was getting very close to bedtime for Asher so we picked up our car from valet (so convenient) and headed home to the Poly for the night feeling rather poofy after stuffing ourselves with bread all day. Probably not a good idea to do Via Napoli and Sanaa on the same day in the future.
Up next, Day 8: It’s Called the NO-mad Lounge!