It’s no secret that Sanaa at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge offers a menu that is a delicious blend of African and Indian cuisines, but the restaurant is turning it up a notch with some new menu items.
Chef Sahib Bhatti has incorporated his roots from Tanzania on the Eastern Coast of Africa into these new and updated dishes offering even more for the taste buds to enjoy.
First up, two new versions of the Potjie-inspired Slow Cooked Dishes are being added, in addition to the guest favorite Butter Chicken.
The Pork Vindaloo features inspiration from Portuguese cuisine, and features tender pork cooked with paprika, garlic, tomato, vinegar, and a house-made spice blend. Meanwhile the plant-based Lentil Daal is more Indian in origin, and is made with yellow lentils and cooked in fragrant spices.
The Zanzibari Vegetable Curry is inspired by the African island of Zanzibar, also known as “Spice Island.” This plant-based dish features seasonal vegetables, fragrant rice, and a blend of cloves, cinnamon, and black pepper.
The Samaki Wa Kupaka is a fish dish made with the Kingklip white fish, and joins the menu as a part of sustainable seafood initiatives. It is coated in a traditional Swahili marinade of mango, and turmeric, and topped with a tangy tamarind-infused coconut gravy.
Sukuma Wiki is a popular East African dish prepared with onions, garlic, spices and sukuma,more commonly known as collard greens, and served with market-fresh sustainable fish on a bed of geelrys (yellow rice).
The plant-based Rajma Masala is a dish from the Indian subcontinent that features red kidney beans and a delicious spice blend combined with onions, tomatoes, and garam masala, and braised until tender.
Available for dinner only, the fall-off-the-bone Pork Shank goes through a long braise process with flavors of cloves, nutmeg, and allspice before getting plated with black-eye peas simmered in a chermoula herb blend, one of the Chef’s comfort foods.
Also a dinner only dish, the Grilled New York Strip has been on the menu before, but is now paired with mukimo made with green peas, corn, and spinach, as well as harvest vegetables, herb emulsion, and fig sauce.
Finally, the guest-favorite Lamb Kefta returns to the menu with an update. Chef Sahib and his team have infused traditional North-African flavors with spices like cumin and cayenne pepper to this char-grilled ground lamb that is served with Tunisian couscous salad and ginger pear chutney.
I can’t wait to try these new dishes, and I’m happy to see so many more plant-based offerings will be on the menu. Which dish do you want to try? Let us know in comments!