Tiffins, a Wonderful Meal

by Gaylin

One of the great things to do on a vacation, is have a special meal. I was able to get an ADR at Tiffins for my first day at the Animal Kingdom and had a long time from booking the reservation to the actual meal to look forward to eating there.

I was not let down! The restaurant is lovely, the cast members terrific and the food!!! As I sat down, I was handed an official, leather-bound allergy menu. I was thrilled, I had a choice of entrees.

I chose this:

Excuse the fact that I have taken a forkful from this photo but I was very hungry and took  a bite before I took a photo . . .

The pork was perfectly cooked and wonderfully seasoned, by the time I was finished, I had used the bites of pork to wipe all the mole sauce off the plate. So very good. This was the first tamale I had ever had, the flavour was really good but it needed a bit more seasoning or a bit of some sauce inside it to bring out the flavour. There was pork in the tamale but it was lacking in salt. The hominy succotash, another first for me, was also flavourful but needed just a bit more something to round out the taste. Minor problems, believe me, I ate it all!

Again, I was thrilled that I had more than one choice for dessert. With food allergies, I am used to getting told, I am sorry - we having nothing you can eat . . . would you like ice cream. (No)

This was my dessert:

I made the right choice, see . . .

This dessert was the perfect balance of sweet, with the ganache and banana, tart, with the raspberry sauce and pomegranate seeds and savoury - Egyptian sea salt on the ganache. The cocoa nib tulle - slightly bitter and a great crunch. This is possibly the best dessert I have had in my life. 

Would I go back to Tiffins. Yes, absolutely.

Not just wonderful food. The decor in the restaurant is beautiful and after a hectic theme park day, lovely and quiet as well. As I was eating my meal and reading on my Kindle, the manager of the restaurant came by, after asking if I was enjoying my meal, he mentioned that the restaurant wasn't busy that night and if I wanted, I could stay and read as long as I wanted to. My kind of restaurant.

If you are thinking of going to Tiffins, please look at the menu online and pay attention to the prices. This is not a restaurant to go to if you are on a budget. A definite splurge. Hopefully, it is a splurge I can afford every time I go to Walt Disney World!

Signature Dining at Walt Disney World - Episode 105 of The Disney Exchange

The Disney Exchange is Lisa, Dave, and me, Nick. Hi There! 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download 

We start off thanking a listener for the newest 5 star review on iTunes. Those are most appreciated because they help get us out to the masses, and everyone should have the opportunity to hear my voice. And Lisa's and Dave's too, of course.

The main topic is, as the main title indicates, Signature Dining at Walt Disney World. Restaurants that have been designated Signature Dining are 2 credits on the Disney Dining Plan.

A majority of these establishments are at resorts:

Jiko at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House
Flying Fish at The Boardwalk
California Grille at The Contemporary
Citricos and Narcoossee's at The Grand Floridian

  Citricos

Artist Point at The Wilderness Lodge
Yachtsman at The Yacht and Beach Club

There are just a few at the parks:

Cinderella's Royal Table in the Magic Kingdom
Le Cellier in Epcot
Tiffins in Disney's Animal Kingdom

Tiffins

The Hollywood Brown Derby in Disney's Hollywood Studios

The Brown Derby

We also add in the dinner shows that are 2 credits on the DDP:

Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue and Mickey's Backyard BBQ at Fort Wilderness
Disney's Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show at the Polynesian.

We share our thoughts on the places we've experienced, both good and bad, as well as the restaurants or shows we'd like to visit, and if we think these venues are worth 2 credits on the Dining Plan.

The Wheel of Distiny topic :  What is your favorite Disney Detail that you have to look down to see?

You can send us an email at info@thedisneyexchange and reach out with show suggestions, submit Wheel of Distiny topics, or request a listener number (remember those?) on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedisneyexchange, Twitter: https://twitter.com/disneyexchange

Thank you for listening to The Disney Exchange!

A Bit of Hollywood

by Gaylin

Going to Walt Disney World means there are a lot of choices and options for meals. Even when I am traveling solo, I like to have a few sit-down meals, it is nice to have a break from quick service and on a hot day, it is lovely to have the air conditioning!

This trip I had chosen The Hollywood Brown Derby in Disney's Hollywood Studios for a sit-down meal. I know it is one of Nick & Barbie's favourite restaurants and I love the ambience of the restaurant and the food as well. It does amuse me to see stroller parking outside a quiet sit-down restaurant, those babies are going to have a good lunch!

The interior of the restaurant has a tall enough ceiling that the noise of the diners dissipates. There is lots to look at on the wall, great caricature drawings, the lighting, a wonderful calm place to have a meal, away from the noise and heat outside.

Because I have allergies, a chef came out to take my order. I wanted to make a meal out of two starters and the chef thought that was a great idea. I really wanted the Andouille Crusted Prawn and he offered to make it without the breading on the prawn. This was a terrific way to start the meal, the grits were creamy with the right amount of zing from the cheese, the oil you can see on the plate was flavoured with ancho and if I could have taken a bottle home with me, I would have. The saltiness from the bacon bits was the perfect accent and the prawn was large, fresh and perfectly cooked. Almost made me wish I had ordered two servings of it!

I had the lunch entree of the Cobb Salad, I do love this salad and even appreciate that because everything is cut in a uniform size - I won't get smacked in the mouth by an oversize piece of lettuce. 

After cleaning my plate, it was time for dessert!
The chef asked if he could put together a trio of desserts for me, ones that were allergy safe. I said of course. It was nice of my server to offer to take a photo of me with my treats.

First up was vanilla creme brulee, it was very good, creamy, silky with just the right amount of vanilla flavour. Then I tried a bit of the centre chocolate sphere- now that was perfect, nice dark chocolate on the outside, smooth milk chocolate on the inside. The Brown Derby decoration was white chocolate and kind of yuck, too sweet - almost flavourless, had I not been in such a fancy place with cloth napkins, I would have spit that out! The pink dessert (unfortunately I can't remember what it was called), was very sweet and not very flavourful, although the crunchies on the bottom were tasty. I cleaned off the pink one first, then the creme brulee and saved the best for last - chocolate!

Have you ever eaten at Hollywood Brown Derby? What did you think of your meal?