Do you have a place you frequently travel to? Is there a favorite restaurant that your mouth starts watering when you think about your next visit? For me, that is Jiko. Jiko is a signature restaurant at Animal Kingdom Lodge in Walt Disney World. There are two sit-down restaurants at the Jambo House and a sit-down restaurant at Kidani Village, the DVC section of Animal Kingdom Lodge resort. I have been to all 3, and you can not go wrong dining at them. We will talk about those in a later post.
I do not think I have had a bad meal at Jiko in the years past. I have quite a few family memories at that restaurant and a funny story with my son, which I will share in a future post. When the pandemic struck in 2020, Disney property and parks temporarily shut down. Although most restaurants began to restart service slowly, Jiko and a handful of others remained closed. Jiko, Flying Fish, and a couple of other dining spots did not reopen until 23 months later. It was a very, very long wait!!! But on January 20th, Jiko restarted reservations for the February 17th reopening. Let me tell you, the alarm was set on my phone, a calendar event was in place, and I was stalking MyDisneyExperience app to make sure I secured a dining reservation. And February 20th, I was back home for my first meal in almost two years.
While waiting to be seated, there was so much excitement in the lobby. Jiko was loved and missed by frequent Disney foodies, and the staff was excited and grateful to be back as well.
The menu had changed slightly, but all of the favorites had remained. Thank goodness, or Disney, and I would have to sit down for a chat.
let's get this party'starter'
First up, our appetizers. The Braised Wild Boar Tenderloin. If you are not an adventurous eater, do not let the name of this one scare you away. It is mild and melts in your mouth. It is a must-eat for me!!
Our second appetizer was the Seared Scallops with Nhopi and Ground Nuts. If you have been around for a while, you have learned that I love scallops. They are a go-to menu choice for me, and I would consider myself a connoisseur of the scallop dishes. It is not too hard to cook them well; it’s more the sauce and accompaniment. Sometimes they do get it right. Well, JIKO thank you for getting it right. It was delicious.
The Main event
Since I had the scallops for an appetizer, I chose to go with the filet. I have had the filet here quite a few times over the years, and never had to send it back. That says a lot about the place. Dave had the Lamb shank. Braised lamb, parsnip silk, root spinach and date chutney. He said it was delicious. This was a new menu item.
Ok, now for my second favorite menu item here. The first is the wild board if you did not catch that above. The second favorite has to be the Bobotie Mac and Cheese. This is a funny thing for me to say because I typically pass on Mac and cheese because it is too heavy and filling a dish for me. However, my daughter loves the specialty mac and cheese menu items. I tend to try at least a bite. This one is a must-order for me. One of my besties recommended it when we met her and her husband for dinner here a few years back. And we have been hooked ever since. The Bobotie Mac & Cheese. It is four kinds of cheese, waygu, almonds, raisins, kachumbari, and red wine reduction. It is very filling and splittable. So we typically just get one for the table, and that is our only side. I highly recommend you try it; you may be hooked too.
Depending on the time of your reservation, I recommend you take a few moments to walk out the back of the resort. They have an on-site safari and you may see pelicans, giraffes, zebras and more. Many animals are roaming the grounds of the resort. In fact, if you stay at the resort and book a savannah room, you can watch the animals throughout the day from your balcony. I will do a review of my stay in a savannah room in a separate blog post.
Cheers,
Lisa