Taste of Tiffins Review and Rivers of Light Pictures

The website has published two sizable reviews of Tiffins at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The first dinner review includes pictures and descriptions of every single appetizer, entree, and dessert on the menu, in addition to 30+ pictures of the three dining rooms. I followed that up with a Taste of Tiffins review, which took a look at the $28 lunch offering which includes a choice of two items alongside a jade blend rice. Today, we return to the Taste of Tiffins and check out the newish lamb entree, in addition to an update on what’s going on with Nomad Lounge. And I conclude with a lot of pictures of Rivers of Light.

Disney has removed the Taste of Tiffins from their online menu, but it is still currently being served daily from 11am-3:30pm. I’m not sure if that’s an attempt at pushing people towards the Rivers of Light Dining Package or what.

Otherwise, the Apple-Walnut Salad replaces the Archaeologist Salad pictured above.

The Head Cheese and Chicken Liver barely lasted two months. It’s now a “Chef’s Charcuterie Board.” What was a “Crispy Yellowtail Snapper” is now known as the “Crispy Fried Sustainable Fish” in the same sauce.

Sustainable Fish Causa replaces the previous Fish Crudo pictured above.

On the appetizers list, the same three items are here all day, in addition to the Selection of Artisanal Cheeses.

Which looks like this.

The Duck sees slightly different sauces and accompaniments and the Duo of Lamb replaces the original Berbere-Spiced Lamb Chop. The most expensive entree also moves to the top of the menu.

The Grilled Swordfish replaces the Halibut and the Brussels Sprouts replace the Szechuan Green Beans.

I liked the beans…

From the Draft list, it looks like they dropped the Xingu Black Lager and the Exploration Flight that included it in favor of Bud Light. Tusker Lager also replaces St. George Amber Lager and 33 Export Lager from Vietnam is no longer available.

Wine:

At least the $44 glass of Lapostolle is still there.

I’m surprised they haven’t gone to a different bread service…the pomegranate molasses and olive oil is so sharply sour that I can’t imagine that many people prefer it over say…a slice of naan with three accompaniments similar to what’s served at Sanaa. Imagine how popular Nomad Lounge would be if they served the Sanaa Bread Service…

The Taste of Tiffins setup is a nice one, including two of the items on the menu above along with a small plate of jade blend rice. The selections that also appear on the appetizer list should all be the full portion and then most of the other items are accompaniments to the entree selections, though a couple are smaller servings like the Vegetable Curry.

This is the portion on the 72-hour Short Rib for example – six large slices.

The $15 “Sustainable Fish Causa – Peruvian Purple Potato, Aji Amarillo Vinaigrette, Lime Mayonnaise, Cilantro, Quail Egg” is quite the dish with all of the various components laid out. Causa is otherwise typically a Peruvian potato mash with some sort of fish or other meat. I preferred the previous iteration of the dish, which I said was “one of my favorite appetizers, combining the citrus of the lime with the smoked sea salt and acidity of the oil. Crudo, which is Italian for “raw,” means the fish is similar to sashimi, only other ingredients are used to enhance the flavor of the fish. And enhanced they were. Excellent.”

The fish here had a much slimier texture and a much fishier flavor that I didn’t think was helped at all by the ice cold mashed potatoes underneath. It “felt” like someone had just pressed down really hard on the top of a potato and then cut off some slivers. I think there’s a reason mashed potatoes are typically served hot. The dish is supposed to have a spicy quality to it from the aji amarillo vinaigrette, but that just seemed to make everything wetter without aiding the flavor in any way. If the tomatoes were ripe then they certainly didn’t look the part. The egg was good though.

The Crispy-Fried Sustainable Fish with Som Tam and Black Bean Sauce on the right might not look like much on the plate, but trust me – the creamy, decadent sauce combines so nicely with the saltiness of the fish and the crispiness of the exterior. The green papaya salad on the side brightens up the fish further or is a bit sweet on its own. The 10ish bites are more filling than you might be expecting though I wouldn’t be ashamed at all to double up on it. It’s the same thing as the Whole Fried Fish only somebody else has done all the work for you.

The jade blend rice added some heft to the meal and should fill up any additional belly space. It’s a blend of bamboo and basmati rice, in addition to split baby garbanzo beans, wheat berries, green lentils and daikon radish seeds so you have a complete protein with an earthy, aromatic flavor.

Taylor was nice enough to invite me out to lunch after we spent some time enjoying everything Animal Kingdom had to offer earlier in the day. A post covering those aspects beginning at rope drop is available here in case you missed it.

This is the $41 “Duo of Lamb – Ethiopian Coffee Butter-infused Lamb Loin, Boerewors, Soubise, Chakalaka, Tamarind Barbecue, Leek Ash.”

I feel like the menu could use a bit more explanation here. We’ve seen Boerewors before…it’s South African sausage. But soubise is apparently a Béchamel sauce with onion purée. Chakalaka is a spicy tomato bean relish while tamarind is a tropical fruit. Anyway, given all of that, we thought that Tiffins was allowing the lamb to stand alone with the various spices and sauces elevating the natural flavor of the lamb to a more intense, earthy flavor rather than covering that up with overbearing spices. It was really nicely prepared otherwise – impossibly tender with a caramelized crust and a beautiful pink, juicy center. The soubise seemed to come into play more with the two small sausage medallions with the astringency of the sauce contrasting nicely with the coriander and clove of the mildly game-y, earthy sausage. Overall, lamb is typically a smarter investment for those with smaller appetites as each slice of lamb loin is two or three bites with the sausage adding just a few more. But it was probably the best lamb dish that I’ve sampled on property, eclipsing Jiko, Sanaa, Be Our Guest, The Wave, Trattoria al Forno, etc.

Dessert options:

I really like the Chocolate Ganache and a press pot of coffee or tea is a relaxing way to end the meal.

Overall, I continue to love virtually everything about Tiffins. It’s some of Disney’s best food served in a pleasant atmosphere by skilled staff.

I do recommend going big with the Tiffins Dining Package, which is discussed more alongside this review at Tusker House.

I wrote an initial Rivers of Light review and included about 40 pictures a couple of weeks ago when the show was still in previews that’s available here. Since then, my opinion hasn’t changed. My advice is to do what you can to see the show, whether that means booking FastPass+ in advance, using a Dining Package, or seeing the second show in standby where applicable. It may well not be your favorite nighttime spectacular or not even your favorite show at Animal Kingdom, but it’s so beautiful and so different that it’s worth experiencing for yourself at least once. The Tiffins Dining Package offers the best value for your money as well as opening up your FastPass+ selections to use them earlier in the day and would be my choice for “best way to see the show.”

Over at Nomad Lounge, the menu has seen a number of changes since opening just under a year ago. I’ve returned to try everything over the last few months and will update accordingly in the near future. Almost all of the changes are positive/

Here’s a few more pictures of the show:

We’ll see what’s next.