Harambe Market

9/11/15 Update: Menu updated and items added.

Location: Behind Mombasa Marketplace in Africa.

You basically take a right before arriving at the entrance to Kilimanjaro Safaris and then another right before arriving at the entrance to the Wildlife Express over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

If you’re walking from Asia and heading toward Harambe Market, take a right before you arrive at Tamu Tamu Refreshments in Africa.

Food Type: African-inspired chicken skewers, ribs, kabobs, and sausages.

Dining Plan: One Quick Service or One Snack.

Discounts: None.

Menu:

There are four separate ordering windows that make up Harambe Market, each officially with their own menu. Wanjohi Refreshment is the first window on the left.

It serves the same beverages as every other window, with the exception of the Starr of Harambe and Leopard’s Eye drinks.

The Grill and Sausage windows are separate, but the menus are actually interchangeable and you can order anything on either menu from either window.

Cast members often remind guests of this fact to help even out the lines. Otherwise, the line for Sausages is usually a lot shorter.

Finally, Chef Mwanga’s Rib Shop stands alone and offers this menu:

Unique Items: Almost everything, from the South African wines and sodas to the entrees and dessert.

Advantages:

• Some of the most unique, high quality food and drink you’ll find at any Disney theme park, consistently executed.
• Great wine lineup with Strawberry Sparletta and Bibo soda from South Africa available for the same price as other fountain drinks. Watermelon Lemonade is refreshing and reasonably priced.
• Fun, colorful seating area with the Wildlife Express train periodically passing by nearby. The details and thematic elements are second to none.

Disadvantages:

• Food court setup doesn’t always lend itself well to timely transaction. The rib window in particular can be painstakingly slow and groups may need to split up to order multiple items from different windows.
• Seating and ordering areas are all outdoors and sometimes uncovered, which can be uncomfortable in the heat and rain.
• Food may be a little out there for some. Only one dessert.

Value: Very good. $13+ for the ribs is a great value for an entree on the Dining Plan and considering the portion size, it’s a good value out of pocket as well. Quality is high and portions are otherwise reasonable on the other items.

Reputation: While Harambe Market just opened in May 2015, it’s already gaining a positive reputation on food quality and originality. If something sounds good to your group, it will probably taste good too.

Food Choices:

The Beef Kabob Flatbread comes in two pieces, each with two slices of mildly spiced beef with tomato, cucumber, and diced tomatoes with a yogurt-y sauce inside of the soft pita-like flatbread that isn’t altogether unlike a gyro.

The beef was a lot tenderer and more flavorful than it probably looks like in this lousy picture and overall, it was one of the better executed quick service dishes I’ve enjoyed in recent memory. And with two pieces, it makes for a surprisingly filling meal that would be easy to share if you wanted to go that route.

I am not really a tomato person, which is what my portion of the side salad consisted almost entirely of, in addition to a few slices of red onion and a single broccoli floret. The vegetables are tossed in a vinaigrette, which adds some acidity and livens up the flavors a bit, and everything is otherwise freshly made. I’m just not sure this is the way I would have gone with it – the red onion flavor is going to linger if you go to town on the salad before eating the flatbread and I’m not sure how many people enjoy popping a dozen grape tomatoes into their mouths. But it’s what you may get.

Boerewors Sausage:

Fried in Corn Batter with Roasted Broccoli and Tomato Salad.

The batter is relatively thick and has a very mild curry flavor along with some sweetness from the corn, which complements the pepper, cloves, and other spices in the sausage well. In the last post, I mentioned that my salad was tomato-heavy. This one arrived with just two tomatoes and a bunch of broccoli, along with a couple considerable pieces of onion. So there may not be a lot of consistency in what you receive side-wise.

Grilled Vegetable Stack:

Topped with greens.

Most of the pesto seemed to be spread on top of the tofu that tops the stack. I was impressed by how much of a “real grilled flavor” it had, not unlike what you’d taste from a nicely seasoned steak. The pesto added some garlic and basil to the flavor profile. The tofu gives way to a few slices of chewy yellow and green zucchini with a big slice of mushroom underneath.

The mushroom was too gummy for my sensibilities and I didn’t care for the texture, but I am also not a vegetarian and this may well be the ideal way to prepare it.

I thought the chickpea salad was going to be different than what’s served next door with the ribs at Chef Mwanga’s, but it ended up being a larger portion of the exact same thing. The flavors are fresh and cool and complement the hot grilled vegetables nicely.

Overall, I think the Grilled Vegetable Stack is a nice addition, though I would have preferred them to be served inside of the same flatbread as the Gyro Sandwich.

Spice-Rubbed Karubi Ribs:

With Green Papaya-Carrot Slaw and a Chickpea, Cucumber and Tomato Salad, which probably doesn’t look particularly appetizing from the picture. One other thing you probably can’t tell from the picture is how heavy it is – you get a ton of meat and don’t come away with a lot of bones. The meat is plenty tender to cut easily with a plastic fork and knife, but it tended to be dryer the further toward the middle you got. And while the spice-rub provided some flavor on the meat that touched it, further down you get virtually no spice and instead, just dry pork. Otherwise, I think this one is best shared as it’s a huge portion that all kind of tastes the same. The slaw on top didn’t add much to the dish and there isn’t much of it. I think most people are just going to brush it to the side.

The Chickpea, Cucumber and Tomato Salad didn’t boast as much flavor as you might expect, but it was a (literally) cool accompaniment to the meat and a fresh tasting couple of bites.

African Milk Tart:

Coconut Custard in a Chocolate Tart Shell dusted with Sugar and Five Spice Powder then drizzled with Dark Chocolate Ganache tasted just like the description.

I didn’t care for the texture of the custard. I’m not usually a texture person, but the kind of baby food mushiness gets me. It otherwise had a prominent, natural coconut flavor along with rich chocolate from the shell. It would not be my dessert choice at Animal Kingdom, though you obviously only have the one choice here at Harambe Market.

Watermelon Lemonade Featuring Odwalla:

Dold and refreshing – sweet but not cloying and on a hot day, I appreciated it lacking the carbonation of the soft drinks that will just end up dehydrating you more. This and a complimentary cup of water would be my drink choices here.

Seating:

While outside, most areas are covered by a variety of roofs and umbrellas. It’s still less comfortable than Restaurantosaurus or Pizzafari, but it may be worth making do for the more unique food.

Umbrellas partially cover the ordering area and there are a couple fans, but this isn’t the place you want to be when it rains.