Sanaa’s Gluten Free Vegan Naan

This review reflects our experience from October 2015.

If you’ve done any research on finding unique food that is special diet friendly, you’ve probably seen Sanaa pop up a few times. Sanaa is located at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge in the Villas at Kidani Village and it has a floor level view of the Savannah. Sanaa features African-Indian inspired dishes that are completely unique to this restaurant. Previously, Sanaa offered a full vegan menu, but as of October 2015 they have removed the vegan menu. Sanaa still offers great vegan food without a designated menu.

Upon being seated we were given the allergy menu since we mentioned we were vegan. Generally this menu didn’t help with what our diets are, but it gave us a good idea of what is still vegan based on the previous menu. Unfortunately many of the options of the Potjie Inspired dish are not vegan anymore so we could only get the Chickpea Wat and the Seasonal Vegetables, which was just Vegetable Wat. We were so happy to see they had changed the Indian-Style Bread Service to have a gluten free vegan naan instead of falafel chips! 

The bread service has a few options with the amount of dips you can get, we always choose the one that offers all 9 because they’re all great! There is one typically that contains dairy so they will swap it out for a spicy dip instead. The many dips include a Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Mango Chutney, Tamarind Chutney, Coriander Chuntey, Garlic Pickle and many more. One of our favorites is the Coriander Chutney.

The bread itself was okay. It really reminded me more of a tortilla than bread. Since our experience here they have updated the gluten free vegan naan. For a more up to date review of the bread check out Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW’s post.

Another appetizer option that is vegan is the Channa Tikki. The Channa Tikki dish is a great small option for an appetizer for two people. The chickpea cakes are very firm and they are topped with the coriander chutney. Currently Sanaa has changed this item on the menu to be paired with the potato and pea samosas and is listed under the Chaat Plate.

The Potjie Inspired dish came out and is still the same as it has been in the past. Fortunately, this time the rice wasn’t heavy on the lemon zest.

The Chickpea Wat was pretty spicy. The flavor wasn’t too strong as you could really only taste corriander and hot. We’ve had this dish in the past and enjoyed it, this time it was a little harder to enjoy because it was so spicy, and we enjoy spicy food.

The Vegetable Wat wasn’t as spicy as the chickpeas were, but was still pretty hot. The vegetables in this dish at the time were kale, spinach, zucchini, onion, tomato and eggplant.

Previously the options for the Potjie Inspired included the Lentil Dahl and a few other chickpea dishes. We were a little disappointed that our only options were now just two different variations of the same thing. As a whole we miss the vegan menu, but we all still enjoyed our meal. If you’re looking for a unique dining option with loads of spice and flavor, head over to Sanaa! Additionally, Sanaa often changes up their menu based on the season, so you may be able to get some other entree options depending on when you go.

Would we go back?
I’d like to try the new gluten free vegan naan, but I may skip the entree next time.

Price?
$$

Corey & Melissa