Disney’s Animal Kingdom doesn’t have a ton of sit down dining options, but the ones they do have are honestly very good. And there was one I still hadn’t been to, despite being open for years and visiting its lounge, so it was time that we tried Tiffins Restaurant.
Tiffins is located near the bridge to Pandora — The World of Avatar while on your way towards Africa. This restaurant shares a lounge with it, Nomad Lounge, which used to have a great Impossible Slider but it is now gone. This restaurant is a signature dining experience, which means it is two dining credits if you are on the newly returned Disney Dining Plan.
We started our meal here with the vegan appetizer, the Korean Barbecue Mushroom Bao Buns. The flavor on these were really great, they had a good mix of sweet and smokey. The cucumber kimchi added a good light crunch to it and the pickled papaya added the right tang to the flavor combination. The bao buns had a good bite and texture to them and held the food well, despite ripping on one of them.
Corey really enjoyed this appetizer. I enjoyed the flavors but I didn’t like the texture of the oyster mushrooms so he happily ate mine for me. I do really appreciate the flavor profiles of this dish though, but I can’t hang with those mushrooms. You can also get these Bao Buns on the menu at Nomad Lounge.
The Szechuan Noodles entree was an absolute delight. This dish had yakisoba noodles in a sesame chinkiang sauce with various vegetables and some chili-garlic oil on top. There was some sort of pickled cucumber in it, Japanese eggplant, onion, corn, and greens as well. You can apparently add a meat protein to it, but they don’t have tofu which is a bummer.
The noodles were excellent though. They had a nice bite to them and different textures with the various vegetables. The sauce had a nice heat that built up as you ate them and had many layers of sweet, savory, and more. I would happily go back for these noodles. The portion size was quite nice, especially with having an appetizer as well. The bowl was deeper than it appeared so there was plenty of noodles to enjoy.
We also got the vegan kids option while here to try, which is the Impossible “Chow”. This is essentially a sloppy joe. You also get two sides, most of which are vegan. We opted for the seasonal vegetable, which was broccolini, and then the basmati rice.
I don’t think my 7 year old would have liked this dish, but he is also very particular about what he eats. The bun was huge and hard for me to get a full bite, but the bun itself was super soft and had a nice sweetness to it. The “chow” was a mix of Impossible with what we believe was potatoes in tomato paste. It didn’t have any real seasoning on it, which as a kids option I suppose is fine. But if your kid likes sloppy joes I would assume they’d enjoy this.
The dessert here may be one of my favorites I’ve had at Walt Disney World. The Tropical Trifle features coconut panna cotta, passion fruit tapioca, caramelized pineapple, coconut crumble and a coconut tuile. It is also topped with an edible Jasmine flower which was grown in The Land Pavilion in EPCOT (I didn’t eat that though).
The textures in this dish were great, I was little nervous that it would be too gelatinous but the layers were excellent. The panna cotta with the tapioca and then the crunchy coconut crumble was such a great texture together. The coconut tuile was basically a crostini and it had a sweet caramelized flavor to it. I will be thinking about this dessert for a long time.
If you haven’t been to Tiffins Restaurant, or haven’t been in a while, I highly recommend you try this one! If you’re on the dining plan I suggest just paying out of pocket for this as the vegan options are a lot cheaper than some of the other options on the menu and save your dining credits for somewhere else. I will be back for these noodles!
Price $$$
Review from January 2024.
We were there in January and raved how good the Bao Buns were. We’ll have to try the noodles and dessert next time. Thanks so much!
The dessert changed last week so now you get to try a new mango sticky rice!
I like your positive spin! I was disappointed, but not sure if we’ll have time for Tiffins or not this trip. So may good choices at AK!