Tiffins

Summary

Tiffins is one of those restaurants that to me seems rather unique in general. While most people go straight for the typical French or New American style, I think the African Asian themed ingredients presents quite an interesting take. The restaurant’s decor was actually quite nice and open. During the first week of March when we went, there weren’t many people, so it was nice to dine casually in tranquility.

On the left was the Annapurna Zing which contains Bombay Sapphire Gin, passion fruit purée, mint, simple syrup, and lime juice. It was topped with ginger beer and a glowing lotus flower. You can bring home the lotus flower if desired. This drink itself was actually quite delicious as all the ingredients are very complementary of each other.

On the right was the Lamu Libation which contains starr African rum, cruzan banana rum, and guava purée with orange, lime, and pineapple juices topped with Goslin’s 151 rum. The first sip of this, I hit a sharp kick of alcohol. But after a while, it smoothed and toned down. This reminds me of a fruity Long Island ice tea mixture.

The charred octopus was served with romesco sauce, olive tapenade, chorizo, and squid ink aioli. This was not the best octopus I’ve ever had, but I was quite impressed with all the flavor profiles here. The octopus was cooked quite perfectly albeit it was a rather small piece compared to other places I’ve been to in NYC.

The roasted calabaza squash soup was served with Ginger-pear chutney, pickled jalapeño, and chai-spiced and candied pistachios. This group looks pretty plain, but the looks are very deceiving. The taste of this was fantastic. It was a creamy blend of flavors, and I wanted more than they gave.

The pomegranate complimentary bread came with olive oil and pomegranate molasses. The bread was served room temperature, but the sauce was pretty good. You have to remember to scoop a little into the sauce because the molasses sinks to the bottom of the oil.

The whole fried sustainable fish came with fermented black bean sauce, thai green papaya slaw, and peanuts. There is actually a lot of meat on this fish, but be cautious of the bones. Some parts are crispy and edible whereas others are not so much. If you do the work, you will be very well rewarded especially if you want to be full. The only thing I wish they gave us was more dressing on the side as the fish wasn’t seasoned much at all.

The surf and turf came with South African Braai spiced beef tenderloin, seared scallops, potato pavé, grilled vegetables, Dhania butter, and cola demi-glace. The tenderloin was super tender and juicy. The sauce was neither overly rich nor salty and was a welcomed complement. The scallops were cooked perfectly. The potato pavé was also quite delicious, and it was like a thin multi-layer potato cake. I think this dish was surprisingly delectable especially for a park restaurant. I would definitely order this again.

The Lion King dessert had caramel mousse, chocolate brownie, and strawberry-mango sauce. You can see here that it was quite pretty and ornate. The picture of Simba and his crew was painted on a piece of white chocolate. The ingredients here are not super unique, but the presentation was really cool.

The service was stellar as expected. There weren’t that many people in the restaurant at all, and everything came out super fast and timely. The decor of the restaurant was definitely a little more upscale but had a very nice airy African themed atmosphere.

Final Verdict

We found Tiffins to be very delicious for a higher Disney World restaurant. Every part of this meal was quite delectable, and we’d love to go back if we visit Animal Kingdom again.

Yelp Jabs

I consider myself to be a foodie and open to new flavors and dishes … I ordered the butter chicken in attempt to stray away from the crazy flavors

This Elitist contradicted their own review. I don’t think much of the flavors are “new” per se but definitely different for people that are not accustomed to eating less mainstream cultured foods.

Had lunch at Tiffins … My wife got the scallops and it was a pretty small portion. 3 scallops for $35. Not much else with them.

That is quite disappointing, but if NYC is any indicator, ordering scallops as am entree is probaby something you should never do unless you mindfully prepare yourself for disappointment. I wonder if the lunch portions are smaller than the dinner.