Boma and Jiko Culinary Tours

Abby Earl admires the decor and samples the cuisine

- Abby Earl, January 9, 2011

After spending a day at the Animal Kingdom, what more appropriate place for dinner than a restaurant at the Animal Kingdom Lodge?

We had scheduled a 5:00 P.M. ADR at Boma but then decided to arrive an hour earlier for the Culinary Tours offered by Boma and Jiko. To take a tour, you simply present yourself at the podium of either restaurant at 4:00 P.M. That's all there is to it: no reservation or payment necessary!

The tours are brief but guided and feature both a lesson in the restaurant's decor and a sampling of the restaurant's fare: in the case of Boma, the sampler was soup, and for Jiko, it was African breads and dips.

Boma Culinary Tour

Our tour was led by a guy from ... oh darn, his name and country of origin escape me, but he was working at Disney on one of those year-long cultural immersion programs. He was very friendly and did a great job.

During the tour, we learned about the inspirations for Boma's decor and how different sections of the restaurant represent different African countries. Notice how the columns look like clay pots? Pretty nifty, huh?

If I did the Boma tour again, I'd take notes and more pictures: this time, my good intentions were overwhelmed by the sight and smell of the soup sampling that concludes the tour.

Before we got to the soups, our guide showed us the different 'pods' that comprise the various section of the buffet and he explained how each of Boma's signature items are made.

Then we hit the soup! We were each able to return several times until we'd tried a few spoonsful of each soup followed by ... cookies!

Jiko Culinary Tour

We then walked over to Jiko for the second part of the culinary tour. I forgot, again, the name of our tour guide, but I do remember him telling us that his home is Swaziland. As with the Boma tour, our guide began with an explanation of the restaurant's decor.

For example, we learned that the rings encircling the columns in Jiko represent the rings worn around the necks of women in certain African tribes, such as the Ndebele. The rings denote status: the more of them you wear, the higher your status in the tribe.

(I paid more attention to our Jiko guide - possibly because I'd already had my soup but more possibly because he was cute!)

In Jiko, the decor hides a lot of detail. The swooping metal things that hang from the ceiling, obviously, are meant to be birds, but not so obvious is that the ever-changing colors back-lit on the walls represent the various stages of an African sunset. Many of the tables, our guide explained, are made of imported African Zebra wood, and he pointed out a hidden Mickey in the rocks outside one of the windows.

Jiko's wine list is exclusively South African. During our tour, most of the Jiko Cast Members were gathered for a wine tasting - proof positive that you can really trust your server's advice about wine when dining at Jiko!

The wine itself is displayed in a unique tree that integrates nicely with Jiko's overall decor.

The best was saved for last: a food tasting! We sat at the counter by Jiko's huge wood-burning ovens and enjoyed an African appetizer sampler.

Since there were only three of us on the tour to share the large portions that were set out in expectation of a larger tour group, we had plenty of Jiko's excellent dips and breads to sample. The three dips (Kalamata Olive Hummus, Durban Tikka Masala, and Malay Spinach-Lentil) were quite spicy, except for the Olive Hummus (shown on the left). Of the three breads (Lentil Papadam, Whole Wheat Lavosh, and Flax Seed Naan), my favorite was the Naan. All were very good.

As we were sampling, the Jiko chef was busy pulling fresh Naan from the wood-burning ovens.

The chef, not surprisingly, told us Jiko was Disney World's best signature restaurant and that we should try it. I assured him we'd make an ADR for Jiko on our next trip and that he'd better have plenty of fresh Naan ready just for me. You could tell he really liked his job.

I also had a long conversation with our tour guide. He was impressed that I'd heard of Swaziland and knew its location in Africa. He talked about the cultural differences between his country and mine, and explained how he was adjusting to life in the United States. I told him that I could relate as I'd lived in France for awhile. We both agreed that people should live for a short time in other countries learning foreign countries. It might make the world a more peaceful place.

Around 4:30 P.M. we forced ourselves away from the sampler so our tour guide could return to work and so we could hoof it back over to Boma for our 5:00 PM dinner reservation.

If you're at the Animal Kingdom Lodge at 4:00 PM, I highly recommend these tours - especially if you're in need of a snack.

Check back in a couple of days for my 'plate-by-plate' review of dinner at Boma with two dozen friends from DISBoards.com!

Abby Earl is a student living in North Florida. As a child, she took frequent family vacations to Walt Disney World. After snubbing Disney in her teen years, her affection for the Mouse returned and she is now a seasonal pass holder. She writes frequently for Disney Dining Discourse.

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