Sanaa
Sanaa is a table-service restaurant at Kidani Village, the Disney Vacation Club building of Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge at Walt Disney World. It serves African cooking shaped by Indian flavours and methods, in a dining room whose windows look out over the resort's Sunset Savanna. Its best-known dish is not a main course at all but an Indian-style bread service, served with a choice of accompaniments, which has become one of the most talked-about starters at Walt Disney World.
History
Sanaa opened on 1 May 2009, the same day the first rooms at Kidani Village welcomed guests.[1][2] Kidani Village was the second phase of Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas, built as a separate building west of the original lodge, which became known as Jambo House once Kidani opened. Where Jambo House had opened in 2001 with its own restaurants, Boma – Flavors of Africa and Jiko – The Cooking Place, the new building needed a restaurant of its own, and Sanaa gave it one, along with the Johari Treasures shop.
Disney described the newcomer at opening as a 150-seat, table-service restaurant.[3] The name is Swahili for artwork, a choice that fits both the building's emphasis on African art and craft and a menu that treats presentation as part of the meal.[4]
The menu was planned around the trade routes that once linked East Africa with India: coastal African cooking absorbed Indian spices, breads and techniques over centuries, and Sanaa follows that exchange rather than placing two cuisines side by side.
Setting
Sanaa sits on the lower level of Kidani Village, reached by stairs down from the lobby. The room is arranged along a wall of large, arched windows facing the Sunset Savanna, so the view is the room's main decoration. Giraffes, zebras, kudu, ostriches and other animals and birds roam the savanna outside, and tables nearest the glass give diners a close, ground-level view of them moving through the grass and trees.[5]
Inside, the design draws on East African markets and craft. Warm wood, woven and beaded light fittings, patterned textiles and carved details fill a room divided into smaller, more intimate sections rather than one open hall, and a stylised acacia tree spreads across part of the ceiling. A small lounge adjoins the dining room, serving drinks and a shorter menu for guests without a reservation.
The savanna view is at its best in daylight, which makes lunch and early dinner the most sought-after seatings; after dark the animals are far harder to see. Outside, a public overlook and fire pit extend to the savanna edge, often with animal specialists on hand to identify species.
Cuisine
The kitchen combines slow cooking with tandoor ovens, the clay ovens used for breads and roasted dishes across India. Opening menus already pointed that way, listing tandoori preparations, curries, salad samplers and Indian-style breads alongside African-inspired dishes, and the balance has remained broadly the same since.[6]
The Indian-style bread service is the signature order. Five breads — traditional naan, garlic-ginger naan, spiced naan, onion kulcha and paneer paratha — arrive warm with accompaniments that guests can order as a selection of three or as the full set of nine. The nine range from cooling to hot: cucumber raita, roasted red pepper hummus, mango chutney, tomato-date jam, tamarind chutney, coriander chutney, garlic pickle, red chile sambal and spicy jalapeño-lime pickle.[7] The service is available at lunch and dinner and in the lounge, and for many guests it is reason enough for the trip to Kidani Village.
Main courses follow the same line. Potjie-inspired dishes, named for the South African three-legged cooking pot, bring together slow-cooked meats and vegetarian preparations served with rice; butter chicken, curries, tandoor-cooked meats and seafood have all been fixtures in different forms. Vegetarian cooking is a strength rather than an afterthought. Desserts and drinks continue the theme with African and Indian spices, teas and coffees.
Sanaa serves breakfast as well as lunch and dinner, though in a different style: the morning meal, known as the Kuamsha breakfast, is a quicker, counter-ordered service, while lunch and dinner are full table service and the meals for which reservations are most strongly recommended.