REVIEW: We Tried 4 NEW Menu Items at a Popular Disney World Lounge and They Didn’t Disappoint

We know, Disney World just keeps changing up their menus on us!

On top of menu price changes that hit TONS of restaurants around Disney World, we just got a new pizza flavor at Terra Treats, and over 60 menus were changed recently. However, we just dined at a popular Disney World lounge and we can’t keep our thoughts to ourselves about our experience with their NEW menu items.

If you’ve ever wanted to marry the experience of the atmosphere that makes up Disney’s Animal Kingdom with a stellar dining experience without a stuffy setting, you may have just found the right place.

If you’re on the hunt for a relaxing atmosphere but not ready to stop for a huge meal, you might find yourself tempted to try out Nomad Lounge because of its inviting setting.

Background

Let’s set the mood for you a bit here because it’s a whole vibe.

Nomad Lounge serves a vast array of small bites and handcrafted cocktails with African, Asian, and South American flavors, imported beers, and a South American and South African wine list.

Atmosphere

This open-air lounge can be found right outside of the signature restaurant, Tiffins, just as you’re walking past Discovery Island on your way to Pandora.

Nomad Lounge features fluffy patio-style seating or smaller tables surrounded by padded chairs to allow the relaxing sounds of the greenery to surround you.

Once you’ve checked into the podium, the host will show you to your dining table and seating where you’ll be sat with a menu and your table will be set with a full set of utensils and a cloth napkin.

Our server greeted us at our table and we were able to order shortly.

Food & Drinks

There is a physical menu that’s presented to you once you’re seated to review…

… and the menu is also available to view online through the My Disney Experience app and website.

We found our way over to the Nomad Lounge at Disney’s Animal Kingdom to try out the latest updates to their menu. After browsing the menu for a few minutes to see what was new, we decided to order the Grilled Chicken Satay, Korean Barbecue Oyster Mushroom Bao, and Pineapple Glazed Pork Belly.

We got some NEW items at Nomad Lounge!

🍗 Grilled Chicken Satay
⁰🍄 Korean Barbecue Oyster Mushroom Bao
Bun

🍍 Pineapple Glazed Pork Belly pic.twitter.com/B3bmGCxRDI

— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) November 13, 2023

 

Since we picked up so much together, let’s take this all one by one starting with the Grilled Chicken Satay. It’s made of grilled skewered chicken thighs, curry marinade, cilantro, pickled green papaya, peanut sauce and costs $14.

These were made with dark meat chicken that was super tender! There was also a lot of seasoning which we enjoyed but there’s a lot of bold curry flavor, so you really need to love curry to enjoy this — and also peanuts!

The peanut sauce and chopped peanuts on top added a great texture and nutty flavor that we thought went great with the curry. It comes with a lime wedge that we thought brightened up the dish and added a tangy aspect. The pickled onions also added a nice sweet and tangy touch.

These were spicy though! Not like a 10/10 spice level but if you are spice-averse, steer clear. They’re a little salty and they do have cilantro but not a ton to overwhelm the flavor. Still, we’d recommend asking for it to be left off if you’re not a fan.

Then we moved on to the Korean Barbecue Oyster Mushroom Bao which was made of grilled oyster mushrooms, cucumber kimchi, and pickled green papaya — and did we mention this is a vegan option? They also cost $15.

This dish really shocked us with how good these were! But in order to really enjoy this one, we think you’d really have to love mushrooms. The papaya was delicious and sweet and paired so well with the savory umami flavor from the mushrooms.

Remember how we mentioned that you’d REALLY need to like mushrooms with this? — good, because it has a STRONG mushroom texture which we found kind of hard to bite into, but didn’t deter us from the whole dish itself. The pickled veggies added brightness and fun crunch, while the bao buns were soft and sticky, as we hoped (and expected) they should be.

Afterward, we moved on to a sweeter option with the Lamb Merguez-Stuffed Medjool Dates which cost us $16. They’re made of Medjool dates, Moroccan lamb sausage, bacon, hummus, green olives, harissa vinaigrette, methi paratha, and papadom.

We thought these were so, so good! The merguez is a type of lamb sausage that is used to stuff the dates. This is perfect for sweet/savory lovers (hi, that’s totally us). The dates were soft, perfectly ripe, and deliciously sweet with a caramel flavor.

The sausage was tender and spiced well without being spicy — ok, just a TAD, but barely. And we loved how the bacon complimented the sweetness of the dates.

It comes with a side of papadom and methi paratha, which are both very thin, slightly crunchy, and kind of melt in your mouth. The papadom is more like a very thin chip and the methi paratha is a little doughier, almost like a softer pita bread. Both are delicious and perfect for scooping up the extremely creamy hummus and other toppings. We really enjoyed this one!

To round out our tasting venture we also ordered the Pineapple Glazed Pork Belly for $15. This dish is made of Pineapple Glazed Pork Belly with Guajillo Chili Sauce, Chicharrónes, and Spiced Pickled Vegetable Slaw.

This one was SPICY!! As a whole, this was packed with flavor. The pork itself, however, was kind of like a thick piece that wasn’t super flavorful throughout.

It did have a nice crispy skin texture on top, and if you ate a bite with everything — sauce, veggies, and all — it was delicious. Sweet and spicy BBQ (the chili sauce) that really tasted heavy on the chili powder. The veggies were crunchy and delicious, a little vinegary, and helped tone down the spice a little. Overall this was great, it just wasn’t our favorite thing we had of the new menu items this visit.

Should You Go?

All in all, we pretty much sang the praises of these new menu items at Nomad Lounge. This is a location that typically scores high marks with us and we’re happy to report that this time wasn’t any different.

While there were some of the items that blew us away, we didn’t think any of them were bad, just maybe not as enjoyable as others. We think if you were to stop by Nomad Lounge on your next visit to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, you’d probably be pretty pleased with your decision.

Be sure to check back in with us for more Disney food updates and more.

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Will you be trying the new menu items at Nomad Lounge? Tell us which one appeals to you most in the comments!

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