Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Boma Breakfast - Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge



My daughters and I met one of my former students for breakfast at Boma - Flavors of Africa this morning.  We eat dinner at Boma at least once or twice a year, but I haven't been to Boma for breakfast since my celiac diagnosis 6 years ago.  You can read my dinner review here.  


Our server brought us Jungle Juice, a combination of passion fruit, guava, and orange juices.  I am not much of a juice person, but I enjoyed it.  


The chef arrived pretty quickly to take me on a tour of the buffet.  He asked if I wanted gluten free Mickey waffles, and offered to bring them with bananas foster instead of syrup.  


When I returned from the buffet with my food, a plate of Mickey waffles and gluten free baked goods had already been delivered.  The Mickey waffles at Boma were the best I have ever had.  I would never have thought to put bananas foster on Mickey waffles, but it is the most amazing combination.  


As far as the gluten free baked goods go, I will be skipping all of them on our next visit.  The donuts and blueberry muffin were overly sweet, and I didn't really want to eat cookies that early in the morning, though my daughters ate and enjoyed the chocolate chip.  


The one thing I remember from my previous visit to Boma for breakfast was the quinoa with brown sugar.  It was good, but a little watery this morning.  


I enjoyed the turkey and ham from the carving station, and was able to eat the bacon, sausage, tater tots, and pap (white cornmeal).  I liked everything on this plate, but my favorite item was probably the tater tots, which were so delightfully crispy.  One of my blog readers mentioned that Boma has turkey bacon, which I would have loved to have tried, but forgot to ask the chef for.  


I was excited to see one of my dinner favorites on the breakfast buffet, the avocado, grapefruit & papaya salad.  I ended up eating two bowls.  


Besides the create-your-own omelet, other gluten free options at Boma include grilled asparagus and tomatoes, chakalaka (spicy stewed tomatoes & onions), hard-boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, goat cheese & chive scrambled eggs, assorted fruit, spinach & quinoa salad, watermelon rind salad, and assorted meats like hard salami, pastrami, and bresaola.  


I rarely dine at Disney buffets for breakfast, because I prefer to eat my biggest meal of the day around lunch or dinner time, but the Mickey waffles with bananas foster were so amazing, I might have to make a return visit to Boma very soon.  

September 10, 2014

This morning, I had breakfast at Boma with Jennifer from Celiac in Orlando.  


Most of the items on the buffet were the same, but I didn't see any of my beloved tater tots or papaya.  I did get to sample their breakfast potatoes on this visit, which are a favorite of mine at The Mara next door.  They weren't seasoned or cooked as well as the potatoes I had earlier this summer at The Mara, so I was missing the tater tots this morning.  


Underneath my pineapple and watermelon is Boma's watermelon rind salad, which packs a gingery punch.  


Chef Frank brought us a plate of gluten free Mickey waffles with a side of bananas foster, which was not on the buffet today, and a side of pecan praline sauce.  


Both the pecan praline sauce and the bananas foster were absolutely amazing on Boma's gluten free, dairy free Mickey waffles.  These sauces are the reason why Boma is my favorite restaurant at Disney World for gluten free Mickey waffles.


Instead of a plate of gluten free donuts and muffins, I asked if we could have gluten free zebra domes, my daughters' favorite dessert at Boma.  Chef Frank also included two mini cheesecakes, which I did not eat because they are sugar free, and I avoid all sugar substitutes.

January 31, 2014 Update

This morning, I had breakfast at Boma with my husband and daughters.  Chef Frank quickly arrived at our table to give me a tour of the buffet, where I chose some breakfast potatoes, bacon, sausage, pap, carved ham, and turkey bobotie.  The bobotie at both breakfast and dinner is now gluten free, because the chefs at Boma removed the bread from the recipe last year.  The turkey bobotie was good, but I prefer the beef and lamb bobotie that is served at dinner.


On my one and only trip to the buffet, I dished myself a large bowl of avocado, grapefruit & papaya salad.  This stuff is so good, I could eat it every day.   


Chef Frank told me that they rotate the pecan praline and the bananas foster sides daily, but he was kind enough to make us both, along with two plates of gluten free waffles.


He brought us a big bowl of the bananas foster, because it wasn't on the buffet today, and my girls love it on top of their waffles.  


After I turned down the usual selection of gluten free donuts, muffins, and cookies, Chef Frank offered to bring me some BabyCakes brownie cupcakes from The Mara next door.  Chef Frank is quickly becoming one of my favorite chefs at Disney!  :-)


My husband and I ate the brownie cupcakes after we got home from the Animal Kingdom.  We both agreed that they were really delicious.  They are gluten free, dairy free, egg free, vegan, and kosher.  Did you notice the name change on the package?  BabyCakes is reopening under a new name in Disney Springs (Downtown Disney), hopefully within the next month.

You can view Boma's menus, and make advance dining reservations on Disney's website here.

Have you ever been to Boma for breakfast or dinner?  What are your favorite gluten free dishes?  



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