Jiko signature dinner

[webray]

Wow...this was a great event. There was assigned seating, guests paired up with wine vinters, distributors and other vips...the ceo of South African Air was there with his wife..a great treat...and he decided to give away three, yes three...round trip air fares and 7 days stays to three lucky couples...wow. Everyone was so excited.

Appetizers:
Prawn Cigar with seet and sour sauce
"Aloo Naan" with cilantro yogurt drizzle
Lentil Pastillas with Chermoula
Lamb Patis with cucumber sauce
Indaba Chening Blanc 2002...the best white wine of the entire evening!

The appetizers were all wonderful..I hope they add that sampler platter to jiko's menu..that would be excellent.

Dinner:

Sugarcane skewered jumbo scallops with ginger-fennel broth, and coconut milk swirl by chef Nicholas Pastis
Wine was Brampton unoaked chardonnay 2002
These scallops were fabulous...the broth, poured at the table of course...oh, I wish I had some of them right now.

Next we had jumbo sweet potato dumpling with forest mushroom cream sauce and thin shaved tomme goat cheese by chef Anette Gray. Wine was Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc 2003. This dumpling was excellent..wine was perfect compliment.

Next...Masala crusted golden bass with fried green tomatoes by chef Cass Abrahams. Wine Rustenberg 5 Soldiers Chardonnay 2001...this was a good chardonnnay..and I am not big on them, but this was very nice.

Next Tamarind basted lamb chop with Pap and Marog by chef Cass Abrahams, wine was the Rustenberg John X Merriman 2000 and the Meerlust Rubicon 1999...Lamb chop was tough, the wines were the first red of the evening and were both wonderful...especially the rubicon.

We received to glasses of wine with the last course, so we could have them with our cheese course also. We were served Humboldt Fog - Goat Brie - Manchego with quince jam, white and wheat lavosh by chef Anette Gray. The cheeses were wonderful, the quince jam was excellent with them...and the wines perfect. I will look at cheese for my guests in a whole new way now.

For dessert..."Nouveau" Cheesecake with caramelized Bosc Pears and cranberry-hibiscus broth by chef Anthony Gregorek, the wine was the Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 1998...very nice dessert wine. Cheesecake was not really cheesecake..very wild arrangement...you had to see it to believe it..the texture was more like ice cream..the skin was separated from the pears to be crunched up for the top..it was a wonderful combination.

Also...they brought us a plate of Anette's Spice Cookies, with the same dessert wine. These cookies were amazing...I would love to be able to purchase them anytime I wanted.

They kept refilling your wine if needed. Everyone had a wonderful time...definately a great value. Hubby and I were under the impression it was five courses..five wines...wow...there were 4 main courses alone, plus the appetizers, cheese and two desserts, and 7 wines.

Just like everything else at AKL/Jiko and Boma..this was a first class event!

 

[webray]

Oh, and none of these were appetizer portions..lol...every course, full size...and yes we ate it all..lol.

Also...full servings of wine.

Very, very, very nice!

 

[Muffy]

Thanks for the review! Sounds fantastic!

 

[ghidorah97]

Awesome review webray! Thanks for so much detail.

It sounds like this event was a special as the Jiko Signature dinner from last year, which was by far the best of these we attended. They definitely know how to put on a wonderful event!

Did you get one of the trips???

 

[webray]

LOL, I wish we would have gotten one of the trips. That's ok though..we have planned on going to South Africa...and we will..hopefully within the next few years.

 

[betterlatethannever]

Thanks for the review.

Yes, it does seem like Jiko's does have the best signature dinner.

Ed

 

[Forever a Princess]

Wow!

My mouth is so watering right now.

How do you get invited to the Jiko Signature dinner?

Renee

 

[ghidorah97]

Forever a Princess,

All of the Signature dinners are part of the Food & Wine Festival, which opens for reservations usually sometime in mid-late July/early August. The Signature dinners are limited-seating, I'd say about 30-50 depending on location. Each is held at a different WDW restaurant, with the theme of the dinner matching the location (i.e. Wines of Bordeaux at Bistro de Paris, Sonoma wines at California Grill, etc.). These dinners typically sell out within the first 15-30 minutes on the day reservations open.

In comparing this year's dinner to the one I attended last year, Mulderbosch and Meerlust were both represented last year (all others were different). The Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc for last year was a 2001 vintage, and the Meerlust Rubicon was a 1989 vintage. I would have loved to compare those bottles to the ones served this year.

Brad

 

[Uncleromulus]

Sounds like a great time!!

 

[SamSam]

Maybe some year, if enough pixie dust comes my way, I'll be able to get through quick enough to get a signature dinner ressie.
Sounds wonderful!

 

[webray]

Some of the people at our table called 1 1/2 weeks before they arrived and got reservations...never stop calling!

 

[BCV23]

Great review. Sounds like a wonderful dinner.

 

[Forever a Princess]

Brad,

Awesome info. Thanks.

Renee

 

[parrotheadlois]

WE'RE ONE OF THE LUCKY THREE COUPLES!!!!!! and are we excited!

There were two couples at our table who won, we have each other's e-mail addresses and are hoping to go together. The winemaker from the Rustenberg Winery was also at our table (Adi). He had been telling us about the 25 hour flight he had to take to get to Florida and he had also been at the Party of the Senses on Oct. 24th (we were there too). We talked about his winery, and he gave us his e-mail too so we can arrange a visit to his winery. It's all just so unbelievable!

The day the reservations went on sale (back in July), I was on the phone at 7 am, got put on hold, and held...and held.... By the time I got to speak to a human, we got the last 2 reservations for the dinner (I guess they must have had a cancellation since someone previously posted that someone had been able to get a reservation more recently). The Party of the Senses was much easier to get reservations for. Both events were fantastic

 

[>>^..^<<]

Sooooooo much food

It all sounds wonderful, but not full servings of everything!! LOL I think I would have to develop bulimia to get through the whole thing!

Excellent, well written review,

Thank you!

>>^..^<<

 

[IMISSDISNEY]

Thanks for the wonderful review.

 

[BriarRosie]

Originally posted by parrotheadlois
WE'RE ONE OF THE LUCKY THREE COUPLES!!!!!! and are we excited!

There were two couples at our table who won, we have each other's e-mail addresses and are hoping to go together.

After reading Webray's post, I had to call my friends who went to this dinner, as well.

I asked, "So....did you win??"

And yes, they were one of the other two couples. LOL!
They were at all the DDE events Jiko has had, so the staff was familiar with them and happy that they won.

Congratulations on being one of the lucky three!

 

[parrotheadlois]

One of the other lucky couples was at our table; were they your friends (Craig and Bethany) or are your friends the other couple?? We're just so excited, are waiting to hear from the Disney people!

 

[BriarRosie]

My friends who won the other trip were not Craig and Bethany, but the other couple.

 

[parrotheadlois]

Please tell them congratulations from me (from the table on the other side of the room). I have a couple of pictures of the whole group, if they'd like copies e-mailed, let me know. Or I'll just do a Shutterfly link.