Restaurant Review: Boma – Flavors of Africa

Happy New Year readers and welcome back to Muting and The Mouse. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season. We sure did enjoy taking it all in this year. There was so much magic in the air as we head into another adventure in 2022. With that said, we are going to start the year off right by getting back into the weekly posts. Our first post for the new year is a promised restaurant review. I know I know, week one and we are talking about food. Well, why not give you some choices at the beginning of the year! I had never eaten at Boma before and we were notified that on our last trip it would be opening again! This was a wonderful surprise as it was the one of the first buffets to open again at Walt Disney World. We had a reservation for the first night of our trip and we could not have been more excited! Let’s dive in!

Boma is a restaurant that resembles a real life African Marketplace. There are some really cool features of the restaurant that makes you feel like you really are there. It features the classic thatched roofs where under you can indulge in some of the flavors of Africa as well as get some classic options for kids. The menu can change out but most of it has stayed the same since we have been there. For us, we were excited to check out the menu before the trip and then planned out what things we really wanted to try. You can check out the current dinner menu here. This is only a partial menu, but when you get to the restaurant, the servers do a really nice job of explaining the food options. They give you a couple of drink menus, an allergy menu if you noted an allergy, and then the server explains the buffet which includes some of their favorites. We ordered drinks before at the bar outside of the restaurant so we decided to just order some soft drinks to accompany our meal.

We started to get our first plates of the evening and we both decided we wanted to try the stews that have. Boma is known for all of the stews so we of course had to try them. At the time we went, they featured four different stews. They included Tunisian Seafood Stew, Butternut Squash Soup, Chicken Corn Chowder, and A Cape Malay Lamb Curry. You can see all four stews below.

We started out with the lamb curry, this was a really nice stew. It reminded me of a classic beef stew but had the twist of some African flavors. If you like a good hearty stew, this would hit the spot. The next stew we tried was the seafood stew. The seafood stew broth was the star for me. It was so good and warmed you up. The fish was good and it was above my expectations. Third stew we tried was the chicken corn chowder, this was suburb. It was my second favorite of the four. The best for last, the butternut squash soup. This was our favorite and had a nice sweet with cinnamon flavor. Our server described it as “fall in a bowl” and that really was a spot on description. We liked it so much we tried a copy cat recipe when we got back home.

After our stew flight, we went up to get our main courses. There are so many options to chose from. We tried all of the meat options they had to offer as well as most of the sides. You can see some pictures of the food below.

We are not going to go through the entire menu because who wants to listen to me talking about each dish when I am not a proclaimed foodie. I will hit my favorites on the list! Starting off we tried the Oak Roasted Pork Ribs. These were top notch. I went back up for more after we had finished them. They were very tender and the rub on them was enough. There were some sauces to have with them, but I did not think they needed them. Another good protein they had was the African Spiced Striploin. The rub on this was amazing and you can have them carve it for you right there. Moving on from the meats, there was the kiddy section. This included some of the classics all kids enjoy. Of course, we had to get them…for science! Yep, the science checks out, kids will enjoy what there is to offer. The sides were all so so good. Some of the top options included peanut rice, chickpea salad, sweet corn pudding, and the hummus! Out of these I think the one that stood out the most was the peanut rice. This was such a great flavor if you are able to enjoy peanuts. To me it tasted like the rice was cooked in peanut butter and it just was to die for. The hummus was delicious and there was a couple of different kinds to try for all. Overall, I think the options were plentiful and they were all pretty good. Do not get turned off by the “african flavors” because there really is something here for everyone. Now, on to dessert!

As we finished up our main meal, it was time to get some desserts. Animal Kingdom Lodge is known for a special dessert and here at Boma, it is an all you can eat! The special dessert is Zebra Domes. You can see the zebra looking desserts in the photo above and they are so good. If you are eating at Boma, these are a must try! The other desserts were a bread pudding with a vanilla sauce (which they ran out of, but it was good), Kenyan Coffee Tart, Passionfruit Mousse, Hazelnut Brownie, and a Pineapple Financier (like a pastry). The desserts were very good but if I had to pick a top three it would be 1.Zebra Domes, 2. Kenyan Coffee Tart, and 3. Hazelnut Brownie. You will want to make sure you save room as these did not disappoint us at all. As we were eating our dessert, our server brought us over a little dessert to congratulate us for celebrating our honeymoon. They were simple chocolate cupcakes with a white chocolate piece that says Vier (celebrate). This was so fun as they took time to help celebrate with us! If you are celebrating make sure you let them know and they will help make the celebration a great time.

Overall, we really liked this restaurant. The buffet had a lot of choices and the food was all very good. There really is a simplicity to the restaurant and it adds to the experience of staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Have you ever eaten at Boma? If you have, comment below what you liked! I cannot wait to eat here again and we have tried a couple of copy cat recipes that are based from this restaurant to get a quick fix! I would recommend this restaurant for those looking to try something new but still have food choices for everyone. I hope this helps you in deciding if you would like to try Boma on your next visit. If you are looking to book a Walt Disney World Vacation, please see the contact me portion of the blog to get in touch with us through Spark of Magic Travels. In the meantime, remember to escape into the magic, no matter how far!