September 19th - Day 3 – California Grill Brunch
Our plans for today were quieter than yesterday. I figure when I booked this that Peta would have been able to make it through the day before but been crashing by today. Usually I find that the day after arrival you are running on a mixture of adrenaline and mixed up melatonin due to the change to the sleep pattern. We always find it’s the day after that it hits us hard.
As a result we planned today as a shopping day! For several reasons:
1) We love shopping
2) We love shopping even more in the US due to the bargain prices
3) Peta would be exhausted (and I was right) and
4) I managed to grab a brunch reservation when the Cali Grill dates released and I did not want to waste a park morning!
Also, if you read my pre-trip report you may also know that this evening our good friends Clint, Steph and their children Ellie (17m) and Reuben (3) were joining us for the next 5 nights / 6 days after we treated them to a stay at the Poly Villas and then a night at AKL villas! I was keen to take it easy in preparation for heavy park days to follow!
We had a leisurely start to the day before catching the monorail over to the Contemporary Resort! Although we stayed at BLT later in the trip it’s so easy to get there from the GF that I wasn’t bothered about waiting until then.
When we signed in a few minutes early they invited us to sit on couches waiting to go up. Well, we head over to the seats but did not sit…..they were COVERED in dead bugs….like everywhere!
This was actually a common theme and we had several repeat experiences of this. I believe they had maybe sprayed extra due to the Zika virus scare but was somewhat gobsmacked that they hadn’t cleaned up. They weren’t isolated to the one couch, they were on every one!
Luckily, we were called only a few minutes later and we were able to head straight up in the elevator.
We were served welcome drinks the minute we arrived and since non of us are big drinkers we went with the mocktail. It was delicious and I believe Trent had several more during the meal, while Peta and I had 2 each!
Before we sat down, we were taken to see the buffet and Peta was given a tour with the chef, to pick out some safe options.
There were limited options for Peta so the chef prepared some devilled eggs without bacon on top:
She also dove into a huge plate of fruit and salad options:
Then we sat down at the table, which was a window seat with a view of MK:
We were served some great pastries/scones (which is what we call biscuits) to the table:
Pecan Sticky Bun, Country Cheddar Biscuit, Huckleberry Muffin
Trent enjoyed the sticky bun despite again complaining it was too sweet for breakfast, and I loved the biscuit! Neither of us was wowed by the muffin, it had a weird sticky texture that, combined with the dried fruit was just not very nice.
And Peta was not left out, although she only got one option:
She was a little disappointed, and didn’t really like the muffins either. She instead went back for seconds at the buffet.
There were some really good options for me too:
The sushi was fresh and well made, but nothing special (I have high standards – sushi is basically my favourite food to eat out). Salads were fresh and tasty and I will never say no to a cheeseboard!
Trent sampled similar offerings:
None of us ate too much as we were waiting on mains and just soaking up the atmosphere. We did go back for seconds after mains – although I didn’t snap our second plates!
Our Mains came out quickly anyway (This meal took nowhere near as long as I expected – they were quick and efficient and seemed to be in somewhat of a hurry to turn over tables, not the standard signature dining experience in that sense.
Trent ordered the:
Grilled Hanger Steak - Two Eggs Any Style, Chimichurri, Marble Potato Hash and Charred Red Onion
He enjoyed this (can you tell yet, he is a fan of steak?) It was a little overcooked for medium rare, but he said that the hash was good and the chimichurri added moisture to the steak, which may otherwise been too dry.
I went with the:
Eggs Benedict – With Salmon subbed out for the honey ham usually on the muffins
This was delicious! Super creamy hollandaise, though not too rich. Pouched eggs soft cooked to perfection! Super tasty version of my favourite brunch when back home.
Peta had the same, but without any meat:
As you can see below she didn’t enjoy it at all
It’s very unusual for Peta to polish off a plate like that, but I think her body was finally catching up from the jet lag, allowing her to be hungry at mealtimes again. Of course, despite being small eaters, both her and I also ate more than usual on this trip due to the miles and miles of walking excessive sweating in the heat (well, humidity, it is MUCH hotter in Australia but the humidity really takes it out of you!).
For dessert they bring out a mix of macaroons, cookies and truffles:
And Peta got her own plate of GF ones:
This looked a little sad when compared to ours!
The truffles were quite good, rather fruity flavours. Macaroons were sadly a little bland and the brittle? Was quite good. In reality though, we were really to full to appreciate dessert at this stage so it wasn’t a big focus point for us.
And so, the score card:
Food: 4/5 – only thing to fault here was not enough dressing on some salads and the weird muffins. We will be back!
Service: 5/5 – Very attentive server, who continually checked in to make sure Peta was accommodated OK!
Experience: 4/5 the view can’t be beat but we prefer Cali Grill at night as we discovered later in the trip!
We even asked especially. I'd put GF on our reservation as well. Maybe they just didn't have any left. I just sent Peta a message - she says this is cause to do back to Disney and back to HDR! 
