Explorer's Club Restaurant in HK Disneyland adds more international dishes

MANILA, Philippines — The Explorer's Club Restaurant in Hong Kong Disneyland is expanding its line of international dishes by upgrading its "Explorer's Semi-Buffet" menu.

The restaurant, situated in the theme park's Mystic Point area, carries a menu inspired by fictional character Lord Henry Mystic, whose global travels introduced him to different cuisines.

The new menu includes dishes inspired from China, India, Russia, Morocco, Egypt, and more, all of which are reflected in the restaurant's five themed rooms where guests can dine.

First among the dishes is the Moroccan Lamb, which sous chef Rakesh Kumar explained is mixed with spices, couscous, dried fruits, chickpeas, lemon, coriander and minted yogurt.

More spices and different vegetables can be found on the Indian Butter Chicken — tandoori chicken with cucumber raita and Indian spices — cooked as if to look like it were barbecued.

The dish also has a curry sauce created from tomatoes, butter sauce and spices and paired with homemade mango chutney, crispy papadam and biryani rice.

Kumar calls the Chinese-inspired Pan-fried Salmon unique as the salmon steak is hot but the soba noodles that comes with it is cold. The dish also has wok-fried vegetables.

As a vegetarian option, Kumar and his team created the Italian-style Mushroom Lasagna made with homemade pasta, sauteed mushrooms, truffles, fresh mozzarella, basil and a signature sauce.

Likely to be popular with kids is the Meatballs with Disney Characters Pasta, which as the name suggests, is homemade meatballs, pasta noodles in the shape of a Disney character, and a banana mousse for dessert.

Kumar said the restaurant has a different take on another Indian dish, the Spice-crusted Sea Bass, because of its coconut moilee sauce, tandoori crushed potato and crunchy okra.

A so-called favorite of Lord Henry Mystic is the Hainanese Chicken that has homemade sauces and winter melon soup on the side.

Capping it all off is the Moroccan Beef Kebabs served with pita bread, pickled red onions, chickpea salad, raita and chermoula vinaigrette.

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Editor's note: The trip to the Explorer's Club Restaurant was hosted by Disneyland and Klook. At no stage do the host