As you navigate your way past the frenzied swimming pools, denizens of the not so lazy river, and tourists walking around seemingly unaware of how their bathing suits actually look on them, tucked away, almost inconspicuously in the back corner of the Aulani resort, you will find the amazing table service restaurant of Ama Ama. As you pass under the simple wooden slat breeze way the sea air greets your face and the salt gently rests on our lips, inviting you in to partake in the treasures here that are tantalizing for our eyes as much as our taste buds. In that moment you know, you’ve found your paradise, the oasis in the desert of the bustling resort.
Ama Ama is one of the most beautiful settings in any Disney restaurant anywhere, as it is an open air dining area right on the beach overlooking the sparkling lagoon and endless blue horizon in front of you. There is an upscale rustic décor that adds to the charm of the setting, and gives hints to a backstory of weary travelers setting up a dining establishment to cook their catches of the day and drink the night away telling stories of things that may have never happened, while the ocean provides the perfect soundtrack behind them.
The calm of Ama Ama isn’t just in the setting but it applies to the flawlessly cooked meals you’ll find there. None so pristine as one particular breakfast item, for within this breakfast item you find your Shangri-La, you’re Rushmore, you’re perfect day, the meal that completes you … this is the Buttermilk Pancakes with Macadamia Nut Vanilla Sauce.
Do not be mistaken by the simplistic sounding nature of this dish, because the simplicity here is what makes this dish so faultless.
You start with the pancakes, which are the fluffiest, thickest, but also lightest pancakes ever created. With each bite you take, you bring a soft buttery pillow of delicious buttermilk cake into your mouth. It is cooked flawlessly and melts right on your tongue, teasing your taste buds of the infinite possibilities of how good pancakes could actually be.
Then there is the Macadamia Nut Vanilla Sauce, which upon initial thought would illicit judgments of overly sweet or too sugary to be good, but those ideas could not be further from the truth. The delicate nature of the sauce is not fully understood until you try it. There is a sophisticated balance to the sauce, which is what it is, a sauce, not a syrup. It is a dense almost milky sauce that realizes heavily on the salty savory aspects of the macadamia nut and the spice of the vanilla more so than the sweetness of sugar. It tastes like a light salty vanilla nut sauce with only a hint of caramel. The sauce is neither rich nor sugary but instead, plays the essential supporting role to the pancake, ensuring that it is the unspoiled compliment. Its sweetness doesn’t overtake the taste of the cake and its liquidity doesn’t saturate the cake making it too soggy to enjoy. It adds the right balance and depth to each bite.
The pancake and the sauce, these two elements alone exist on your plate, working together in seamless collaboration making a breakfast that is at once delicious and entirely satisfying.
These are without a doubt the best pancakes, not only anywhere in any Disney venue, but quite frankly the best pancakes anywhere, period. If you ever make the trip down to Aulani, and you should, it is a fantastic place to stay and eat, then immediately make the Buttermilk Pancakes at Ama Ama your top priority. It will be your favorite meal, and you’ll leave hungry for more.
Happy eating!