Epcot Food and Wine Festival Review - Desserts

My last stop of the evening (you can see from the picture that it was pretty dark by now) was the Desserts and Champagne booth. I opted for the trio of desserts. I think this was only around $3-4, perhaps $3.50 which I thought was good value for three tasters.

From top to bottom, the desserts were:

Lemon Custard with Bluberry compote. This was like lemon curd, with some crispy crunchy bits - tart and mouthwatering.

Dark Chocolate Mousse with Chilli and Salted Caramel. This was a good chocolate mousse - I missed the salt and only got a very slight hint of chilli though. Then again, I eat dark chocolate with chilli regularly as a treat (a square of lindt chilli chocolate is only 1pp on weight watchers - yay!) so perhaps I was just used to the flavours. I did hear someone in the queue remarking at what an awful idea chilli and chocolate was.

Yogurt Panna Cotta with Orange Cake. I enjoyed this (I will never complain about pannacotta!). The cake was more just sweet cake, rather than particularly orange flavoured and there was a nice fruit jelly type topping with rounded it off.

Review: good value for money and definitely worth going for the trio rather than individual desserts, just to try them all out. Very well presented and pretty too - I'd eat it in the day next time so I could admire the presentation a little more!!

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Review - Belgium

I had a Belgian Waffle next (which I shared with my husband.. oh so romatic!). It was yummy and small. I feel like my reviews have been kinda negative since Argentina (which, let's face it, was only the second review.. oh dear!). Literally, the size was the only let down here.

Review: There's not much to say here.. it was a waffle (sweet, light, fresh and warm) with cool whipped cream and fruit compote. The fruit had good big chunks of fruit in and was pleasantly sweet and sticky. My only complaint was that I wanted more for my money!!

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Review - Hops & Barley

I decided to be brave on my next stop and to try lobster. There were two options on the menu - one was lobster claw and the other a lobster roll. I asked one of the cast members which they would recommend on the basis that I had never tried lobster before and I was told that the lobster claw was cold, so I should try the lobster roll.

I remember reading about snack credits on the Disney dining plan before I went and someone saying that the cost of the roll was over $6 as counted as a snack credit. Therefore, I think this was probably one of the more expensive tasters I tried. There was a fair old amount of lobster there though, so, for the lobster lover - it's probably not a bad price!

Review: Now to my review.. the roll was amazing. Warm, slightly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside with really tasty herbs atop. The lobster was cold though. And stringy. But not altogether unpleasant in flavour. For a first time lobster try, I did manage to eat it all... but I forced the last bit down. This is no reflection at all on the lobster itself or the cooking. I just don't think I liked it. I don't know if you ever eat lobster warm, but I think that'd be better! I guess for catering though, it probably goes very tough if overcooked?

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Review - Japan

I had read about kakigori all over the internet before our trip to Disneyworld (I had done many searches, such as "top ten Disney snacks") and kakigori had consistently come up on posts and articles all over the web. Having never heard of it (and being a bit of a Japan fan) I had made a mental note to try this on our honeymoon and there was no better time than during our tour of Epcot's Food and Wine Festival. 

My sweet tooth had not been satisfied by the cannoli from Italy (see my previous blog post as to why) and so we stopped for a rainbow kakigori. 

Kakigori is shaved ice, flavoured with sweet syrups. It comes in tangerine, melon and cherry or a combination of all three - rainbow. Obviously, we opted for rainbow. 

I had expected a more snow like texture, which melted almost immediately on your tongue. I guess I should have realised that (a) that would be hard to make and (b) the syrup would just have melted the 'snow'. This was more like a hard slushy. The flavours were good - unique almost (particularly as everything else in the US, and actually, from Japan, is usually grape flavour!).

I shared this though, purely because it was a little too cold. We had a nice sit down on a bench and watched the two Epcot Cast Members for Japan bow and welcome every single person who passed by. They really made you smile as they never appeared to get fed up of their job (although surely, they were).

Now technically, the kakigori isn't really a Food and Wine Festival Review because it's at a permanent Japan kiosk, so I'd better throw in a review of the chicken sushi I had from the special stand.

I love the idea of sushi.. it's practical, tasty, healthy (usually) and cute ^_^

I don't, however, eat raw fish. In the past I have opted for meat or vegetable options when sampling, but these are generally fairly limited so I was pleased to see a chicken option at Epcot.

As you can see from the picture, there was a cute little nori handhold which made it easy to pick up and eat and (for a piece of sushi) it was a generous size. This was my second favourite snack of the whole day (second only to the beef from Argentina).

Review: Good texture with super sticky rice, easy to eat and extremely tasty. The creamy sauce (which I would suspect is more American than Japanese...) was also a nice addition.

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Review - Cheese

From the cheese stall at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, I plumped for the cheese fondue. This was a little pot of cheese dip and some bread (I would guess this was a sourdough bread). Unfortunately, it was at this point that I stopped taking photographs of my receipts (Doh!) and therefore, I have no idea how much this cost.

I know that most of this went in the bin.

I was expecting creamy, unctuous gloopy cheese. What I was got was hot wine with a smidgen of cheese in it.  Now, perhaps that's actually what cheese fondue is supposed to be like (I've never actually tried it before) but it's not how I would have invented it, if I was going to invent it.

The bread was nice (with little salt crystals on top) but once I'd eaten the bread with a little of the sauce on it, the rest of the cheese, sadly, went into the bin.

Review: Not to my taste but if you're a fan of hot wine - go for it!!

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Review - Italy

In Italy (which had not been one of my "planned stops" at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival), I decided that after all the meat, spice, cheese and bread it was time for a little something sweet. The cannoli at the Italy kiosk caught my eye. 

I tried to get the receipt this time but the wind was blowing (Hurricane Sandy was along the coast so the whole of Florida was a little chilly. I'm not complaining - just thankful that it didn't hit, but it explains why the picture has a vertical receipt in it!!). No prices for you there then...

The cannoli was a pastry 'shell' which was covered in chocolate and filled with what I would guess was cream cheese (perhaps ricotta or something). The filling also had dried fruit strewn throughout it, which added a welcome bit of sweetness.

I was not expecting there to be any chocolate. It didn't add a lot of flavour, surprisingly, and it took away from what I was anticipating to be a delicate pastry texture - instead it was just kinda hard! It was nice, but I was willing to give half of it to my husband, which considering the tiny size, speaks for itself.

Review: It was a little bland and the texture was not as delicate as I would have liked. I would like to try (what I would consider) a proper cannoli at some point in the future before I write this off completely though!

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Review - South Korea

My eat around the world adventure at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival took me to South Korea next. The  stand was just before the bridge between China and the Outpost.

On offer were Mung Bean Pancake with Shrimp and Kimchi Sauce or Lettuce Wrap with Roast Pork and Kimchi Slaw.

I opted for the Lettuce Wrap with Roast Pork (I had no idea what kimchi was) as I had already tried a shrimp dish and variety is the spice of life, so they say!

Now this dish was particularly good value at only $3.25.

The pork had obviously been cooked for a very long time, it was moist and soft and had a stringy feel to it (which sounds bad, although it wasn't a bad thing - just the best description I can think of!).

I still have no idea what kimchi is - it didn't have a particularly strong flavour (and from the picture, just looks like shredded carrot!). Wikipedia seems to say it is different all over Korea and can even differ depending on the season, so not much help there.

Review: What I will say about this dish is that it would have benefited from something pourous! The lettuce just could not cope with the amount of liquid in the pork/kimchi mix and there rather a lot of 'run off', making it a messy one to eat. The overall texture was soft meat with crisp salad and some creamy mayonnaise style topping and the taste was mild. Although I enjoyed eating it, it didn't excite me and I don't think I'd buy it again.

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Review - China

I was at an absolute loss as to what to try when we reached the China Pavilion  On previous visits I have tried egg rolls in the Lotus Blossom Café and I was tempted to buy those again.

Like Mexico, however, China also had a specific Food and Wine Festival kiosk and I wanted just about everything on the menu!

They had Mongolian Beef in a Steamed Bun, Pork Pot-stickers and Chicken Satay with Spiced Peanut Sauce and Pickled Vegetables on offer (along with mango tapioca pudding).

As I had just had some beef and I often find steamed buns a little sweet for my taste, I was able to rule that one out. In the end the pickled vegetables won me over and I went for the Chicken Satay.

I thought this dish was disappointing. It was a nice idea and a good sized portion of meat compared to some of the other dishes and the flavour itself was pleasing. The meat was just a little on the dry side. Now, I have to say, given the quality of all the other food I ate at the Festival I think this was probably just unlucky on my part - perhaps as the result of mass catering it was overcooked or left under a heat lamp for too long.

At $4.25 it was good value and I would try it again.

Review: The peanut sauce was perfect (I would have preferred either a little more, or for the sauce to be poured over the chicken itself as it was quite hard to scrape up), the pickled vegetables gave the dish some nice bite and freshness but the chicken would have been better if it had just been a little more moist.

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Review - Mexico

Mexico has it's own pavilion with 4 permanent eateries/bars. I was pleased to see, however, that in addition to those it had it's own stand as part of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival.

I sampled the "Taco de Camerón", billed as "Crispy Shrimp with chipotle-lime mayo and cabbage, served on a flour tortilla". It also looks as though there is some guacamole from the photograph.

It's actually very hard to see the shrimp/prawns from my photo but if you look just under the lime at the top left of the picture, it's the slightly orange part. The prawns were breaded and deep fried. I don't know if there is a difference between shrimp in the USA and prawns that we use here, but it did have a slightly "fishier" taste than the deep friend prawns I'm used to.

The dish was surprisingly spicy - I presume this was from the mayonnaise, and it left a warmth in your mouth and on your lips after eating.

As you can see from the receipt, this snack cost $5.25. I felt it was actually quite insubstantial for that price (especially in comparison to the beef skewer I had just devoured) as most of the dish was cabbage.

Review: This was a nicely balanced morsel - warmth from the chilli alongside creamy mayonnaise and fresh lime juice. There was also a nice mixture of textures (I do like a bit of crunch) with the soft tortilla, the resistance of the cabbage and the crunch of the prawn coating. Overall a good dish, if a little messy to eat (I had to sit down and use both hands - not something I could eat whilst walking!).

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Review - Argentina

Argentina was my second stop along the Epcot Food and Wine Fesitval, where I was tasting as I went. I have to say that, with the benefit of hindsight, this was definitely my favourite snack!

This was billed as "Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri Sauce and Boniato Puree" and it was absolutely delicious. The beef was tender and the sauce was full of flavour.

I have to admit, I had no idea what chimichurri sauce or boniato were - the sauce was almost like a pesto, but fresher (I'm guessing it had no cheese and was probably coriander instead of basil) and the puree was like creamy mashed potato.

Ok.. I've just googled them and I was completely wrong - the sauce is parsley and garlic, not coriander (although some recipes do have coriander in them). This is another recipe I would like to make work with weight watchers, although (like pesto) one of the main ingredients is oil so it might take a bit of work.

Boniato is sweet potato - so I wasn't too far off in my guess of that one!

As you can see from the receipt, this snack cost $5 - it may seem a little high for such a small taster, but it was definitely worth it.

Review: Tender meat with a fresh and flavourful sauce and creamy puree. It was oily, but not in a bad way like the Spanakopita as the oil was well flavoured rather than just grease! Certainly one to try.

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Review - Greece

My first stop along my "eat around the world" trip during this years Epcot Food and Wine Festival was Greece.

I sampled a Spanakopita - this was basically a filo pastry parcel in a triangular shape, filled with spinach and cream cheese.

This was at the beginning of my journey and I took photos of the receipts.You probably can't see from the photo, but the receipts showed the country, the name of the dish and the price; unfortunately I stopped doing this after about 4 snacks so I will have to rely on my memory alone as I continue!!

This snack cost $4

Review: It was tasty (and from memory, it pulled me out of a slightly grumpy mood) but I did find it a little greasy and there were certainly better snacks for around the $4 mark.

I do think I will try to come up with my own, weight watchers friendly, version of this recipe though. Filo pastry is certainly one of the more forgiving pastries when it comes to dieting as long as you don't cover it in melted butter!

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Review - Introduction

We were lucky enough to spend a day at Walt Disney's Epcot in Florida at the end of October. I took full advantage of the fact that we were there during their Food and Wine Festival (which I understand is an annual event) and I spent a day "eating around the world".

In addition to the usual countries that they have at Epcot (most of which have both counter service and quick service food outlets) during the Food and Wine Festival they set up stalls for lots of additional countries where you can buy a snack (and I think if you're on the dining plan, they mostly cost 1 snack credit). There are also lots of different beers, wines and cocktails which you can taste, though I'm not much of a drinker.

I intend to write a short review about each of the snacks which I tried over the next few days and (where I remembered to make a record) I will include details about the price too.

View from "Japan" over the Epcot Lake

I sampled delights from the following countries:
Greece, Argentina, Mexico, China, South Korea, the cheese stand, Italy, Hops & Barley (USA), Japan, Belgium and the Desserts stand.

There were also stands, which I didn't visit:
Terra, Caribbean, Australia, Scandinavia, South Africa, Germany, Poland, Florida, Singapore, Morocco, New Zealand, France, Ireland, Canada and Hawaii.

As you can see - you'd really need to visit a few times if you wanted to eat at each country. In addition to the specific festival stands they also sell food in Norway and the UK.