With the 2011 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival wrapping up last week, I figured it was high time I posted my review of it. This annual event has been taking place at Epcot since 1995, and personally this was my sixth time in attendance. I don’t drink alcohol so I’m afraid I can’t comment on the quality of the wine (I did have a few sips of some sort of strawberry beer, you’ll see why later). I rarely attend any of the "eat to the beat" concerts or cooking presentations, so I'm afraid I can't review those either. I do however love food, and I did my best to “eat around the world.” Here are the 29 booths that were situated throughout World Showcase:
Australia | Brewer's Collection | Portugal |
Brazil | Germany | Belgium |
Argentina | Poland | France |
Caribbean | Italy | Ireland |
Mexico | Fife & Drum | Canada |
Scandinavia | Hops & Barley | Greece |
China | Singapore | Desserts & Champagne |
South Korea | Japan | Hawaii |
South Africa | New Zealand | Craft Beers |
Cheese | Morocco |
There were some countries that I had little interest in sampling, so I either skipped them, or just mooched a bite from the plate of one of my friends. Patrick and Jenn were there, and with their help I was able to check off 23 of the 29 countries in my little Food & Wine Passport. Below isn’t the Festival's entire menu, just the dishes I personally sampled. I did snap a few pics of some of the dishes, so I'll include them.
Australia | ||
| Grilled Lamb Chop with Potato-Goat Cheese Salad and Shiraz Reduction: | ||
This little piece of lamb was quite delicious. Very flavorful and cooked perfectly. I only wish I had about 10 of them. | ||
Brazil | ||
| Feijoada (Black Bean and Pork Stew): | ||
| Not too bad. Jenn ordered this and didn't care for it, so I got the leftovers. I would recommend it. | ||
| Argentina | ||
| Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri Sauce and Boniato Puree: Very good. They added a little too much of the Chimichurri for my taste, so I just scraped it off and enjoyed this little dish. | ||
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Caribbean | ||
| Ropa Vieja (slowly braised beef) with White Rice: | ||
| Decent. Not bad, not great. | ||
Mexico | ||
| Grilled Ribeye Taco (Chipotle Pepper Sauce and Scallion on a Flour Tortilla): Maybe the tastiest dish out of all of them. Ribeye is always great, but the seasonings they used made this cut of meat pop even more. | ||
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| Scandinavia | ||
| Taste of Scandinavia - Shrimp Salad, Cured Salmon and Herring: | ||
| I love all three of these types of seafood, so this was a great dish for me. The shrimp salad was okay, the herring was very good, and the salmon was delicious. | ||
Rice Pudding with Driscoll’s Only The Finest Berries: | ||
| Eh. This was another one of Jenn's leftovers. I took two bites and was done. | ||
| South Korea | ||
| Boolgogi BBQ Beef with Steamed Rice and Kimchi: | ||
| I had just one bite of this dish. It was pretty good. | ||
| South Africa | ||
| Seared Filet of Beef with smashed Sweet Potatoes and Braai Sauce: Yum. Nice tender beef, and you can't go wrong with smashed sweet potatoes. | ||
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Poland | ||
| Kielbasa and Potato Pierogie with Caramelized Onions and Sour Cream: | ||
| Had just one bite of this. I didn't love it. | ||
| Fife & Drum | ||
| Red Stag Lemonade by Jim Beam: | ||
| I had only one sip of this so I could get my passport stamped! I don't drink so my opinion wouldn't be useful on this one. | ||
Hops & Barley | ||
| Pumpkin Mousse with Ocean Spray Craisins and Orange Sauce: The mousse itself was very good. The orange sauce was okay, but it was a little too thick in some parts. I didn't enjoy the Craisin flavor mixed in. Craisins are better on their own. Didn't vibe well with the pumpkin. | ||
 Japan | ||
| California Sushi Roll: Pretty average sushi. Not the quality you'd find at the California Grill. More the quality you'd find at the Yakitori House. | ||
 New Zealand | ||
| Lamb Slider with Tomato Chutney: | ||
| I love lamb! Not as good as the chop in Australia, but still pretty good. | ||
Morocco | ||
| Kefta Pocket (ground seasoned Beef in Pita Bread): | ||
| Not a fan. Jenn took one bite and gave it to me. I took one bite and threw it away. Portugal | ||
| Calamari Salad with Fennel, Smoked Paprika and Olive Oil: This dish looked better than it tasted. I love calamari, but this dish suffered from too much paprika and not enough flavor. | ||
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| Belgium | ||
| Belgian Waffle with Berry Compote and Whipped Cream: I am a huge fan of Belgian food. Obviously not as good as the waffles I had in Brussels, but still pretty tasty. The berry compote was only okay. | ||
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| France | ||
| Coq au Vin sur Gratin de Macaroni (Red Wine Braised Chicken, Mushrooms, Pearl Onions and Macaroni Gratin): | ||
| I loved the chicken, but I don't do cheese. | ||
| Crème Brulee au Chocolat au Lait (Chocolate Milk Crème Brulee topped with Caramelized Sugar): | ||
| I had one bite of Jenn's. It was good. I don't love Crème Brulee, but as far as it goes this one was above average. | ||
| Ireland | ||
| Warm Chocolate Lava Cake with Baileys Ganache: | ||
| So good! I had one bite of Patrick's and wish I had ordered one for myself. Its only downside was that there wasn't enough. The cake and the lava were both excellent. | ||
| Canada | ||
| Chicken Chipotle Sausage with Sweet Corn Polenta: | ||
| Wow this was spicier than I had anticipated. For me it was a little too spicy to enjoy. But I am a spicy food wuss, so maybe I'm not the best choice to critique this one. | ||
| Greece | ||
| Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki: | ||
| Pretty good. Jenn is the authority on Greek food so I'm hoping she chimes in on the comments! | ||
| Desserts & Champagne | ||
| White Chocolate Macadamia Mousse with Dark Chocolate Pearls: | ||
| I love dark chocolate, so this dessert had me at hello. The mousse part of it was not too shabby either. Behind Ireland's lava cake this was the tastiest dessert I sampled. | ||
| Tres Leches Verrine: | ||
| So-so. Didn't hate it, but I wouldn't need to try it again. | ||
Hawaii | ||
| Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet and Sour Dole Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayonnaise: Deelish! This was one of the last dishes I had and if it had been my first, I probably would have repeated it. | ||
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Craft Beers | ||
| Leinenkugel’s Berry Weiss: | ||
| Again, I don't drink. But this beer was a little on the sweet side. I was told by my friends that it was basically "carbonated Hawaiian Punch," so maybe that's why I enjoyed it. They didn't, so I ended up finishing it for them. | ||
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| Patrick looks like a kid at Christmas |
And then when Jenn ran to the restroom, Patrick chugged them all by himself!
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| "I may have to pee..." |
Ha ha, I'm kidding of course. In fact Jenn and Patrick wrote a great review for all seven of those beers, as well as the beers at the Brewer's Collection booth.
Every year the International Food & Wine Festival is a wonderful addition to Epcot. Like I said previously I have been there six times, but that's out of the last seven years. There are always miniature culinary delights for every palette, and the weather during the Festival is in my opinion some of the best Walt Disney World enjoys all year. The 2011 F&WF was one of the best I've attended.
I didn't realize how much food was consumed in one weekend, Awesome! Let's do it again next year!!!
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