EPCOT Food & Wine Festival Offers Months of Interesting Dining

 by Beth Keating and Ray Keating

(Photos by Jonathan Keating)

Review

DisneyBizJournal.com

August 23, 2023

 

The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival is one of Disney’s longest festivals, with the greatest number of food booths. There are nearly three dozen booths to choose from this year, with some new ones opening on September 22. Multiply that by 3 or 4 dishes per booth, and you have… a lot of food to try! But we’re up to the challenge. 

That being said, it does take more than one visit to get the most out of all these dining opportunities. No matter how much training one might have in eating large amounts of food around the Disney parks and resorts, it’s just too much food to enjoy in one day.  

Because we’re big Muppet fans, we had to head to the Odyssey building first to hit up the Brew-Wing Lab at the Odyssey, home during this festival to the Muppets Lab hosted by Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his erstwhile assistant Beaker.  (Thank you, Disney, for giving us more Muppets!)

The combination of Florida heat and humidity, and a long day meant that we opted not to try the Muppets’ “Unnecessarily Spicy, Yet Extremely Tasty Scotch Bonnet Pepper-Curry Wings with Cool Cucumber Yogurt,” as we heard that they are, well, unnecessarily spicy. The expected heat of the wings just didn’t seem ideal with the heat of the day. So, those wings will wait for another day. 

However, we did pick the “Peanut Butter and Jelly Sticky Wings” and the “Garlic-Parmesan Wings.”  The PB&J wings were … well … a bit weird, at first. It was a little disconcerting at first bite, with the overwhelming flavor being that of the warm peanut butter rather than chicken.   There were six nice-sized wings in the order, and the flavor did grow on us after getting past the initially unexpected taste. We eventually decided that the PB&J wings were good… we think.

The Garlic-Parmesan wings, on the other hand, were excellent.  They, too, had a set of six, and struck a just-right balance between the garlic and the parmesan.  They weren’t too garlicky, and the creamy coating brought solid parmesan flavor to the wings.

Again, since it was a blazing hot day in Florida (more than the usual Florida sunshine), we also ordered up a cold drink to go with our wings – and no, we didn’t go for the non-alcoholic pickle milkshake that everyone else seemed to be buzzing about. We’d heard from a few guests that it tasted a bit like a McDonald’s shamrock shake, and since none of the day’s diners were overly fond of that springtime cult favorite, we chose the non-alcoholic “Frozen Fusion” instead.  Made with Twinings Pomegranate and Raspberry Herbal Tea, the drink is also fused with orange ice cream “molecules.”  It was perfect for a 100°plus day.  Strong pomegranate and raspberry flavors were frosty and thick, and the orange “molecules” on top were tasty little surprises.

Since we were already on the left side of the World Showcase after leaving the Odyssey, we headed next to the China Pavilion, always one of our favorites during a festival because we like to grab a bubble tea on our journey.  Today, though, we chose the new “Crispy Duck Bao Bun with Hoisin Sauce.” It was a good combination flavor-wise, but the first bite of duck was a bit chewier than expected.  Perhaps the bun had been too close to the heat lamps. Later bites were not as chewy.  The bao bun itself was nicely “pillow-y,” fluffy and light.  The accompanying sauce was sweet, adding to an overall enjoyable dish.

We had sorted through the Global Marketplace menus at home to try to narrow down our food hunt before we arrived, and were especially looking forward to the Australia booth for some out of the ordinary samples.  Unfortunately, our main reason for coming to this booth, the “Roasted Lamb Chop with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies,” was uneven.  We weren’t crazy about the seasoning on the lamb, and the meat wasn’t nearly as tender as it should have been.  On the other hand, the “Sweet-and-Spicy Bush Berry Shrimp with Pepper, Onion, Snap Peas and Sweet Chili Sauce” was delicious.  Definitely both sweet and spicy (as advertised!), and though the shrimp were just average-sized, the dish was a standout.

Next up was the Japan booth, where we again sampled a delightful bun.  The returning  “Teriyaki Chicken Bun” was a sizeable treat, with a pillow-soft steamed bun filled with a sweet chicken and vegetable combination.  Our second choice at this booth was the new offering, the “Fire Taiko Roll,” a sushi roll with spicy tuna in a spicy sauce. And it was indeed spicy, at least by Disney-spice standards, but not unbearably so.  The sushi was fresh, and you could taste the cucumber, pickled Daikon radish and tuna as separate, crisp flavors.  

We had intended to try a few more dishes on this particular evening, but the outdoor heat was so overwhelming that we just weren’t hungry enough to stuff ourselves.  We made a final stop at the Ireland booth for an icy cold and very welcome “Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale.”  The light brew was cool and creamy, and made walking around the park a bit more tolerable.

The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival runs through November 18, 2023, and yes, we’ll be back … numerous times. After all, this is our kind of challenge.

 

__________

 

Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.

 

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com; and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant thrillers and mysteries, the Alliance of Saint Michael novels, and assorted nonfiction books. Have Ray Keating speak your group, business, school, church, or organization. Email him at raykeating@keatingreports.com.

 

The views expressed here are their own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right? 

 

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