by Beth Keating
Review
DisneyBizJournal.com
September 26, 2023
Last weekend (starting September 22, 2023), Disney World added four new food booths to the 2023 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival, and there were a few intriguing dishes on the new menus. With Saturday being one of the more perfect Florida days in months (low humidity and no rain!), we decided to head to World Showcase to sample our way through dinner.
The first of the “Global Marketplaces” that drew our attention was Wine & Wedge, the cheese and wine centric kiosk. It was a great start to the afternoon! We opted for the “Assorted Artisanal Cheeses and Accoutrements,” a $7.00 selection in Emile’s Fromage Montage if you are collecting your stamps for the specialty treat at the end of the day.
As cheese lovers, we could have eaten this plate, and then left the park to go home and been happy with our day. It was a nice mix of four bite-sized cheeses, ranging from mild to more pungent (but not too pungent) bites. The option came on a flat cardboard “plate” that in the Florida heat could become problematic, because if you aren’t paying close enough attention, your jam and honey trimmings will melt right off the side of the plate. Just a friendly heads-up, because this plate was worth the wait in line.
The Brie wedge was mild and creamy, a little on the soft side in the sun, making it even yummier. The other milder cheeses were perhaps a gouda, a bit smoky in tone, and a crumbly cheddar that was on the blander side. The last cube, a salty Blue cheese, was a nice contrast to the Brie. It was a stronger cheese, but not overwhelming in the least. Several small crostini accompanied the dish, and they were crisp without being stale. The peanut brittle was waaaay too hard to even bite into, so you should chuck that in the trash can without incurring a need for dental work. Our last suggestion? Make good use of that honey comb and jam pooled alongside the cheeses to pair with the squares of cheese. It gave a completely different taste to each bite. We’re so happy this booth will be available all the way through the next festival, the Festival of the Holidays, because we will definitely be back for this cheese platter again.
The second item we tried at Wine and Wedge was the “Fig and Balsamic Boursin Soufflé with Fig Tapenade ($5.75),” also an Emile’s Fromage Montage item. This was an unexpected treat, somewhere between a cake and a pudding, not quite as firm as a cake, but not as soft as a pudding, something in the neighborhood of a bread pudding. We were expecting a garlicky, more savory dish (you know, like Boursin spread!), but the fig component brought a sweeter twist to the soufflé. We wouldn’t call this a dessert exactly, but it was certainly dessert adjacent.
The new Bubbles & Brine was also on our schedule, where we grabbed the priciest plate of the day, the “Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail with Prosecco Cocktail Sauce and Grilled Lemon ($14.00).”
It is possible to go really upscale at this booth, though, and order – brace yourself – a $69.00 glass of Dom Pérignon. We did not “drink our way around the world” at this booth. That $69.00 flute cost more than we were spending on all our other food samples for the day combined! (If it turns out that you love this very pricy champagne, you can pick up a full 750 mL bottle for as little as $250 at your local wine shop, though some vintages can go for over $400.) Comparatively, our plate of three large shrimp seemed like quite the bargain, though it was double the cost of any of the other items we tried Saturday. The trio of shrimp were nested together like a little puzzle, and were fresh and crisp, with a classic cocktail sauce. We didn’t really get a hint of Prosecco in the sauce, but it was tasty nonetheless. It wasn’t something we needed to go out of our way for, but we’d never turn down a jumbo shrimp!
Swirled Showcase was another of the newly opened Global Marketplaces, and this was the home of lots of soft-serve ice cream, with vanilla, apple-cinnamon, and salted caramel flavors. We tried the “Cream Soda Float with Vanilla Soft-Serve ($6.25).” If you are really looking for soft serve on a hot day, there are some fun fall flavors here, but with so many great ice cream and gelato locations further back in World Showcase, this booth was just a standard soft serve spot, so you’d be better off heading back toward France or Italy. The float at Swirled Showcase was only sampler sized, and while it was fine, it was far smaller than we expected for the price. (See our full review from opening day here.)
While the other two Marketplaces we visited on Saturday weren’t new, we tried dishes that were new to us.
Hawaii was serving up “SPAM Sushi with Sushi Rice, Teriyaki-Glazed SPAM, Spicy Mayonnaise, Eel Sauce and Nori ($6.00),” and for dessert, a “Passion Fruit Cheesecake with Toasted Macadamia Nuts ($4.75).” The cheesecake is also an item on Emile’s Fromage Montage hunt.
Hawaii’s cheesecake was the clear winner in the desserts category for the day – a light, pleasantly sweet version of a fluffy cheesecake. The airy delight contrasted with the stronger, tangier passionfruit sauce on the top of the cake, and the crushed Macadamia nuts added a bit of texture to the dessert.
The SPAM selection is such an oddity. We’d tried it before and enjoyed it. Thankfully, the same went for this visit. The small slices of SPAM sandwiched between the sushi rice looked just like your traditional sushi order, but with a bit more of a salty flavor. While we’re not sure we’d eat a big hunk of SPAM on its own – probably a bit too salty without the other accompaniments – it worked in this iteration. The little rectangles tasted, well, like sushi, with the traditional seaweed wrap holding it all together. The added sauces had a bit of a kick, not overbearing, but complimenting the rice and SPAM without drowning out the other flavors.
The longest wait of the day for us was at the Germany pavilion, where we ordered all three of the featured items. Who doesn’t love a good mac & cheese? We sampled the “Schinkennudeln,” which at $5.00 for the plate, was not a bad price for a very hefty serving of cheesy goodness. While the square footage of the rectangle wasn’t especially big, it is a dense offering, making it feel like a more substantial choice. The Schinkennudeln is the kind of food you’d get at a German Oma’s house. Instead of the more typical elbow macaroni you’d see with American mac and cheese, this dish was an egg noodle based pasta gratin with dices of ham and a thick cap of cheese over the top. A touch on the oniony side, this mac and cheese is worth coming back for. (Obviously, this was also an Emile’s Fromage Montage item!)
We also chose the “Bratwurst on a Pretzel Roll ($6.00)” in Germany, not as exciting of a selection compared to the Schinkennudeln. It was more akin to the kind of brat you’d get at a ballpark, but longer and thinner than the bratwurst you’d find in a German restaurant. The flavor was good, with an interesting hint of spices, but the brat was cold and both the pretzel roll and the brat were on the dry side. The mustard didn’t really add much to the experience.
Dessert at the booth redeemed the long wait in the line, though. The “Apple Strudel with Vanilla Sauce ($4.50)” was filled with tons of cinnamon-y, juicy apples. The pastry hit the right note, a light crust with just a bit of a chew. The accompanying vanilla sauce was not overly sweet, but it could have had a bit stronger of a vanilla flavor.
The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival runs until November 18. You’ll get a few days off, and then the Festival of the Holidays kicks off November 24 and runs through December 30, 2023. If you enjoy the menus at the four new booths, you can enjoy them again during the Festival of the Holidays, because they will be back!
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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.
