I know the Food & Wine Festival was forever ago now and by the time I'm done with all my reviews, the 2018 festival will probably be in session! Alas, I really do want to share my reviews from last year's festival even though time has passed.
There's a lot I have to share, so I'm breaking my review up into three parts: in this first post I will talk only about food, there will be a separate post reviewing drinks from the festival, and then I will also be reviewing the Tasting Sampler in the third and final installment.
The Food & Wine Festival ran from August 31 through November 13 in 2017 and I attended from October 18-29. My cute little Tsum Tsum friend Remy joined me in my delicious adventures!
I had made a plan ahead of time of the "must-do" booths, the "skip those" booths, and the "stop here if time allows" booths. This was a great plan that worked fantastically! As silly as I felt sometimes whipping out my color coded map and spreadsheet, I left the festival feeling accomplished rather than disappointed with my choices and what I didn't get to do.
In 2017, to celebrate 35 years of Epcot, there were 35 booths - the most they've ever had! There was just no way as an out of town visitor that I could see and eat everything. I had to narrow it down somehow, and I didn't want to waste money and stomach space on dishes I would later regret by making things up on the fly. Sure there were a couple of dishes in hindsight that I wish I had chosen over what I did, but hindsight's always 20/20 and overall I was really happy with my plan.
I had a budget for each day at the festival, so when I got to the park each time I loaded up my Food & Wine gift card with my budgeted amount. I'm not going to go through a tour of all the booths I visited in order, because that would take too long and I'm not sure I even remember all of that! Instead, let me share some of my highlights from my time at the festival:
One of the first dishes I had was the Baked Shrimp Scampi Dip with Sourdough Bread from the Coastal Eats booth. This was so, so good! It was also a decent sized portion and so filling that you definitely don't want bigger than this! I love seafood so that was a priority at F&W. I was not disappointed with this dish! It was incredible! I would definitely get it again. At $5.50, I thought that was a fair price, it was good quality and very filling. Only drawback was it was hard to eat such hot food on a hot and humid Florida day.
Of course I would be partial to the France booth! This was one stop I was super excited for and I tried almost everything on offer. Pictured above is the Croissant aux Escargots, which is an escargot filled croissant with garlic and parsley. Oh my word! This may have been my favorite thing I ate at the festival! It's in my Top 5 for sure! If snails gross you out, don't worry, you can't tell that's what they are and with the added flavoring they're delicious. The croissant was warm, buttery and flaky which was perfection. This was $5.75 and again I thought that was fair.
Not in my Top 5 but still a very delicious dish, this is the Salmon BLT Sushi Roll from Japan. I love sushi and this sounded really good! It did not disappoint! Lots of different flavors as well as being soft and crunchy. This dish was one of the more expensive options at $8.00, which was a little on the expensive side for me considering I can get 8 rolls at home for $7-$8, but the cost of living in my state is low and it's not Epcot :)
I was picturing two rolls the same size as what I would get at home, but that was not the case. The two rolls in this portion were HUGE! Like the size of a flat tennis ball. When I saw that, I could understand the price for sure. While this wasn't the cheapest offering at the festival, considering the size of the portion and its contents, $8 was reasonable for this dish. I would get it again but next time I think hubby and I could share instead of getting a portion each. We were not anticipating it to be so big!
Over in Morocco I got the Chocolate Baklava. I am a big fan of baklava so I wanted to try this. It was some of THE BEST baklava I have ever eaten - and I used to have an Algerian boyfriend whose mother would make it for me ;) it had just the right amount of crunch and softness and the flavors were really good. This was $4.00 which I didn't think was bad.
There were some dishes I tried that I did not expect to like as much as I did, which to me is part of the fun of the festival. You can try new things without getting a huge and expensive portion of something it turns out you don't like. Here are more of my highlights that took me by surprise:
In the foreground of this picture is the Warm Irish Cheddar Cheese and Stout Dip from Ireland. I wanted to try this one but I thought I would prefer the Cheddar Cheese Soup in Canada - turns out I loved this dish way more! I know, blasphemy! I can't put into words why I loved this so much, it was just so good! A really unique and delicious cheese flavor, more of a sharp cheddar, and not salty like soups can be. The bread was soft and delicious and accompanied the soup perfectly! I thought it was well worth the money for $4.75 and I loved this so much I got it a second time - the only dish I repeated at the festival. This is also in my Top 5.
Once again Ireland surprised me with the Warm Chocolate Pudding. This was not on my list at all because it seemed like a chocolate cake and I really don't like cake, even when it's chocolate. This was on hubby's "must get" list and he gave me a bite. Then I wanted one of my own! It had a delicious gooey filling, it was so soft and moist, and the Irish cream liqueur custard on top was divine! Well worth $4.00!
The Pão de Queijo at the Brazil booth was on my "if time allows" list and my husband's "must have" list, so we split this one. It sounded good but I figured cheese bread is cheese bread, how great could it really be? Uh, amazing is the answer! It was almost sweet like a brioche, very soft, and the cheese was delicious! Not overwhelming and strong but flavorful. I was pleasantly surprised and I would get this again. There are definitely more unique items at the festival that I would prioritize over this, but if you're looking for a tasty snack that will only cost $4.00, get this! It's also great for children and picky eaters because it's more plain.
Similar to the cheese bread, I figured the Apple Strudel in Germany would be like apple strudel anywhere else and couldn't be that amazing at F&W, but I still wanted to try it. Again I was wrong with this one! It was the best apple strudel I've ever eaten. A lot of people bash the food at F&W saying it's just generic frozen food warmed up and served, but this didn't taste like a frozen food you could pick up at your local grocery store. The pastry was light and firm, the strudel was sweet but not sickly sweet, and the vanilla sauce perfected it. The warm strudel with the cold sauce was also really nice on a hot day. This was another $4.00 item that I would get again.
Another honorable mention is the Bougatsa from Greece. I don't usually like Greek food all that much, mostly because so much is lamb based and I don't like lamb. Thankfully there were non-meat dishes available at the Greece booth. I've never had any Greek desserts but this one sounded tasty so I went for it. The bougatsa had a soft flaky phyllo pastry and a delicious warm liquid filling of vanilla custard and lemon-honey syrup, with a dusting of cinnamon and sugar. So, so good! I would definitely get it again! This was another $4.00 dessert that I think was well worth it.
Finally, to keep things balanced, I'd like to review my least favorite things from the festival. Let me start by saying nothing I ate was bad. Really truly. But there were some dishes that I didn't like all that much and wouldn't get again:
Finally, to keep things balanced, I'd like to review my least favorite things from the festival. Let me start by saying nothing I ate was bad. Really truly. But there were some dishes that I didn't like all that much and wouldn't get again:
I was excited to try the Schinkennudeln at the Germany booth. It was a pasta gratin with ham and cheese that sounded delicious. It was pretty good but I was a little disappointed because it was kinda salty and looked like school cafeteria food. I'm very glad I got this because I really did want to try it, plus $4.00 wasn't a bad price, there are just so many better things to get at the festival that I think I would pass on the Schinkennudeln next time and get something else instead.
The Beef Empanada from Patagonia was pretty average. I love empanadas so I eat them almost every chance I get and I didn't pass up the opportunity here. However, I for sure should have saved the stomach space and the $5.00 and gotten something else. This appeared to be a little overdone. The pastry was incredibly dry and very crunchy, and it was way too hot to eat for a while. I couldn't even hold it. I ate it but I didn't think it was worth $5.00 or the stop at Patagonia on a ridiculously crowded Saturday.
I really wanted to try something at the India booth because the pictures and descriptions of the offerings looked and sounded delicious! However, I don't tolerate spicy foods well due to acid reflux, so I wanted to avoid anything too hot. I asked the cast member how hot the Madras Red Curry was and she said it was pretty spicy. That's what I wanted the most but skipped it because of her recommendation. Instead I opted for the Korma Chicken at her suggestion which she said was very mild. She was right, it was, but I really didn't like it. I can't put my finger on why, I just didn't like the flavors. Not bad by any means, but not something I liked that much. I don't usually eat Indian food but maybe if I did eat it more frequently, this would be more enjoyable. At $5.25, it wasn't outrageous, but there were cheaper options out there that I much preferred.
Thank you for reading the first installment of my Food & Wine Festival Review! Please join me for the next two!
