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Disney Dining at the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival

Disney Dining at the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival

The Epcot Flower and Garden Festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and doing so in style. Never is Epcot more beautiful. Disney goes out of their way to make sure that everything is perfect, and plants thousands of new flowers just for the event, not to mention the 50+ topiaries. If you are going to visit Epcot, this is the time of the year to do it.

For the first time ever, Disney has added food booths to the Flower and Garden Festival, taking a cue from the mega successful Food and Wine Festival held every Fall. In a bit of a different twist, most of the booths are associated with the countries in which they are located, offering additional tastes of local cuisine. As with the Food and Wine booths, many of the options available are able to be purchased with snack credits from the Disney Dining plans, and are a fantastic way of using those credits.

I am not going to cover all the menu options available from all the booths, just a few of the bigger options that can be purchased with snack credits.

Fruits by the Glass – Entrance to the World Showcase

Mostly Beer and Wine, none of which are available with snack credits. They offer a few cheaper items that can be purchased with snack credits, but for our purposes, we will just breeze by this booth and move on.

Pineapple Promenade – On our way to Canada

Home of the infamous Dole Whip with Spiced Rum, which unfortunately can’t be purchased with a snack credit. Noting the super long lines, it doesn’t look like anyone really cares.

  • Pineapple Dole Whip Soft Service Ice Cream – $4.00

We went for the traditional Dole Whip. I much prefer the Pineapple Float over in the Magic Kingdom, but I can’t say no to a good old fashion Dole Whip.

The Cottage – United Kingdom

This UK Food Booth has some fantastic snack items.

  • Baked Goat’s Brie with Kumquat Chutney – $4.25
  • Potato, Chice and Cheddar Cheese Biscuit with Smoked Salmon Tartare and Sour Cream – $4.25
  • Waterkist Farms Heirloom Tomatoes with house-made Mozzarella, Minus 8 Vinegar and Basil – $3.50

We sampled the Cheese Biscuit, which was quite excellent. If you can’t handle raw fish, I would skip it, there was quite a bit. The Heirloom tomatoes looked great, wish I had ordered those too.

L’Orangerie – France

Oh la la, so very hard to described how good these French options are. Run, don’t walk.

  • Tarte a la Ratatouille et fromage de chèvre (Zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, onion and tomato tart with goat cheese) – $4.50
  • Terrine campagnarde, baguette et compte de cerise (Country style pate served with baguette and cherry compote) – $4.75
  • Verrine charlotte aut peches (Caramelized peaches with rosemary and light vanilla cream) – $5.00

We tried the peaches, which were good, but not as good as they should have been. They were served cold, and pre-made. Would have been so much better warm with the cold cream on top.

Taste of Marrakesh – Morocco

I was very happy to see this booth, I absolutely love Moroccan food, and it is hard to find outside of major cities.

  • Spiced Lamb Kebab with Vegetable Couscous Salad – $5.00
  • Harissa and Lemon Confit Chicken Drumettes with Chermoula and Cucumber Salad – $5.00

The Chicken leg was good, but not as flavorful as I had hoped. It was cooked really well, and the salad was great (or so I was told, I hate cucumbers), just not enough spice to make this dish pop.

Hanami – Japan

There are quite a few excellent options at this Japanese stand, all of which looked absolutely delicious.

  • Frushi (Fresh strawberries, pineapple and canaloupe rolled with coconut rice atop raspberry sauce, sprinkled with toasted coconut and whipped cream) – $4.50
  • Chirashi Hanazushi (Grilled Salmon, cooked shrimp and crab stick served over a bed of fragrant ginger rice with Volcano and Dynamite sauce) – $6.00
  • YakiSoba Pan (Fresh grilled carrots, onions and cabbage with Japanese noodles and teriyaki sauce served on a bun with mayonanaise and Beni Shoga) – $4.00
  • Green Tea Flan (Silky custard with macha green tea and caramel glaze) – $4.50

I was highly disappointed in the Frushi, which is the dish Disney has been pushing for months running up to this festival. There just wasn’t enough fruit to make it really taste like anything but rice, too bad.

The Charashi Hanazushi on the other hand was super good, the first thing we all fought over to get an extra bite or two. Not too spicy, but a bit of a kick, and a lot of sea food for the price.

The Smokehouse: Barbecue and Brew – American Adventure

This is what the American Pavilion should serve on a daily basis. So, so good, and representative of what America eats.

  • Pulled Pig Slider with Cole Slaw – $5.50
  • Smoked Beef Brisket with Collard Greens and Jalapeño Corn Bread – $6.75

Both options looked great, but we opted for the Pork Slider, which would make a decent lunch for most people. The pork was excellent, as was the sauce, a bit disappointed in the roll, but overall, very good.

Primavera Kitchen – Italy

The Italy Pavilion features two of the most popular Epcot restaurants, Tutto Italia and Via Napoli, it figures that the Italian food booth will be just as popular.

  • Asparagi con Aragosta all’Ortolana (Green asparagus, lobster, garden cocktail sauce) – $7.75
  • Lasagna Primavera (Spinach Lasagna, green peas, zucchini, mushrooms, broccolini, bechamel and fresh tomatoes, with garlic and basil leaves) – $6.00
  • Panna Cotta al Limoncello (Limoncello flavored Panna Cotta with wild berries) – $5.00

By the time we made it to Italy, we had already shared about 7 snacks, and eaten lunch in Japan, so we were getting a bit full. Desserts started sounding better and better. We chose the Limoncello Panna Cotta, which was absolutely incredible. I will be back to buy this again before we leave, and probably more than once. Possibly my new favorite Disney food ever.

Bauernmarket: Farmer’s Market – Germany

Who doesn’t love some hearty German food on a nice cool Spring day?

  • Savory Bread Pudding with Spring Peas and Wild Mushrooms Ragout – $4.75
  • German Meatloaf Sandwich with Sweet Mustard and Green Shallots – $4.75
  • Potato Pancakes with house made applesauce – $3.75

With two booths, the beer side was packed, while the food side didn’t have anyone in line for the 15 minutes we were there. Too bad, the Savory Bread Pudding was quite good. The mushrooms were a bit overwhelming, you couldn’t taste much else, but I love mushrooms, so no big deal. Should have gone with the potato pancake though, I was told they were the most popular so far, and they looked incredible.

Lotus House – China

China is home to some of the best finger foods around, and they offer some unique dining options at their food booth this year.

  • Beijing-Style Candied Strawberries – $3.50
  • Spring Pancake with Grilled Chicken and Green Apple – $4.50
  • Pan Fried Vegetable Bun – $3.75

We went with the Beijing Strawberries. We had tried these in Beijing a few years ago, they were interesting then, and very similar in Epcot. Basically strawberries coated with a thick, hard candy shell. They were good, but hard to eat, and even harder to share.

Jardin de Fiestas – Mexico

The Mexican booth always seems to have the longest lines at the Food and Wine Festival, and for good reason. The Jardin de Fiestas does not disappoint, fantastic food all the way around.

  • Taco de Carnitas (Pork Carnitas topped with Tamarindo salsa, served on a flour tortilla with pork rinds) – $4.95
  • Tostada de Jaiba (Crab tostada served with Chipotle mayonnaise and Valentina salsa) – $5.50
  • Flan de Guayaba (Guava Custard) – $3.50
  • Conga Fruit Punch (non-alcoholic) – $3.75

I saw quite a few tacos leaving the booth, but again, we were stuffed by this point, and dessert seemed like a no brainer.

The Flan was ok, quite a bit different than the Panna Cotta from Italy, very thick, more chewy. The flavor was good, but not really anything special. If you like Guava, go for it, you will love it.

We also did the Conga Fruit Punch, which was excellent. Ask for little or no ice though, our cup was 95% ice, the juice was gone almost instantly.

Florida Fresh – Past Mexico, on your way out of the World Showcase

Not associated with a country in the World Showcase, Florida Fresh presents some of the flavors of Florida, and some of the best flavors of the entire Festival.

  • Watermelon Salad with pickled Red Onions, BW Farms Baby Arugula, Feta Cheese and Balsamic Reduction – $3.50
  • Shrimp and Stone Ground Grits with Andouille Sausage, Sweet Corn, Tomatoes and Cilantro – $5.50
  • Angel Food Cake with macerated Florida Berries – $3.25

Honestly, we took a break to catch our Fast Pass window for Soarin’ before coming back to the Florida booth. Good thing we did, I was about to burst. After the ride, we tried the Angel Food cake with strawberries. Nothing overly special about the cake, but the berries were incredible. It made the dish one of the best we had of the day, worth coming back for.

Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? Well, it was, and I have spent all my snack credits for the rest of my vacation. It was well worth it. To tell the truth, I have one left, and I am saving it for the Lemoncello Panna Cotta. When my family looks the other way, I will be off, and it will be in my belly before they even knew I left.

As with the Food and Wine Festival, consider these booths as an option to try a country’s food without investing an entire meal. Who knows what you will fall in love with?

Which option sounds best to you?

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About Keith Anderson

Keith Anderson is the owner of MouseMisers, your home for Disney Discounts. Involved in the Disney Travel Industry since 2001, I have experienced just about everything Disney has put their name on. I love nothing more than eating my way around the World Showcase. Fast Pass return times are my nemesis.