The next two days are going to cover what foods you can expect at the Food and Wine Festival.  Today is going to cover the World Showcase booths.  Tomorrow will cover the additional countries and booths that are brought in for the festival.  I will give my reviews of the food where applicable.  I’m not food adventurous and there are not a lot of things, at the festival,  which “float my boat” but there is enough to make it a worthwhile experience for me.

At the festival, food portions are on the smaller size more like something you would see as an appetizer than an entree.

Now, with help from our tour guide – we made the trip down to Disney last September for the festival, let’s begin our journey around the world (going counter-clockwise…more on that reasoning later in the week):

Canada

Canada brings us three entree selections: “Le Cellier” Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon, Pan-Seared Rainbow Trout, and Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup also from Canada’s Le Cellier Restaurant.  All three entrees are available for purchase for one Disney Dining Plan snack credit with the best value being the filet mignon.

Tip: Any time a guest can turn something over $5 out of pocket into a Dining Plan snack credit, it’s a good deal.

I’ve had two items from the entree list: the filet which was a bit overdone for my liking but still good and the cheddar cheese soup which is always good even on a hot day like the day when I was there.

There are three wines on the list: Mission Hill Family Estate Syrah, La Face Niege Apple Ice Wine and La Face Niege Sparkling.

I tried the apple wine.  It was very good.  More like a sparkling apple juice taste than a wine.

One beer: Moosehead made the journey down from Canada.

None of the alcoholic beverages are available for a snack credit.

Continuing to move counter-clockwise, we move past the United Kingdom over the bridge and into France to come to our next World Showcase Pavilion….France:

France

France also delivers three entrees: Escargots Persillade en Brioche, Boeuf Bourguignon, and Creme Brulee au Chocolat du Lait.  Coming off the cheddar cheese sour and ice wine from Canada, I passed on the French selections.  If anything, I would have gone with either the boeuf bourguignon or creme brulee.   All the entrees were available for a dining plan snack credit.

On the wine/alcoholic beverage side, France provides a lot of options.  Three wines: Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and a Sparkling Pomegranate Kir (sparkling wine and pomegranate liquor).

One beer comes across the ocean: Kronenbourg Blanc

France also has one specialty drink: Eiffel Sour Cosmo Slush designed by the same people who designed the Grand Mariner Orange Slush and Grey Goose Citron Lemon Slush.

Morocco

Here we have our “Grumpy” tour guide in Morocco.  It was a hot day and someone needed some lemonade to continue to get through the world.

 

Morocco brings the standard three entree options: Harissa Chicken Roll, Kefta Pocket, Baklava; all of which were available for one snack credit.

They also provide four alcoholic options: Ksar White Wine, Casa Beer, Sangria, and a Minona Royale

Moroccan cuisine isn’t my kind of thing so I passed on the options in Morocco.  My tour guide and I still had a lot of countries to get through and the heat was starting to make both of us a little cranky and we weren’t halfway “around the world” yet.

Japan

A little bit of shade brought some joy back to our tour guide.

Japan has four entree options available and all for one snack credit.  Three are varieties of rolls: a Spicy Hand Roll with tuna, salmon, and chili pepper as the main ingredients; a California Roll featuring avocado, cucumber, and crab; and a Teriyaki Chicken Roll with white meat chicken, rice, and teriyaki sauce.  They also had a vegetarian option with a Youki Tofu.

With four entree options, Japan had only had two alcoholic options: a Sake and Sapporo Beer.  However, they also provide one non-alcoholic option with a Green Tea Colada.  None of these options were available for a snack credit.

Another country whose cuisine has a little appeal to me so we kept on moving to keep the tour guide in a good mood.

Italy

Italy brought guests three entree options for a snack credit (even though our tour guide is blocking that part of the menu).  Ravioli di Formaggio all’Emiliana which is a baked cheese ravioli in a beef sauce with parmesan and mozzarella cheese.

Salsiccia e “Papacelli” Napoletani which is grilled sausage with peppers and onions on ciabatta bread.

Lastly, they had a dessert option with a Cannoli al Cioccolato…chocolate cannoli.

Like France, Italy brought five alcoholic options to the table: Pinot Grigio, a Moretti Beer, Prosecco, Chinati Placido, and an Italian Margherita.

I stopped at the Florida Local booth prior to the Italy booth so I passed on the cuisine.  If I were to stop, my top choices would be the grilled sausage and the cannoli.

It wasn’t long before we reached our next stop.

Germany

Germany is one of the more popular booths at the Food and Wine Festival.  It’s a cuisine that a lot of people are familiar with and it has a wide variety of both beer and wine available.

Germany only has three entrees available for a snack credit.  Schinkennudeln – a pasta gratin.  A roast bratwurst rolled in a pretzel roll and, lastly, a dessert option in apple strudel.

My tour guide and I stopped in Germany to have a roast bratwurst.  She did not care for the bratwurst and ate mainly the pretzel roll while I got to eat the majority of the bratwurst.  The mustard sauce that goes with the bratwurst is a must.  Then, we split an apple strudel.

The alcohol at the Germany pavilion is expansive and includes both wine and beer.  Two beer options: a Altenmunster Oktoberfest and a BraufactuM Darkon.

J&H Selbach provided two Reislings: a Kabinett and a Auslese

There was also a Selbach-Oster Model Reisling Spatlese and a Weingut Pitthan Dornfelder Dry Barrique Style available as well.

We moved on with fuller bellies to China.  After a stop to meet Mulan, we made our way to the food area.

China

China, a cuisine like Japan which doesn’t really appeal to me, had four entrees which don’t need much explanation available for a snack credit: Mongolian Beef, Black Pepper Shrimp, Chicken Potstickers, and Silk Ice Cream Ribbon with Coconut.

If I didn’t have my tour guide with me, I would have been tempted to try the ice cream with coconut because I love coconut.

A wide variety of alcohol was available starting with Tsingtao Beer and two Francis Ford Coppola wines: a reisling and a syrah.  China, like France, brought in two specialty drinks: a Kung Fu Punch with vodka and triple sec and a Happy Lychee with tequila and vodka.

Finally, our tour guide and I came to our last World Pavilion showcase stop…Mexico.  She missed this picture for a trip to the washroom.

Mexico

Mexico kept it simple with its entree options with a steak taco or a shrimp taco.  It had a rice pudding dessert option as well.

The alcoholic selections are, in my opinion, uninspired.  Dos Equis Beer is available for their beer selection.  A sangria to cover the wine selection.  A spicy mango-habanero sounds very spicy.  They also offered a tequila flight.

None of these appealed to either me or my tour guide.  The heat was getting us to the point where we just wanted to finish up our tour and head back to the hotel and the pool.

Some pavilions, but not all, have non-alcoholic selections (lemonade, water, etc.) available.

If you would like to see some in-depth pictures of the entrees and drinks available, I would highly recommend going to the Disney Food Blog at http://www.disneyfoodblog.com.  AJ Wolfe, who runs the blog, also creates an e-book once all the information about the Food and Wine Festival is available.  My wife and I bought the book last year and my wife was lucky enough to eat the Parisian Breakfast with AJ, as well, through random pairing of “Party of 1’s.”

Her 2014 e-book is available for pre-order here: http://dfbminiguides.com/foodandwine

That covers the World Showcase Pavilions.  Tomorrow, we will cover the additional pavilions.

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Thanks for Reading!