Redwitch and Mikka's F&W Live Food Porn Thread! FINALLY DONE! Huzzah!

[Mikka]

...Only the live part doesn't start till tomorrow, October 2nd. I just wanted to start the thread today so tomorrow I could go straight in to posting FOOD AND WINE YUMMINESS rather then having to make an opening post, you see.

So. Hello!

I am Mikka, and as you can see from my post count, I rarely post. You may remember me from last year, where I tried doing a live food and wine review and failed miserably. It got off to a decent start, but once I got home I had this awful cold that lasted almost a month and then we lost all our pictures from our vacation to a virus (super sad about that) so I just gave up. This year, I vow not to do that.

The brief information you might want to know: I like food. I like food a lot. I am something of a minor food snob, and generally turn my nose up at counter-service offerings save for a few very decent exceptions. I'm also very fond of alcohol, particularly wine. I'm not a very picky eater, just a snobby one, and I'll try anything once (or thrice- my rule is to give something three chances). I don't like mint, though, and I tend not to like lamb all that much. I am very, very unfamiliar with beer and don't tend to like it, but I'm going to give it more of a chance this trip. I do love seafood of all sorts, and steaks, and pork, and... and... and a lot of things. I also love my empty carbs (such as, uh, bread) and chocolate. Definitely love the chocolate.

I travel with my mother, Redwitch. You can mostly find her on the budget boards. She's not nearly as snobby about food as I am, and is just at home at the American Pavilion's counterservice (which I wouldn't touch) as she as at Victoria and Albert's (which we are sadly not going to on this trip, despite me whining about it). She doesn't like bell peppers- they make her sick- and she can do without onions. She's also allergic to Gin, which apparently means I'm going to have to drink a Singapore Sling all by myself. What a shame.

In brief, I'm a vodka drinker and she's a tequila drinker (though I like tequila and she likes vodka). If that somehow hints at our personalities. Which I'm not too sure about.

We use the Table in Wonderland card, which is great for us as we sometimes share entrees and the like and we drink alcohol (also, we like to sometimes eat at bars). We aren't on the dining plan.

Places we intend to hit include California Grill, Afternoon Tea at the GF, Sanna, Flying Fish, Captain's Grill, Yak and Yeti and not really anything else. That's because we're planning on hitting all the booths (repeatedly), and we're doing some special events- the 3D Dessert Discovery, the Japanese Sake and Food pairing, the Mexican Tequila lunch, and a French Regional lunch (as well as a mixology seminar and a wine (mead, actually) seminar).

We have sort of 'we would like to if we could...' plans at trying to fit in Kimonos, Trail's End, Bluezoo, Tutto Gusta, Raglan Road, and as many bars as we can afford. We probably won't hit all of those, but we might hit one or two.

Tomorrow we will be going directly in to Epcot (on a crowded Wendsday, I know) and hitting as many booths as we have room for as a lunch. For dinner, she wants to go offsite to Flippers Pizza. I am trying to convince her it would be much more yummy to go to kimonos or raglan road or a bar somewhere. We'll see who wins that arguement tomorrow, I suppose.

I'll be updating tomorrow evening with at least our adventures at the Food and Wine. So, um, you won't be waiting too long for updates.

Later on, when I get back from vacation, I'll update the first post with links to the reviews. While I'm still reporting live, however, I'll just update the thread title whenever I get a new review out.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you stick with me through our Food and Wine crazy adventure. Mom takes good pictures, so you'll have all the food porn you could need.

 

[Tink2Day]

YAY
Bring on the food porn!
Love reading reviews on the food and seeing the yumminess, it sort of helps my fading memory of my F&W and gives me ideas for my next one.

Can't wait!!

 

[auntfrannie]

Looking forward to your reviews! I'm not a beer drinker either but they have the most wonderful grapefruit beer in Germany. Give it a try! I'm sure beer lovers wouldn't consider it to be real beer but for me it was wonderful! Probably because it didn't taste like beer!

Have a great time!

 

[minniebeth]

I remember, I remember your report! Loved it!
Following along~

Have a great time!!

 

[Mikka]

Thanks, you three! I can't believe someone remembers me from last year... I'll have to keep the Grapefruit beer in mind... I think I tried it last year and was pretty iffy about it, but my tastes have changed some since then. Maybe I'll like it better this year.

As a note that should have bene in the first post, if any of my pictures suddenly become huge and page eating, let me know. I don't know why imageshack suddenly resizes my images, but it seems to do that on occasion.

For those very few who were wondering, I won the debate and got to go to Raglan Road tonight. Woo! I won't be writing that update tonight, though- I'll do it tomorrow if at all possible- because I want to get to Epcot for opening tomorrow. More food and wine boothing.

Which is exactly what we did for lunch today.

I won't bore anyone talking about the scone I had at the airport (though it was a very good scone), and I'll skip right to the Food and Wine booths.

First up, France!

This is the Boeuf Bourguigon with the Chateau Bonnet Cabernet Savignon. Or 'short ribs with mashed potatos and cab sav', if you prefer (I do, but I may be low class). They are very good short ribs, but that's exactly what they are- very good short ribs over very simple mashed potatoes in a red wine sauce.

This isn't really a bad thing, but it's nothing to write home about, either. This dish is not exactly a wowing, unique thing. The wine is what you'd expect from a French Cab Sav- very full, tannin-y, and a bit fruity. Nice, but nothing out of the ordinary.

New Zealand's venison sausage was slightly more different for my mother and me. We've very rarely had venison, and neither of us had ever had venison sausage before. Mom noted she likes bambi meat (charming!). I had to agree, though. It was nice... though not too different tasting from the usual pig or turkey sausage, at least to me.

What really made the dish was the black currant reduction, which was delicious. The arugula? Like arugula anywhere. I'm not a huge mushroom fan, but I ate all the pickled mushrooms that were dolled out to me, which might tell you something. Or not.

The 'Grass Fed Beef Slider with Monterery Jack Cheese and Sweet & Hot Pickles'. Also known as the world's tiniest hamburger.

Also, the Sun Shade Organic Pale Ale.

There is really not much to say on this. It's a hamburger. It's good, sure, but it's a hamburger. It tastes like a decent hamburger that you can eat in two bites. A lot of people have talked this one up on different sites, but it really didn't impress me too much. I mean... it's a hamburger. Makes sense for one of the American booths to have it, certainly, but... hamburger. It is what it is.

So let's talk beer. Or more specifically, let's talk me and beer.

I don't like hops. I don't like carbonated drinks, even only fizzy water (though I can take sweet sparkling wines and the occasional grape soda). I don't like bitterness unless it comes in the form of a lime or bitters that I'm putting in a mixed drink. In general, beer just isn't my drink. However, I resolved on this trip to take at least three/five sips of each beer and try to identify them as much as I could. Maybe I'll find one I like. Or maybe I'm just wasting time, but hey, nothing wrong with that.

This pale ale? Not very hoppy, not very carbonated, and not very bitter. So as far as beer goes, I liked it more then any other beer I tried today. That doesn't mean I want a 22oz of it, but it didn't kill me. (Mom, who is more of a beer drinker, basically said 'meh' to this- but she has a heavy preference towards dark ales.)

After wandering around for a good while, we stopped in South Korea. There we picked up the lettuce wrap and the soju.

I was extremely interested in the soju, finding very little information on it online when I was researching before our trip. One of the only things I could find on it was someone's comments that it tasted like rubbing alcohol (which I found sort of hilarious). So after we got it, mother and I sort of glowered at it dubiously until she finally took a sip. Then blinked, and took another sip.

She passed it to me, and I drank, and we both just were like "...". It tastes basically exactly like sake. A sweet sake, to be exact. It's pretty decent, and apparently sells in Korea for like, two American dollars a bottle which means Disney is overcharging alcohol like crazy once again, but that's Disney for you. I'm eager to try the fruit slushy containing it later in this week.

Oh, and the lettuce wrap? Tastier this year then last year, according to mom (I don't even remember eating it last year, which is probably proof I drank too much). It has quite a bit of a kick to it from the sauces (though it certainly won't kill you), so having something like the soju to counter it is probably a good thing.

(I've heard good things about the kimichi dog, but... I don't like hotdogs, I don't like kimichi, and I don't like mustard, making me very much not the targeted audience for that.)

You know, before I went to Disney, I heard the flavors for the 'Silky Spun Ice' were chocolate, coconut, and strawberry. In the festival book, it's labeled 'Silk Ice Cream Ribbon', with flavors of mango, strawberry, and coconut. And then, when we were here at Epcot today, mango was the only flavor they had despite it being early in the day.

I have no idea what's going on with this.

Anyway, like a beef slider is basically a hamburger, 'silky spun ice' is basically ice cream that's a bit more icy then usual. But it has a cool texture and you can eat it with a fork. So... I'm inclined to cut it a bit of slack.

(This may be because I like ice cream more then hamburgers.)

It tasted like mango ice cream. You'll probably get better stuff if you head to the ice cream shop in France or get some gelato in Italy, but it was certainly decent enough, and mango ice cream is pretty rare to find. So it was a nice little treat.

Also, the fortune cookie says influential and rich people are going to be helpful to me, so I'm buttering up it's dish in hope the fortune really comes true. ...It could happen!

Last booth stop was the Frozen S'mores from Desserts and Champagne. Mom and I discussed this one for a while, and we're still not sure what exactly it was. Chocolate soft serve iced and then whipped? That was our best guess, but it may have no connection to reality.

It was good. Not quite as good as it looks, but pretty darn good and will probably shut up any screaming child who likes chocolate until they at least finish it. Chocolatey. The marshmallows, however, were hard like they'd been sitting out all day (which they probably had been). The chocolate shavings and gram-cracker were fine.

For some reason that escapes me at this moment and is probably related to having had only four hours sleep last night, I encouraged mom to get a beer when we were at Canada despite the fact that we were planning on exiting through the back. For some reason that also escapes me, she decided this was a wise idea and decided to order this... thing.

It's not really a secret anymore that during the Food and Wine festival, the little Canadian cart outside of Le Celliar that usually just sells bad Canadian beer and forgettable 'Torontopolitans' serves beer from Unibroues, which, if you believe the snarky guy at easywdw, is totally awesome. Mom had the one that means the end of the world one time at Le Celliar, and thought it was great and wonderful and la de da. So today she ordered the Trois Pistole.

This thing tastes like dead, bitter dreams and ashes.

Well, mostly just the bitter stuff, really, but it sounded nice.

The Beer Advocate people think this is one of the best beers in the world, which probably just proves I will never understand beer. I found it too bitter to taste any underlying flavors or get any impression of, but mom liked it. She thought the La Fin Du Monde had been better and she's looking forward to trying the Cherry Ephemere, but she liked this.

I don't really get it, but I suppose that's okay. I imagine if you like dark beers, you'll love this thing. That's all I can really say about it.


Next: Raglan Road from tonight! And then more food and wine booths tomorrow.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

LOVING YOUR REVIEWS - have an amazing trip

 

[jennylyn_b]

Great start! I'm in!

 

[cdtommie]

Sorry you didn't like the Trois Pistoles - I wouldn't recommend this for a casual beer drinker but it is one of the best beers you will find at WDW (and a bargain for the price) - maybe the 9% alcohol is too much, it's also a beer you cannot drink too cold, needs to be warmer for all the dark fruit and spice to come out.

Avoid that grapefuit beer - it's really not a beer, just half grapefruit juice and weissbier - only clocks in at like 2% alcohol.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Joining - loving the start to your review ... also very excited to hear about the Tequila Lunch as I will be partaking in that a week from this Saturday

The venison sausage and salad looked good, will have to check that one out

Funny the different takes people have with beer as my first reaction in seeing your pic of the Trois Pistoles was "wow, that looks awesome!"

 

[TigerKat]

What's not to love about you????! We, too, love food, alcohol, especially wine and eating at bars!!!

 

[Mikka]

Thanks, everyone. I'm trying to be open minded about beers (typed bears the first time... I like all bears, truly), but I suspect that I'll probably turn out to be someone who drinks light ales if I do get around to liking beers... dark beers just seem so bitter to me. I tried a few beers today that I liked, but sadly I'm probably not going to get today's reviews posted until Saturday (I'm not sure if this counts as live if I'm constantly a day behind... hm). Right now, I'm dead tired, and we're planning tomorrow for an Epcot opening and then a full day. Oof!

(Interestingly, I did like the Trois Pistoles more the warmer it got. Still too bitter even at it's warmest though, at least for me.)

Mother said about my last post I should not post that I 'won the debate'. Instead I should post that my gracious and wonderfully kind dear mother agreed so very nicely to change her mind about the subject. So, there you go, I suppose.

So here's last night: Raglan Road!

Honestly, we went in intending on ordering appetizers and dessert. We really did. But somehow we just ended up ordering entrees. If you know me, that's extremely unusual- I love my desserts. But we decided that on the dessert menu, nothing looked as good as the fried dough-bar you can get at Cookes of Dublin (tip: Raglan Road's bread pudding is awesome if you like it, but it was far too heavy for our tastes), and we were a bit full for a fried dough-bar. Hopefully later in the week.

Our servers name was Nathan. Usually, I completely forget servers, to be honest. I noted him because he was extremely patient and attentive with us. Mom took forever (note: slight exaggeration) to pick out what beer she wanted, and he sat on the floor next to her and basically went through all the beers on the menu. I needed constant water refills with my spicy dish, and he was all over that. He was cheerful and friendly, and I would recommend him. Especially if you need help deciding on a beer.

On the other side, we were basically seated on top of the table next to us. We ended up talking to them throughout the meal, which was nice enough (they were friendly!), but there was basically no way around that- we could hear everything they said and they could hear everything we said. Not the place for private conversation. We also didn't have the best view of the band and dancers, though mom actually got some good pics using the mirror trick.

So, right. Food. What you're all here for.

\
The bread service at Raglan Road hasn't changed since it opened (excluding that time when they tried muffins and everyone flipped the heck out). Still Irish Soda Bread with the Guinness dip. Still delicious and unlike every other restaurant in Disney that insists on serving sourdough with salted butter.

It's very tempting to eat all this without care to the meal, but you probably shouldn't. Meals here have pretty decent portions.

Our drinks. Mom had the Innis and Gunn, which, notably, is available on tap at I think the Scotland booth this year (it might be Ireland- don't quote me). She liked it. I liked it better then that dark evil thing from Canada, but less then that light thing from the Florida booth. As I said before, unfortunately I can't give any hints on the tastes of the beer to anyone... to me it just tastes like 'beer'. My palette has yet to become used enough to beer for them to taste anything but 'all alike'... I'll keep working on it.

I had Jay'Gail's (or something like that) Sangria, which uses not a wine, but a cider as it's base (Maygal's? Mergels? I am too tired at the moment to get out my notes... something with an M, and probably a g and an l). I found it didn't have any bitterness to it, and tasted like, well, Sangria. Sweet and fruity. I liked it, but I do like sweet and fruity things on occasion. And it came in a cute little cup!

This is the Beefy Murray that I ordered; a beef curry pie. Our waiter noted to me that it was a bit spicy. In case a bit spicy isn't enough for you, it comes with a mini-pitcher of more curry sauce for you to dump over everything so you can burn your tongue out in a timely manner.

Inside the flaky phylo dough type 'pie' thing is, as you can see, curried beef.

Ignoring the green thing and the stuff under it (which was utterly forgettable potatoes and mushrooms), this was delicious. The pie and the beef were baked with the curry sauce in it, making every bite spicy (but delicious). The beef was tender and fell apart to a fork touch. There was an apple chutney served with it that was to be used to calm down your mouth when things got too hot, which was also quite good. Not enough of it, though- I drank a lot of water and sangria.

I'd recommend this to anyone who likes beef with a bit of spice. It's a shame about the flavorless potatoes and mushrooms, but the main dish probably makes up for the iffy side. I enjoyed it, and I was too full for potatoes anyway.

Mom had the bangers and booze- which is basically sausage, mashed potatoes, and Guinness beef stew. She only gave me a bite of the sausage, which I thought was good. She ate the rest without offering it to me, but she says she most definitely enjoyed it and liked it and all that nice stuff.

...Really not anything else I can say about that.

So, Raglan Road. A lot of kids were up on stage dancing this night- most of them looked like they danced in competitions. Pretty cool. We watched someone at the bar nurse a half glass of beer the whole entire time we were there, so it doesn't look like they chase you out if you just want to hang around and check out the entertainment (which is, as usual, entertaining). It was a fun early evening, with good food and good drink and good service. I never have a problem recommending Raglan Road, and after this trip, I'd do so again happily. I'm not sure how 'authentically' Irish their food is, but it's tasty.

Coming tomorrow or the next day or whenever I get around to it... Today! So, next: Food and Wine booths! Tokyo Dining Food and Sake pairing! More Food and Wine booths!

And, coming tomorrow, Mexican Tequilla Lunch and the 3D Dessert Party (which is really hard to review). More on that... coming... sometime.

 

[jennylyn_b]

Thanks, everyone. I'm trying to be open minded about beers (typed bears the first time... I like all bears, truly), but I suspect that I'll probably turn out to be someone who drinks light ales if I do get around to liking beers... dark beers just seem so bitter to me. I tried a few beers today that I liked, but sadly I'm probably not going to get today's reviews posted until Saturday (I'm not sure if this counts as live if I'm constantly a day behind... hm). Right now, I'm dead tired, and we're planning tomorrow for an Epcot opening and then a full day. Oof! (Interestingly, I did like the Trois Pistoles more the warmer it got. Still too bitter even at it's warmest though, at least for me.) Mother said about my last post I should not post that I 'won the debate'. Instead I should post that my gracious and wonderfully kind dear mother agreed so very nicely to change her mind about the subject. So, there you go, I suppose. So here's last night: Raglan Road! Honestly, we went in intending on ordering appetizers and dessert. We really did. But somehow we just ended up ordering entrees. If you know me, that's extremely unusual- I love my desserts. But we decided that on the dessert menu, nothing looked as good as the fried dough-bar you can get at Cookes of Dublin (tip: Raglan Road's bread pudding is awesome if you like it, but it was far too heavy for our tastes), and we were a bit full for a fried dough-bar. Hopefully later in the week. Our servers name was Nathan. Usually, I completely forget servers, to be honest. I noted him because he was extremely patient and attentive with us. Mom took forever (note: slight exaggeration) to pick out what beer she wanted, and he sat on the floor next to her and basically went through all the beers on the menu. I needed constant water refills with my spicy dish, and he was all over that. He was cheerful and friendly, and I would recommend him. Especially if you need help deciding on a beer. On the other side, we were basically seated on top of the table next to us. We ended up talking to them throughout the meal, which was nice enough (they were friendly!), but there was basically no way around that- we could hear everything they said and they could hear everything we said. Not the place for private conversation. We also didn't have the best view of the band and dancers, though mom actually got some good pics using the mirror trick. So, right. Food. What you're all here for. \ The bread service at Raglan Road hasn't changed since it opened (excluding that time when they tried muffins and everyone flipped the heck out). Still Irish Soda Bread with the Guinness dip. Still delicious and unlike every other restaurant in Disney that insists on serving sourdough with salted butter. It's very tempting to eat all this without care to the meal, but you probably shouldn't. Meals here have pretty decent portions. Our drinks. Mom had the Innis and Gunn, which, notably, is available on tap at I think the Scotland booth this year (it might be Ireland- don't quote me). She liked it. I liked it better then that dark evil thing from Canada, but less then that light thing from the Florida booth. As I said before, unfortunately I can't give any hints on the tastes of the beer to anyone... to me it just tastes like 'beer'. My palette has yet to become used enough to beer for them to taste anything but 'all alike'... I'll keep working on it. I had Jay'Gail's (or something like that) Sangria, which uses not a wine, but a cider as it's base (Maygal's? Mergels? I am too tired at the moment to get out my notes... something with an M, and probably a g and an l). I found it didn't have any bitterness to it, and tasted like, well, Sangria. Sweet and fruity. I liked it, but I do like sweet and fruity things on occasion. And it came in a cute little cup! This is the Beefy Murray that I ordered; a beef curry pie. Our waiter noted to me that it was a bit spicy. In case a bit spicy isn't enough for you, it comes with a mini-pitcher of more curry sauce for you to dump over everything so you can burn your tongue out in a timely manner. Inside the flaky phylo dough type 'pie' thing is, as you can see, curried beef. Ignoring the green thing and the stuff under it (which was utterly forgettable potatoes and mushrooms), this was delicious. The pie and the beef were baked with the curry sauce in it, making every bite spicy (but delicious). The beef was tender and fell apart to a fork touch. There was an apple chutney served with it that was to be used to calm down your mouth when things got too hot, which was also quite good. Not enough of it, though- I drank a lot of water and sangria. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes beef with a bit of spice. It's a shame about the flavorless potatoes and mushrooms, but the main dish probably makes up for the iffy side. I enjoyed it, and I was too full for potatoes anyway. Mom had the bangers and booze- which is basically sausage, mashed potatoes, and Guinness beef stew. She only gave me a bite of the sausage, which I thought was good. She ate the rest without offering it to me, but she says she most definitely enjoyed it and liked it and all that nice stuff. ...Really not anything else I can say about that. So, Raglan Road. A lot of kids were up on stage dancing this night- most of them looked like they danced in competitions. Pretty cool. We watched someone at the bar nurse a half glass of beer the whole entire time we were there, so it doesn't look like they chase you out if you just want to hang around and check out the entertainment (which is, as usual, entertaining). It was a fun early evening, with good food and good drink and good service. I never have a problem recommending Raglan Road, and after this trip, I'd do so again happily. I'm not sure how 'authentically' Irish their food is, but it's tasty. Coming tomorrow or the next day or whenever I get around to it... Today! So, next: Food and Wine booths! Tokyo Dining Food and Sake pairing! More Food and Wine booths! And, coming tomorrow, Mexican Tequilla Lunch and the 3D Dessert Party (which is really hard to review). More on that... coming... sometime.

The cider is called Magners. Just so you know!

 

[Mikka]

Magners! Yeah, that was it.

We didn't get up early enough for Epcot opening, so... have some booth reviews instead.

Mom hates when I post these images without rotating them, which is probably partially why I do it. Also, I'm a bit lazy.

We were in the Scotland booth line at eleven, making this our breakfast, I suppose. We sort of wanted to try everything from the Scotland booth, but we settled on just the salmon for now.

The salmon tastes like the salmon you can get at CS locations around the world- which means it's a bit overcooked and dryer then salmon usually should be, but otherwise decent. The malt vinaigrette helped with the dryness... unfortunately, we only received a tiny bit of it. Could have used more sauce.

The cauliflower puree was the real stand out of this dish: it was delicious. I certainly could have eaten a whole side of it. The random piece of watercress, on the other hand, was utterly forgettable.

The other part of our breakfast of champions- the scotch flight. Some people say that to them, scotch tastes like cough syrup. Mom noted that she wants that kind of cough syrup.

The 12 yr is the one furthest from the camera, with the biggest pour- then the 15 yr, with the 18yr on the left. All were good: as usual with scotch, they got smoother and a bit sweeter (though never super sweet) the more they were aged. I liked the 18yr (which, of course, sells for 90$s which means I will never get it) the best. Mom thought there was a bit of a bite to the 18yr on the end (I didn't taste it, personally) which meant she liked the 15yr the best. Overall, though, we liked all three. But we like scotch.

A brief sidetrack as we headed in to the Visa Chase Lounge, where they had these machines. Which meant lemonade that wasn't that horrible light stuff. Which meant I drank a lot of it. There was also coffee and tea, as well as (if you paid) a white and a red wine and then a beer.

It has cool AC, phone chargers, board games, a good amount of seats and lean tables, and clean bathrooms. A+ for this as a place to hide during the hot parts of the day.

The Hops and Barley beer flight. This was interesting. To be brief, I liked the spiciness of the Octoberfest and the tart/sweet of the Cherry Wheat, and didn't find either of them too bitter. The Chocolate Stout smelled like chocolate and had this yummy chocolate front, but the backend was just too bitter for me to enjoy (mom really liked it, though- even more then the Canadian beer from the day before). The Boston Lager, on the other hand, was meh. It wasn't that it was too bitter or too carbonated, it was just that it didn't really seem to have anything unique going for it (it tasted like beer, only boring beer, in my humble opinion). Somehow I ended up being the one to drink most of it, though. Very odd.

A somewhat blurry picture (sorry!) of the smallest lobster tail known to man. Considering how expensive lobster is, though, seven dollars for something this small probably isn't outrageous. You could really eat this in two bites, though, honestly. We personally cut it in to really tiny pieces so we each got around four bites, but... very tiny pieces. Yeah.

This was actually better then I expected. You'll certainly get better lobster at Fulton's and Narcoossee's (spelled wrong as always with me), but this wasn't too dry or anything.

A very small cup of clam chowder with even smaller bottles of Tabasco, featuring my snazzy purple sparkly nails. Aren't they obnoxiously awesome?

This was actually... really good. I mean, it's basic clam chowder, but it's good clam chowder (if salty- but clam chowder often is). Just add a tiny bit of the Tabasco sauce (seriously, only a tiny bit- don't dump the whole bottle in unless you like things very, very, very spicy), and you're good to go. The clams were (to my point of view) amazingly not at all rubbery, which was nice and better then I had expected once again.


And as we wanted to save room for our Tokyo Dining food and sake pairing, we stopped there. (That is a horrible sentence, and I should be ashamed of it.) Beer is surprisingly filling- more then wine, I think. So, coming next will be the Tokyo Dining food and sake pairing and then following that, some more food booths. Not sure when I'll get a chance to update that, though... it may not be till tomorrow.

Today is the Mexico tequila lunch (which we've never done before) and the 3D Dessert Discovery (which is really hard to review, I think), with probably some food booths inbetween. We'll see.

 

[wilma-bride]

That frozen S'mores cup would certainly shut ME up

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Great update - we love Raglan Road. Having only been to Ireland once I am not an authority or anything, but for a themed restaurant at/near an amusement park I think it is fairly authentic (how's that for a backhanded compliment!)

And makes sense that it was Magnars in that sangria as that is a cider from Ireland (though it is called Bulmers there)

Can't wait to hear about both the Sake and Tequila pairing meals

 

[Mikka]

Thanks for reading, people. The Frozen S'mores cup was pretty awesome, yeah... and thanks for the notes on the cider. I'm not really a cider drinker, to be honest, but it tasted good enough in the Sangria for me.


Hm, are my pictures from my last post not showing up for anyone else? All I can see is the scotch. I'll have to try and reupload those tonight after dinner. Imageshack is so mean to me sometimes.

So, I'm getting behind in this live food and wine reporting thing. Right now, I have the Japanese Sake and Food pairing, a few more food booths, the Mexican tequila lunch, a bunch of stuff in Epcot including more food booths, the 3D Dessert discovery, a breakfast at Staring Rolls, and a lunch at the Wave to report on. Yikes! For now, I'll start on the Japanese Sake and Food pairing and I'll hope I can post a few more things tonight.


So, let's start off by saying this: last year, we did the Sake and Food pairing at Tokyo Dining, too. I actually finished my report on it, too- if you want to, click my name and the threads I've started, and you can compare this years pairing to last years. I was honestly worried- what if they were the exact same thing? Thankfully, they were not. There were some things in common, but the majority was very different: so, yay!

Also, strange incident of the day: remember how I posted at Raglan Road we were seated so close to the people next to us we were practically dining with them? Well, that same couple was the people we were sharing our table with at this event. Very amusing. They were friendly, although I think they may have thought we were alcoholics. >.> I don't know how someone could get such an impression from us, really...

Edamame for the whole table to share. For those wondering, they're young soybeans. With them, you generally don't eat the shell- you bite in to the salted outside, drag a bean out with your teeth and tongue, chew it, then repeat for the other two beans in the pod. You'll occasionally find them served warm, but the traditonal Japanese way of serving these are cold, and thus they were cold.

You can also see the cute paper cranes we each got, part of my glass of water which they kept refilled, and part of the sake information sheet as well as the first sake glass. Better pictures of the last two coming.

As with last year, the first course this year is beer. They're now serving this in both the restaurants in the Japanese pavilion as well as in the little shop on the street where they have the sake cocktails, so I don't feel a need to go in to as much detail about this as maybe I should.

Basically, this is Ichiban Shibori beer with the foam/head frozen by some super special machine that the Japan pavilion is basically the only place in the USA that has them (...that was another bad sentence that I should be ashamed of). The frozen head will seal the beer and keep it as cold as it was when you served it for around thirty minutes or so, making it very nice for people who linger over their beer but like it to remain cold, I guess.

I don't really find anything special about this beer, but I actually managed to get my whole glass down. Which is pretty impressive for me. It's not too bitter, but it has a bit of jumpiness on the tongue which I'm not too fond of. I'm not sure if that's hops or carbonation. Mom likes this beer a bit less then me- she wouldn't go out and order because she's a dark beer drinker at heart, but she enjoyed it well enough.

The first sake. As I can tell you with my very limited knowledge of Japanese learned mostly from anime and jpop, 'hana' means flower. This was served in one of the older style of sake glasses. These glasses were used by riders on horseback (samurai!) as to have more control over their drink when they were riding so they didn't spill. Yes, they drank and road, apparently. Bet they're not teaching that in school.

So, what you can learn from reading the sheet.

This is a Junmai sake. Junmai sake means it has a seimaibuai of at least 70%- that means at least 30% of the rice grain has been polished away. It also means that the sake is made only with rice, water, and koji mold: no extra alcohol is added. That generally makes for a 15% alcohol percentage, though there are some exceptions. I... do not remember what exactly SMV stands for, but what it tells you is how sweet or dry the alcohol is. Water is a '0', so this is a lightly sweet sake at -5. I asked the presenter, Gavin (who always seems to be doing these events in Japan), how far the scale goes- he says as far as he knows, he's seen sake as high as +20 (very dry), and as low as -60, which would mean a super sweet dessert sake.

So about the sake itself? It was very good. All of the sake served was, so I don't have much to say on that. I found it interesting that all three sake were so 'clear'. Last year, we started off with a very cloudy sake (cloudy sake generally means not much of the rice grain was polished away).

Also, they offered refills on this sake. Woo!

Our first course came on two little plates. This was the right one. It's basically salmon mixed with sushi rice with salmon roe and a piece of crab on top served in, well, an orange (on sparkly crinkly paper). This was surprisingly sweet- I think some orange was used for flavoring. It was also quite yummy.

(For those wondering, they only had chopsticks at the table, but they offered forks for those who wanted them. As usual, the staff at Tokyo Dining is ridiculously friendly- they even got someone who wanted it another beer without any fuss or cost.)

On the left plate, sushi! Specifically, we have scallops (with orange flavoring) in the little spoon (with roe on top), seared tuna that was then tempura battered with soy sauce, and then on the right, eel with white fish that was coated in what was probably more soy sauce.

This was quite nice. It was only the second time in my life that I got to eat eel- it's really not bad at all. Not slimy or anything. Those rolls were quite big, though- I ended up asking about the etiquette, and it is apparently okay to take a bite of it with your chopsticks and then put it back down and then pick it back up and eat the rest. Which was good, as that would be really hard to fit in your mouth whole.

Both of these bits went excellently with the sake.

The second sake (refills on this, too!) was served warm. It had that naturally reddish color to it, and I'm not sure why. I didn't get around to asking that, sadly. This is the traditional sake cup you'll generally be served sake in if you order a bottle of it out somewhere.

Um... not much else to say about this. It was good. Dryer then the Hana sake, obviously. Even the third sake (which was even dryer) wasn't anywhere near as dry as your average red wine, though, so if you're not a fan of dry, I still think you could enjoy this.

Second course! Poached duck with starch of Dogtooth Violet (yes, seriously), potato crisps, some almonds, and some sort of green bean that I don't think was actually greenbeans. It was hard to eat the potato crisps and almonds with the chopstick... I ended up using my fingers. Probably frowned upon.

Inside the cute owl cups was sauce for the duck. It was soy sauce with... some other stuff added. I am so sorry: I didn't take notes for this meal, so I missed a few things. Well, it was good, anyway.

This was when mom's camera suddenly gave out and all four of her replacement batteries decided that they didn't feel like having held a charge. The rest of the photos for Thursday, including the rest of the meal, were all taken with her Iphone. So the quality isn't quite as good, though I think she did pretty decently with what she had.

(Me, I take horrible photos.)

Third sake is a bit different then the others. This one has 'more' alcohol added in, making it a 19% alcohol value and meaning it doesn't qualify as a junmai (as it has that extra ingredient). It's served in a shot glass, for... some reason. I guess they were just showing you different ways of presenting the sake. Sadly, there was no refills on this one.

Third course main event. A tempura battered pepper on top. Then Wagyu Beef (yum!) with, well, ground beef/miso sauce on top of it. The red thing sticking out is a lotus chip (you can find one deep fried over at the Hawaii booth, if I'm not mistaken). Then, hard to see and hidden on the very bottom is what appears to be a brown lump of something. That's a daikon- radish. Mom thought it tasted like a rutabaga.

This was my favorite course, mainly because wagyu beef is just so delicious (kobe beef is a catagory of wagyu beef, so if you've had that, you've had wagyu beef). It easily fell apart to a bit of poking from the chopsticks- you didn't even need a fork, much less a knife.

Also served with this course was miso soup. It had pink noodles and two little shrimp cakes with it. As is traditional, they didn't offer us spoons (though they'd get them for anyone who wanted them)- after eating the noodles and the shrimp cakes, one was to pick up the soup and sip it like a drink. It was as good as miso soup always is- salty, but I like salty.

(More on my love of salt tomorrow.)

Not listed on our menus or our sake guide was this fourth course- Yama Yuzu shibori, another sake. This was a sweet, somewhat dessertish sake, although the SMV value was actually rather low.

Yuzu is a native-to-Japan fruit that tastes a lot like lemon, and is used a lot like lemon. So this sake tasted like, well, lemon! Actually, it tasted like lemoncello... but without any alcohol bite or burn. This is the sort of stuff that could be very dangerous: it goes down sweet and fruity with no harshness to it. I could picture myself drinking practically a bottle of this and then standing up and falling face forward.

We lingered here (we were actually the last people to leave) finishing the edamame, and Gavin came and actually gave us another glass of this. It was great, and we also had an opportunity to talk to him for a bit. They'll apparently be selling this sake downstairs in the store come November.

All the sake bottles, in order. Aren't they pretty? And rather unique, too. Each one's different. I love looking at different alcohol bottles... the one in the can is especially intriguing, I think.


Okay, so that was the end of our Sake and Food pairing at Tokyo Dining. It was delicious and yummy, and I strongly recommend it to both people who really like sake and to people who know nothing about sake but are willing to give it a try. Tokyo Dining is actually one of my favorite Epcot restaurants to begin with (they have some nice lunch specials- give them a try one day!), but I think the chefs really go out of their way for special events like this.

And then there's a footnote to all this.

When talking to Gavin, he mentioned they had another yuzu sake for tasting downstairs. So promptly, we went in to the shop to the sake station in the back and paid for a seven dollar mini-cup of it.

I don't have the English name of this sake, but it's right near the top of the menu and labeled 'Yuzu' pretty clearly. So you should be able to find it if you want.

This sake? Even sweeter (with that hint of sour) then the one upstairs. I'd call the one upstairs more complex, while this one was more bold. It was still very good. Very much like a no-bite lemoncello. Unfortunately, the bottle costs around 50$, which is... more then we pay for our liquor, shall we say. So we didn't get any for keeps.


NEXT: More food and wine booths, which will probably be up tonight. Then, the Mexican Tequila Lunch!

 

[Mikka]

I'm trying to post these really quick, before dinner, then maybe I can get the Mexican Tequila Lunch after dinner and not be five million years behind.

Anyway this is the one, the only, the dreaded, the surprisingly red in the sunlight... Singapore Sling.

If you haven't been paying attention to the whispers going around the boards, this is basically the drink that gives you the most alcohol for your buck. This is a ton of Gin with a decent splash of Cherry Herring liquor. There are no fruit juice or water to act as a mixer in this: it's straight alcohol.

Alcohol that mom is allergic to, meaning it was up to me to drink this by myself.

Despite comments I have heard about this, it *is* just a Disney drink. I did not need anyone to carry me back to a hotel (which is good, because I think mom would have just dumped me in the lagoon instead). I did not forget my own name. I did not start bawling and hugging princesses. It's a small cup, after all. It *did* taste like alcohol- if you don't like that taste, this is not the drink for you. I mean, there's cherry there, but it's cherry alcohol. This is definitely a drink with a bite, and in my opinion a sipping drink. I nursed it for quite a while.

Also in Singapore, we ordered the chicken curry. Which was, well, chicken curry. We thought it needed a little something more- it's not bad, but it's not delicious, either. It's missing something.

We, er, just don't know what that something is. Not very helpful, us.

We joked about immediately going to Terra and ordering their "chick'n" curry, too, but decided against it. That probably wouldn't be fair.

As I was having a drink mom couldn't share, she wanted something, too. So we went back to that silly stand in Canada. Mom asked about the Cherry Ephemere (...or something like that), but they didn't have it again today. They did, however, have the Apple on tap.

So she got this.

To me, while this smelled like apples, all I could taste was a slight hint of sweet that was quickly followed by beer-bitter. Mom on the other hand said it was quite sweet, and reminded her more of a cider then anything else. She enjoyed it.

Griddled Cheese in Greece.

Last year, this was one of our favorite dishes. We loved it. This year, it was sitting under a heat lamp, and tasted like it had been under said heat lamp for a half an hour or so. The honey had completely hardened to the point that a knife was required to cut through it. The cheese was lukewarm and had a strange texture to it.

Uh... the pistachios were okay, I guess?

This was really disappointing. I hope that maybe if you order this early in the day (this was early evening, when all the dinner crowds were crowding the booths), it'll be made to order and more delicious. As it was, bleh.

We didn't want to end the day on a bad note, so we went to the Hawaii booth and grabbed a pork slider. This was a basic pork slider- some spicy stuff, then pineapple chutney on top. It, however, wasn't bad or heat lamped. It was enjoyable, and a nice end to a good day.

Amusingly, a piece of pineapple fell off my slider in to my Singapore Sling. Uh, whoops? Tasted a lot like gin when I fished it out after finishing my drink.


Phew! Managed to get that done. Hopefully I'll get the Mexican Tequila Lunch tonight... if not tonight, then tomorrow. We'll see. Thanks for reading!

 

[smcabee]

The 12 yr is the one furthest from the camera, with the biggest pour- then the 15 yr, with the 18yr on the left. All were good: as usual with scotch, they got smoother and a bit sweeter (though never super sweet) the more they were aged. I liked the 18yr (which, of course, sells for 90$s which means I will never get it) the best. Mom thought there was a bit of a bite to the 18yr on the end (I didn't taste it, personally) which meant she liked the 15yr the best. Overall, though, we liked all three. But we like scotch.

Simple just buy the 12 year scotch and store it for 6 years. Viola 18yr scotch.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Great reviews! Thanks for sharing. So excited to try many of these items for myself next week!!!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Great reviews! I understand trying to keep up with Live. I've always wanted to do the Sake Pairing but can never seem to fit it in my schedule. I have my live trip report going on and I'm behind & will probably stay that way. (Hopefully I"m fully caught up before my November trip though)