Flossbolna
Sea days are just so relaxing!
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2006
- Messages
- 13,868
I was really looking forward to this dinner. Our ADR was added at a rather late point, I think four weeks before our trip or so. We had planned to eat at Whispering Canyon that night, but just before the trip I was reading so many great reviews of the FF that I really wanted to try it. I was especially eyeing the steak as it was described as char crusted on the menu. I like my meat a bit “burned” on the outside, but it is very difficult to get a good grilled steak here in Germany. So we decided to not go to Whispering Canyon and try something new for us instead.
I even got a recommendation for a server from someone on the AKL Jambo thread. Stupid me, when we checked in I absolutely forgot to ask for this server. Our ADR was for 7:30, but I think we arrived about 20 min early and were seated immediately. The restaurant was not full, but I think about more than half of the tables were occupied. We were seated rather close to the front of the restaurant, about in the third row of tables from the entrance. This was our view into the restaurant:
We decided to start the evening with a drink and chose the Patron Margarita:
I found out that I really like margaritas, I guess that's because I love lemons! We were also served some bread. It was warm sourdough with a rather large piece of butter. It went very well with our drinks!
I really liked the napkins they had there. Personally I am a huge fan of cloth napkins and love it that so many (all?) table service restaurants in WDW have them. At the FF they had this design of flying fish on them as you can see in the bread basket. Here is a close up of them:
Our server here was absolutely wonderful and I did not feel to bad about having forgotten to ask for Bob, the recommended one. However, once we were seated we discovered that Bob was serving the tables next to us. And during the course of our meal we were able to witness some real Disney magic he and the kitchen staff did: One of Bob's tables was a couple who looked a bit older, I would guessed that they might have been in their 50's or 60's. She was wearing a birthday button. I noticed them when I overheard Bob saying something like “we normally don't fry anything here at this restaurant” He did not say that condescending or so and then went on to discuss the menu and possible options with the husband on that table. A bit later he reappeared with a chef and there was more talk going on. In the meantime we were busy eating our food, but noticed that the other table was rather quiet. I got the impression that the wife was a bit embarrassed. When they were served there main dishes, the husband was served a fried fish and chips. And just after he was served the meal, Bob and the chef appeared and asked how everything was and the wife was just so thankful for them going out of their way to make something her husband wanted. The chef mentioned even that they made the remoulade sauce from scratch!
I was so amazed at that! Even reading the DISboards I am always amazed how much people expect substitutions and changes to their meals, just because of personal dislikes. Here in Germany it is not common at all, if you don't like the side dish, then you order something else. And at better restaurants it would even be considered bad manners, as the chef supposedly composed the meal so that the different ingredients supplement each other. But that someone would actually expect to get something that's not on the menu! Of course ,I understand if it is for health reasons and I applaud Disney for how accommodating they are for that, but just for taste. To be fair, I have no idea, whether this person had a health issue or not, but I got the impression that this wasn't the case.
Ok, but you came here to read about the food...
I got the Yellowfin Tuna Tartare with Far Eastern Accentuations - Hijiki seaweed, Yuzu Tobikko, sweet-spicy miso sauce, wasabi-cilantro oil, sesame crisps as my appetizer:
The tuna was wonderful! It was a very interesting dish with lots of different tastes going on. I really like that, so it was the right dish for me. However, I found the seaweed a bit of an acquired taste. I am ok with seaweed in maki sushi and in miso soup. But this was different and hat much more taste in it. It was layered with the tuna (it's the really dark stuff). In the end I am not sure I really liked it, but it did not spoil the dish for me. It's more a case of: that's interesting to taste once, but I don't need to eat it everyday. And I don't mean that to sound too negative.
C had the soup of the day. I am not sure wether it was butternut pumpkin or mushroom... It was presented beautifully:
That big crouton hat some cheese melted on it and it went very well with the soup. The soup itself was wonderful as well, very creamy. It was served in that gigantic plate and the middle of the plate was quite a good size still.
The reason why I wanted to eat at Flying Fish was to get the steak: Our Signature Flying Fish Cafe: Char Crusted New York Strip Steak - Wilted Rhapini, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, rainbow carrots and Classic Sauce Foyot.
I love char crusted steaks and had read a number of great reviews of the FF steak. So I was set on ordering this for my main course. I was briefly considering something else, but I am so happy that I stuck to my original plan. I ordered the steak medium rare and it was cooked perfectly. I was not so sure wether I would like the cut, so far I mainly ordered filets. And the New York Strip is not a cut that is sold here in Germany – we cut our beef quite differently. So I really did not know what I was getting. But the meat was delicious. I thought it tasted meatier than the filet, which can be a bit boring because it is so soft. The steak was not tough in any way, but had a more dense texture to it, if that makes sense. The crust was absolutely wonderful!!
When I ordered the steak our server explained what Sauce Foyot was (it seemed to be a special variation of Sauce Bernaise) and asked wether I would prefer it on my steak or on the side. I was really glad that he asked, because I wanted to have it on the side and forgot to request it myself. I love Sauce Bernaise and I was pretty sure I would like that sauce, too, but I did not want any sauce to take away from the crust. Actually, I think a well seasoned steak does not need any sauce. It just takes away from its taste. I use the sauce more for the vegetables and the potatoes
And it was a wonderful sauce for that purpose!!So here are the pictures of this excellent steak:
C decided to order the scallops. They were served with risotto. I don't know what type it was, they seem to change that frequently. But I know that she absolutely adored this dish. I did not try it. I don't do scallops and I was busy trying to eat every bite of my steak! The scallops were presented beautifully as well as you can see in the second picture:
We both were incredibly full after our main courses, but C found a dessert that she really wanted to try on the menu. She had been talking that she needed to get a key lime pie while we were in Florida and on the menu they had this: Florida Key Lime Delice Fantasie Key Lime-Pineapple sorbet, chocolate accents. So I was persuaded to order this since I am really a fan of anything citrus!
Once again we loved the presentation:
This was wonderful. The pie like thing was more like a mouse on a cake with some lightly wipped cream, but it was nice and tart without being overpowering. The sorbet was great, too and just the right thing after our large meal.
We left the Flying Fish very happy and talked about how wonderful this meal had been. We decided that this was the best meal we ever had at WDW so far!
I would love to return here on every trip, but I am not sure we will make it there on my next trip in January. My sister, who will be at WDW for the first time, has me convinced to try Narcoosees for the first time and I am really excited about that. Then we want to eat at Jiko since we are staying at AKL and I really would love to show her California Grill as this is such a special experience. That's already 3 signature restaurants and unfortunately these places aren't cheap...
That burger looks awesome. Total bummer about the chemically orange swirl. I think a pineapple/vanilla swirl would be fantastic.
That's how I like it too though, loaded!!
