~Good food is like music you can taste...F&W 2012~ Finished 11/30 & DEC TRIP POSTED!

[debrapagliasotti]

Joining in for the upcoming live reviews! I cant wait to see F&W pics. We are going next Oct and I cant wait. I'm also following you on Twitter now

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Day 1 - October 7th (Part 1)​

Hi everyone!

We have arrived And I have officially been up 20 hours on about 3 hours of sleep

Our flights were uneventful and the airport food was, well, airport food

By the time we arrived on Disney property we were starving so we headed to....

Wolfgang Puck Express​

It was surprisingly busy for 2pm and the staff were a bit out of it. There were three staff members behind the counter, but only 1 would take orders at any given time

Regardless, we enjoyed the food thoroughly.

DDad had the Crispy Chicken Strips

DMom had the Chinois Chicken Salad

I had the Four Cheese Macaroni

As usual, everything was delicious and we each shared our items. I swear, I could eat that Chinois salad every day!

Continued in next post...

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Day 1 - October 7th (Part 2)

Food & Wine Festival: Night 1​

We were pleasantly surprised by the Food & Wine Festival tonight. We entered Epcot around 5:30pm and while it was a bit crowded, we have seen it MUCH worse during Food & Wine. The booths all had lines, but we never waited more than 5 minutes to place an order and never more than 2 minutes to pick up an order.

My rating system for F&W this year is as follows:
Not calorie worthy
Happy to have tried the item
Repeatable
Out of this World!

Our first stop was Canada!

Clockwise from the top:
- Moosehead Beer
- Wild Mushroom Beef Filet with Truffle Butter Sauce
- Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup

Our biggest surprise: The Filet! This was so much better than I was expecting! It was cooked between medium rare and medium and it was well seasoned and earthy.

Next up: Greece!

Clockwise from the top:
- Chicken Souvlaki with Tsaziki
- Spanakopita
- Griddled Greek Cheese with Pistachios and Honey

Our biggest surprise: The Souvlaki! It was honestly better than our local Greek restaurant (and this is saying something! We go there twice a month!). Very well seasoned, tender and juicy. The pita could be improved a bit though.

Our tour continued with: Hawaii

Clockwise from the top:
- Kona Big Wave Golden Ale
- Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet and Sour Dole Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayo
- Tuna Poke with Seaweed Salad and Lotus Root Chip

Our biggest surprise: The Golden Ale! We thought we were in love with Longboard Lager, this is even better! So complex and yet so smooth.

We took a break from the food with: Craft Beers

This was sampler number 1:
- Abita Purple Haze
- Red Hook Pilsner
- Florida Beer Company's Devil's Triangle
- Full Sail IPA

The biggest surprise: We all disagreed on favorites! Meg: Purple Haze, DMom & DDad: Full Sail IPA

Last for the evening: Ireland

- Kerrygold Cheese Selection: Irish Aged Cheddar, Dubliner and Cashel Blue with Apple Chutney and Brown Bread
- Warm Chocolate Lava Cake with Baileys Ganache ( for DDad, I know, he is weird )

Our biggest surprise: We were a bit disappointed in the cheese plate this year. It was just a bit weaker than previous years as the irish aged cheddar and dubliner are quite similar in flavour profile.

Well, that's it for tonight folks! Tomorrow I will have Liberty Tree Tavern, Via Napoli & more Food & Wine! Thanks for reading![/SIZE]

 

[jecskc]

I'm so in for this one !! Loving your reviews !! Can't wait to read more !!

 

[debrapagliasotti]

Great start so far! Looking forward to seeing more tomorrow

 

[Ro Z]

Taking notes. For Nov.!

 

[AvasMommy526]

Awesome start!! Everything looks so good, especially that filet, I can't wait!

 

[chocolateMinnie]

wow what a start - amazing photos - have a great trip

 

[rachel09985]

Yay you started!! Is the griddled greek cheese bitter at all??

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Joining in for the upcoming live reviews! I cant wait to see F&W pics. We are going next Oct and I cant wait. I'm also following you on Twitter now

Thanks for reading! The in-park WiFi can be a bit spotty, so I haven't done many twitter updates, but I'll do a few more today

I'm so in for this one !! Loving your reviews !! Can't wait to read more !!

Thank you! Next reviews coming up in a few minutes.

Great start so far! Looking forward to seeing more tomorrow

Sorry about the lack of an update yesterday! I have reviews coming up right now

Taking notes. For Nov.!

Great! I'll let you know what F&W items we like!

Awesome start!! Everything looks so good, especially that filet, I can't wait!

The filet was amazing, it absolutely exceeded my expectations.

wow what a start - amazing photos - have a great trip

Thank you!

Yay you started!! Is the griddled greek cheese bitter at all??

The cheese isn't bitter at all. It was a similar texture to mozzarella, and had a flavour like a mild cheddar, a touch of sharpness. The honey adds a lot of sweetness.

 

[blairzo]

Everything looks so great! 29 days untill I am at F&W!!

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

October 8th​

Hi Guys! Sorry that I didn't have a chance to update yesterday! It was quite an action packed day and we ended up changing our evening plans. It was quite overcast with the threat of rain, so we decided to go to Jiko

Main Street Bakery​

We started off our day in the best way possible! With pastries from the Main Street Bakery!

We shared a croissant, a cinnamon bun and an apple turnover. Each one of them was delicious

Liberty Tree Tavern​

We checked in quite early for our 11:30 reservation and we were offered the chance to open the restaurant. However, we have opened Liberty Tree before and decided to pass the chance on to another family

We started the meal with the Crab & Spinach Dip

This has changed dramatically from April! It was served in a shallow dish with parmesan cheese on top, and it was heated! The accompaniment was pita bread.

This time it was cold and served in a hollowed out potato scallion loaf. WOW! This was so much better! The bread was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. The dip had huge lumps of crab and bits of onion and pepper. The seasoning was like a cross between thousand islands dressing and old bay. We loved this! The portion was also very generous.

For lunch, we all had the Pilgrim's Feast

Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving, so turkey was necessary! And for those that read my thread on the Liberty Tree Gravy, I am pleased to report that it is back to "normal". There was no sweetness or orange tinge. It had bits of turkey, was nice and savoury and had a lovely poultry flavor.

Well, we are off to Epcot for World Showcase opening! Time for more Food & Wine!

I'll update later tonight with Jiko pictures!

 

[happy2012]

I'm enjoying ur review so far & u are really making me wish we had booked for F&W. This is making me hungry.

 

[John's Mom]

Great reviews and photos!

 

[Roma]

I am loving your F&W pics and reviews! My DH is dying for that pork slider... only 30 days!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Well, you said you'd be hitting up a lot of the booths - thank you so much for reporting back already, as everything looks fantastic! I'd especially like to try the mushroom filet, griddled Greek cheese, tuna poke, chocolate lava cake, and even the Irish cheese plate (cheddar is one of my favorite cheeses, and I still often have issues with more pungent cheeses like goat or blue, so it's okay with me if the Dubliner is similar).

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

Everything looks so great! 29 days untill I am at F&W!!

You'll love it! This is one of the best F&W we've attended so far!

I'm enjoying ur review so far & u are really making me wish we had booked for F&W. This is making me hungry.

Aww, well there is always next year! Food & Wine really is our favorite time to visit WDW.

Great reviews and photos!

Thank you!

I am loving your F&W pics and reviews! My DH is dying for that pork slider... only 30 days!

Oh the pork slider was fantastic!

Well, you said you'd be hitting up a lot of the booths - thank you so much for reporting back already, as everything looks fantastic! I'd especially like to try the mushroom filet, griddled Greek cheese, tuna poke, chocolate lava cake, and even the Irish cheese plate (cheddar is one of my favorite cheeses, and I still often have issues with more pungent cheeses like goat or blue, so it's okay with me if the Dubliner is similar).

I wasn't kidding! We've hit 10 booths, and we plan to try 12 or 13 more in the next few days Heck, maybe I can even hit all the booths before I go

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

October 8th (Part 2)​

Our original plan for the evening of the 8th was to go to Epcot and enjoy Food & Wine. The problem is that the weather network was calling for rain and the radar looked pretty awful.

So we decided to cancel our Via Napoli reservation and make one for...

Jiko​

​

We arrived at the Animal Kingdom Lodge at 7:45 and checked in for our 7:50 reservation. I asked the woman at the podium if Dawn, our favorite server, was working and she confirmed that she was. I asked her to check Dawn's section and see if we would be able to be seated there. She checked for availability, and informed me that we would be able to be seated in her section but it would be a bit of a wait.

That was perfectly fine and we decided to head up to Victoria Falls Lounge and have a cocktail while we waited.

I'd say we were in the lounge for about 20 minutes before our buzzer went off and we proceeded back to Jiko.

As our hostess led us through the restaurant I noticed we were walking past Dawn's section so I stopped our hostess and asked if Dawn was indeed our server. She looked quite confused and said no, she wasn't.

We walked back to the podium area and after some clarification we were informed that none of Dawn's tables were available, and that they wouldn't clear for 45 minutes to an hour.

Now, at this point we were already 20 minutes past our reservation time. What upset us was not the wait, but the lack of communication. I had asked the hostess to check the section for this exact reason. The hostess also seemed rather disinterested and gave us two options: wait 45 minutes to an hour, or be seated elsewhere. No explanation was offered as to why were were told we could be seated in the section when we checked in.

We asked to speak to a manager, to clarify what exactly had happened. We've noticed at Disney that managers tend to like to brush off any issues until you press the matter (firmly and politely). At first, the manager insisted that there was no way we could be seated in Dawn's section and that it must have been a misunderstanding on my part. The manager claimed that the hostess must not have checked the section for availability. I corrected her and stated that I watched the hostess check the section myself.

Then the manager explained that one table HAD been seated for an hour af 15 minutes and that they were taking a bit longer than expected, but we could still expect to wait about 40 minutes, which would be a total wait of an hour from the time we checked in.

Finally, the manager admitted that it was the hostess that made the mistake, not that we had misunderstood and offered us some appetizers. A table also miraculously opened about 10 minutes later.

Place Setting

We started with the Crispy Beef Bobotie Rolls

These are one of our favorites, though DDad could not partake in them this time around He has a white fish allergy and the swordfish entree included a fried squash blossom stuffed with confit swordfish. The risk of cross contamination was far too high.

We tried a new item to the menu at the suggestion of the manager. The Pork Belly Salad with Arugula, Mache, Frisee, Fire-roasted corn and Almond Crisps.

This was phenomenal! Salad really isn't the right description, it really was pork belly with a few greens. The pork belly melted in your mouth and the salad was the perfect compliment. The almond crisps were amazing! It was brik, which is like a slightly thicker phyllo, filled with almond butter and baked.

As always, the bread is outstanding. Or rather, the tandoori butter is outstanding! To quote Guy Fieri, you could put that on a flip flop and it would taste great!

When the manager discovered the cross contaimination issue with the bobotie rolls, she sent over Realan's Duck Confit Flatbread with Goat Cheese, Berbere-spiced Oranges and Balsamic Reduction.

Wow! This really packed a punch. The heat was up front from the berbere spice and the orange and goat cheese smoothed it out. The duck confit was rich and tender and the perfect topping. We loved this!

For my entree, I had the newest version of the Short Ribs: West African Braised Short Ribs with Roasted Peanuts, Roasted Vegetables (Carrots, Potatoes and Pearl Onions) and Tomato Demi-glace

Wonderful! I have had pretty much every version of the short ribs on the Jiko menu and I think this was my favorite. It really was all about the short rib. The vegetables added nice texture and sweetness and the peanuts were crunchy and earthy. The tomato demi-glace was so good I wanted to lick the plate clean!

DMom had the Grilled Swordfish with Roasted Vegetables, Ginger Vinaigrette and Romesco Sauce with Toasted Pine Nuts

She loved this! She asked for the Romesco sauce on the side, but ended up using the majority of it. The deep fried squash blossom (or the offending squash blossoms as DMom called them, because they prevented DDad from enjoying the bobotie rolls) were amazing! Crunchy, salty and savoury.

DDad had Sikhumbuzo's Peri Peri Chicken with Herb-crushed Potatoes, French Beans, Mango Sambal and Onion Jus

DMom typically orders this and DDad thought he would give it a try. He thought it was fantastic, but a bit too rich as he is usually used to having just a bite or two of DMom's.

For dessert, DMom and DDad shared the Madagascar Vanilla Cheesecake with Strawberry-Rhubard Compote and Chocolate Graham Crust

Wow! Light and airy, with a sweet and tart sauce and a sweet chocolate-graham crust. The little shards in the cheesecake were dehydrated rhubarb and both DMom and DDad devoured them.

And I had the Chocolate and Tea Safari with Vanilla Rooibos-Tanzanian Chocolate Cake, Free Form "Kit Kat", and Green Tea Ice Cream

I tried this in April and fell in love. I never would have guessed that green tea and chocolate were such a lovely pairing. The free form kit kat is very intense, and almost salty and sweet.

Overall, a fantastic meal.

I have F&W reviews and a meal at California Grill coming up. Today we are going to Flame Tree BBQ, F&W and Via Napoli!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Great Jiko review! I'm sorry about the incident with the host, but at least the food really made up for it. I absolutely loved both of those desserts for very similar reasons, and your other food (especially the duck confit flatbread) looks fantastic. The peri peri chicken is my mom's favorite entree at Jiko - we both love it because it tastes authentically South African (where my mom is from).

 

[got2luvtink]

Subbing!! Soooo glad to see a F&W report!! Helps to decide if we'll do WDW during F&W!