DonaldDoleWhip
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2008
- Messages
- 3,608
Hi everyone, and Happy New Year! I'm back with a 'relatively brief' dining report, since there are some experiences I really wanted to share here.
My mom and I are currently in WDW, staying at the Swan. Today we're moving offsite to stay with friends - since I don't know how much time we'll be spending at Disney (or if I'll want to take food pictures in front of them), I decided to post the entire report right now. I hope you enjoy it!
To kick things off, I headed to Epcot and began sampling some of the special Holidays Around the World offerings. My first stop was L'Artisan des Glaces, which is nicely decorated for the holidays.
I had to try the gingerbread ice cream, and it was great. Combining the flavor of orange zest and flavorful spices, this snack is one of the best things I've eaten on this trip.
Next was Germany, where I got the hot salted caramel drink. Surprisingly, it was a huge disappointment, since it tasted exactly like Werther's original caramel candies. It just wasn't special enough to be worth the calories, and half of it ended up in the trash.
The rice cream from Norway was being promoted as their seasonal holiday item. Even though it's available throughout the year, I happily ordered one and enjoyed it very much. This has always been a favorite of mine.
Finally, I headed to La Cantina de San Angel to try the sweet tamale with guava filling and a strawberry glaze. While the flavor was good, the texture of my tamale was off - it was distractingly grainy and dense.
After some hits and misses in Epcot, I left the park and checked out the Christmas decorations at Yacht and Beach Club. The model of Atlantica in BC's lobby was very impressive!
Dinner was at Artist Point. I had a pretty basic salad as my appetizer, but my main course was much more interesting: Applewood Smoked Cornish Hen with Savory Fall Bread Pudding, Duck Confit, Fried Quail Egg, Brussels Sprouts, Butternut Squash, and Port Cassis Reduction. The ingredients paired together marvelously, and it tasted like the holidays on a plate.
A beautiful wreath in Wilderness Lodge:
That night, I headed to DHS to see the Osborne Lights. They're as beautiful as ever!
The following day, we had breakfast at Boma. It was great as always, and this meal was a good excuse to see AKL's beautiful decorations.
Here's one of my plates at Boma. While the buffet has plenty of 'normal' items like waffles, pancakes, breakfast meat, and pastries, I love that they also offer some interesting vegetable preparations. Also, those black grapes were perfect!
Then I headed over to DHS to hit up some rides and try a food truck. I'd heard that the trucks would be at DHS during lunchtime, and sure enough, 2 of the new Disney food trucks were serving food in the Osborne Lights area. (Normally, these trucks are at Downtown Disney.)
To be honest, I'm pretty disappointed in the menus at some of the trucks. In particular, I can't believe the Animal Kingdom food truck is Indian-inspired yet doesn't serve anything vegetarian. The Epcot truck is also a disappointment to me. Inspired by the Food & Wine Festival, it seems like they picked the least interesting dishes to serve year-round. Hamburger sliders? Pierogies and sausage? Another lobster roll variant?
That said, there's one food truck that I've been seriously excited about trying. And oddly enough, it's inspired by the park whose quick service eateries are most frequently criticized.
Superstar Catering serves up three unique takes on meatballs. I think it's a brilliant idea, since the concept is straightforward yet allows plenty of room for creativity. I don't eat beef or lamb, so my default choice was the turkey meatball dish with soft polenta and arugula-fennel salad.
This was easily the best quick service meal I've had in DHS. The meatballs had a slight sweetness from golden raisins, the polenta wasn't too stiff, and the fennel added a great flavor. If anything, I would've liked some more greens on the plate, but that's just a personal preference. This was an extremely satisfying lunch.
While in DHS, I also stopped at a new Joffrey's Cart to get a drink. My choice was the iced chai latte, which was milky and sweeter than I prefer. It tasted good, but I don't think it needed to be so sweet (unfortunately, it's presweetened).
From DHS, I headed back to Epcot and returned to L'Artisan des Glaces.
This time, I got the strawberry sorbet and mint chocolate chip ice cream. The strawberry was good, but the mint chocolate chip was awesome! Mint chocolate chip is hit-or-miss for me, since sometimes it tastes artificial (almost like toothpaste). This stuff tasted like actual mint, and there were plenty of chocolate chunks scattered throughout.
Then it was back to the Swan for a break. This is the view we've been enjoying:
For dinner, we headed over to Narcoossee's so we could watch the pre-New Year's Eve fireworks at MK (Fantasy in the Sky is shown on both the 30th and the 31st). Here's the tree in the Narcoossee's waiting area:
We split the cheese plate to start. I really enjoyed 3 of the cheeses, since they were quite firm and salty (didn't try the other 2).
We both chose the same entree: Pan-seared Heritage Breed Poulet Rouge Chicken with House-made Chicken Sausage, Black Trumpet Mushrooms, Carnival Cauliflower, Salsify, Potatoes, Cheddar-Ale Fondue, and Roasted Chicken Reduction.
This was amazing! It's probably the best thing I've eaten on this trip. The chicken was cooked perfectly, and the sausage, vegetables, fondue, and chicken reduction combined to create an incredible savory dish.
For dessert, we shared an Apple Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream, Siesta Key Spiced Rum-Caramel Sauce, Cocoa Nib Tuile, and Cranberries with Cinnamon and Sugar. This was very good, largely thanks to the caramel sauce and cranberries.
Half an hour later, it was time for Fantasy in the Sky. Narcoossee's isn't the best place to view this show (as the roof was sometimes in the way), but I still enjoyed seeing this show from a different angle. This was a great finale to a great meal.
Part Two is coming up right now.
My mom and I are currently in WDW, staying at the Swan. Today we're moving offsite to stay with friends - since I don't know how much time we'll be spending at Disney (or if I'll want to take food pictures in front of them), I decided to post the entire report right now. I hope you enjoy it!
To kick things off, I headed to Epcot and began sampling some of the special Holidays Around the World offerings. My first stop was L'Artisan des Glaces, which is nicely decorated for the holidays.
I had to try the gingerbread ice cream, and it was great. Combining the flavor of orange zest and flavorful spices, this snack is one of the best things I've eaten on this trip.
Next was Germany, where I got the hot salted caramel drink. Surprisingly, it was a huge disappointment, since it tasted exactly like Werther's original caramel candies. It just wasn't special enough to be worth the calories, and half of it ended up in the trash.
The rice cream from Norway was being promoted as their seasonal holiday item. Even though it's available throughout the year, I happily ordered one and enjoyed it very much. This has always been a favorite of mine.
Finally, I headed to La Cantina de San Angel to try the sweet tamale with guava filling and a strawberry glaze. While the flavor was good, the texture of my tamale was off - it was distractingly grainy and dense.
After some hits and misses in Epcot, I left the park and checked out the Christmas decorations at Yacht and Beach Club. The model of Atlantica in BC's lobby was very impressive!
Dinner was at Artist Point. I had a pretty basic salad as my appetizer, but my main course was much more interesting: Applewood Smoked Cornish Hen with Savory Fall Bread Pudding, Duck Confit, Fried Quail Egg, Brussels Sprouts, Butternut Squash, and Port Cassis Reduction. The ingredients paired together marvelously, and it tasted like the holidays on a plate.
A beautiful wreath in Wilderness Lodge:
That night, I headed to DHS to see the Osborne Lights. They're as beautiful as ever!
The following day, we had breakfast at Boma. It was great as always, and this meal was a good excuse to see AKL's beautiful decorations.
Here's one of my plates at Boma. While the buffet has plenty of 'normal' items like waffles, pancakes, breakfast meat, and pastries, I love that they also offer some interesting vegetable preparations. Also, those black grapes were perfect!
Then I headed over to DHS to hit up some rides and try a food truck. I'd heard that the trucks would be at DHS during lunchtime, and sure enough, 2 of the new Disney food trucks were serving food in the Osborne Lights area. (Normally, these trucks are at Downtown Disney.)
To be honest, I'm pretty disappointed in the menus at some of the trucks. In particular, I can't believe the Animal Kingdom food truck is Indian-inspired yet doesn't serve anything vegetarian. The Epcot truck is also a disappointment to me. Inspired by the Food & Wine Festival, it seems like they picked the least interesting dishes to serve year-round. Hamburger sliders? Pierogies and sausage? Another lobster roll variant?
That said, there's one food truck that I've been seriously excited about trying. And oddly enough, it's inspired by the park whose quick service eateries are most frequently criticized.
Superstar Catering serves up three unique takes on meatballs. I think it's a brilliant idea, since the concept is straightforward yet allows plenty of room for creativity. I don't eat beef or lamb, so my default choice was the turkey meatball dish with soft polenta and arugula-fennel salad.
This was easily the best quick service meal I've had in DHS. The meatballs had a slight sweetness from golden raisins, the polenta wasn't too stiff, and the fennel added a great flavor. If anything, I would've liked some more greens on the plate, but that's just a personal preference. This was an extremely satisfying lunch.
While in DHS, I also stopped at a new Joffrey's Cart to get a drink. My choice was the iced chai latte, which was milky and sweeter than I prefer. It tasted good, but I don't think it needed to be so sweet (unfortunately, it's presweetened).
From DHS, I headed back to Epcot and returned to L'Artisan des Glaces.
This time, I got the strawberry sorbet and mint chocolate chip ice cream. The strawberry was good, but the mint chocolate chip was awesome! Mint chocolate chip is hit-or-miss for me, since sometimes it tastes artificial (almost like toothpaste). This stuff tasted like actual mint, and there were plenty of chocolate chunks scattered throughout.
Then it was back to the Swan for a break. This is the view we've been enjoying:
For dinner, we headed over to Narcoossee's so we could watch the pre-New Year's Eve fireworks at MK (Fantasy in the Sky is shown on both the 30th and the 31st). Here's the tree in the Narcoossee's waiting area:
We split the cheese plate to start. I really enjoyed 3 of the cheeses, since they were quite firm and salty (didn't try the other 2).
We both chose the same entree: Pan-seared Heritage Breed Poulet Rouge Chicken with House-made Chicken Sausage, Black Trumpet Mushrooms, Carnival Cauliflower, Salsify, Potatoes, Cheddar-Ale Fondue, and Roasted Chicken Reduction.
This was amazing! It's probably the best thing I've eaten on this trip. The chicken was cooked perfectly, and the sausage, vegetables, fondue, and chicken reduction combined to create an incredible savory dish.
For dessert, we shared an Apple Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream, Siesta Key Spiced Rum-Caramel Sauce, Cocoa Nib Tuile, and Cranberries with Cinnamon and Sugar. This was very good, largely thanks to the caramel sauce and cranberries.
Half an hour later, it was time for Fantasy in the Sky. Narcoossee's isn't the best place to view this show (as the roof was sometimes in the way), but I still enjoyed seeing this show from a different angle. This was a great finale to a great meal.
Part Two is coming up right now.
So glad you had a wonderful trip! And if you're already back in the northeast, enjoy this lovely snowstorm that is raging outside right now!
