Want to covert a skeptic? Try free dining + F&W! UPDATED 12/19 w/ Flame Tree bbq

[abminer]

DP and I celebrated our recent anniversary with 4 days at WDW/CSR 10/29-11/1-09. This was my 7th trip and his 1st! He didn’t even have a stuffed Mickey toy as a kid so this trip was a big deal for him. Knowing it would be an uphill battle to convert him to the dark (Disney) side, I set out to do so through food. It was, afterall, the extension of free dining that convinced him to say yes to the trip in the first place.

What were the rules for this short, but critical trip? Feed DP foods I know he likes already and avoid character meals, which he was soooo apprehensive about. I practically had to beg him to take the whopping two character pics we did, but he sure looks happy in those photos

Who are we:

Me-32 year old Dis veteran. I’m the more adventurous eater, but I avoid really spicy foods. I mostly love desserts. Also, since it comes up once later, I eat a limited amount of gluten at home. My tummy doesn’t tolerate it that well, but when I’m in The World I ignore all rules! It’s usually my goal to try as close to all new restaurants (for me) as possible, but for this trip my focus was…

DP-38 year old lover of meat, potatoes, beer, and chocolate. He also drinks lots of coffee. He hates seafood and is reluctant to try exotic dishes.

Where did we chow down?:

Café Rix (breakfast x 2)
Food and Wine fest booths
Rose and Crown (dinner)
Pepper Market (breakfast and dinner)
Pecos Bill’s
O’hana (dinner)
Starring Rolls (lunch)
Boma (breakfast)
Flame Tree BBQ

 

[pinkxray]

I can't wait to hear how you liked cafe rix and pepper market. I picked CSR for the rooms, but am a little scared of the food selections there.

 

[abminer]

I can't wait to hear how you liked cafe rix and pepper market. I picked CSR for the rooms, but am a little scared of the food selections there.

Read on, but I can tell you right now that the only thing we didn't like about CSR was Pepper Market Look up my resort review of CSR for a preview of what's to come here and some nice shots of the resort. Don't forget that some people love PM. If nothing else maybe I can help you chose what not to order!

 

[abminer]

Café Rix:

We almost missed our flight (all my planning and spreadsheets didn't help me set my blackberry alarm correctly ) so when we checked into CSR at 10:30 this is all we’d eaten:

LOL!

I was pretty hungry and DP simply needed more coffee. Between checking in and hitting our room we stopped at Café Rix and grabbed some goodies OOP. This is just grab n go +. It’s like a coffee shop with a few hot item options and some pre-prepared stuff. There are stations for coffee, bakery case items, and a hot foods counter plus displays with chips and such. They always had some hot food out for you to grab, but if what you wanted wasn’t there, you’d just yell to the cook further back and she’d make it to order. I didn’t want a ton since I knew we’d be off to Epcot soon so I ordered a kid’s meal! For $5 this hit the spot:

Kid's Pick Breakfast - Egg and cheese on a biscuit with fresh fruit and juice or milk $4.99

It had scrambled egg and American cheese on a biscuit, "fruit," and milk. You go get the fruit yourself from the drink fridge. The only choice is a quarter of an orange. What they call fruit, I call a garnish. The sandwich was pretty good though, McDonald's level, but on a bigger, heartier biscuit (it tasted kind of like Pillsbury Grands to me).

I had feared DP would not tolerate the WDW Nescafe, so knowing CSR’s restaurants aren’t managed by Disney put my mind at ease on this issue. DP declared the regular coffee at Rix “fine,” which is good enough for us.

As you’ll learn later, I wasn’t too keen on CSR’s other dining options so I can tell you right now, Rix was reliable and reasonable. Use it wisely. FYI: This is also the main place where you can refill your resort mugs if you get them.

Total cost (all oop) = $7.65
rating = B

here are some more pics of Rix and the options at breakfast:

up next: serious gluttony at the Food and Wine Festival

 

[KatMark]

I'm here for the food porn.

 

[MickeyNicki]

Count me in!

 

[eventamy]

Sounds good! I'm in!

 

[Symans3honeybees]

Count me in too!

 

[abminer]

The Epcot International Food and Wine Fest marketplaces:

After a couple hours in FW, we started our trip around the world showcase. This was my first fall trip so I’d been looking forward to F&W for a long time. I had printed out the menus with prices so we plotted our course on the plane. The goal? Use up all 6 snack credits we had between us on the most expensive items and pay for the cheaper things like desserts OOP.
This was on a Thursday and we hit the World Showcase at 1:30. We encountered very short or no booth lines. We started by going left towards Mexico, but skipped a few booths so we could start with entrees.

Up first, DP’s choice: Barcelona, Spain (near the Mexico Pavilion)

Taste of Spain (Serrano Ham, Chorizo, Manchego, Olives, Tomato Bread) $4.25

We thought this was pretty good. The ham was fresh and soft and the tomato bread with oil was great-but it wasn't a huge potion. We'd have liked a second piece of the bread.

We moved on to: Krakow Poland (near the Norway Pavilion)

Kielbasa and Potato Pierogie with Caramelized Onions and Sour Cream $5.00

This was another choice of DP’s. We split the (small) pierogie and it was so-so. It could have been the frozen kind from the supermarket for all I know. DP liked the sausage a lot though. This was one of the smallest portions.

Next was my choice and the dish I was most excited about: Cape Town, South Africa (Africa Outpost)

Seared Beef Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Purée, Mango Barbecue Sauce $4.75

The meat was piping hot, tender, and perfectly medium rare. We should have gotten two and skipped some of the other booths! Honestly this was the only excellent dish we had at F&W and we both loved it. It looks small, but it was a nice size portion and a good cut. Yummmmm.

Next up, another of my choices: Melbourne, Australia (Africa Outpost)

Grilled Lamb Chop, Red Wine Sauce, Murray River Sea Salt $5.50

I love lamb, but DP does not, so I gobbled down the majority of this chop. The flavor was ok and the micro greens (mint?) helped, but it was a tough/fatty cut of meat so I liked it, but didn’t love it.

And on to: Munich, Germany (near the Germany Pavilion)

Späetzle Gratin with Ham and Cheese $3.50

Here we encountered the only line of the day. We paid oop intending to save the snack credit for a pricier dish later. We both wanted to try this and it was better than it looks. Spaetzle gets dry easily, but this was moist and who doesn't like mac n’ cheese with bacon?

At this point it was about 90 degrees out. I was going to get a primavera at the bologna booth, but decided to pay oop ($5) for a large one at the permanent stand in Italy. It makes no sense that the special booth would include something that is always available and right next to it no less, but this was delish and exactly the cool down we needed.

Primavera (Strawberry, Banana, and Peach Slush)

We were so full by now. We were stopping in every country to explore in addition to the eating so it was about 6pm when we hit: Paris, France (near the France Pavilion)

Escargots Persillade en Brioche $4.50

I shouldn't have gotten this since I wasn't very hungry, but I love snails and I was intrigued by the mini brioche. DP didn't even want to look at them let alone try them as I kept trying to convince him to do. Well...we lifted the tops off and the sight was not pretty, totally dried out snails with no liquid. Should I have even tried it? No. Should I have brought them back and demanded a new order or to get my snack credit back? Yes. But I ate them and it was horrid. I'm such a glutton. I have spent my entire life in huge, east coast cities. I can get incredible escargot within walking distance of my house. Why oh why did I eat these and dash any future hope of getting DP to try good escargot?! Oh well. I felt pretty nasty after this dish.

We had all intentions of trying two or so desserts, but we were far from hungry. It takes a lot to get me to skip dessert. F&W had conquered us.

On a side note, we strolled past the US pavilion just in time for a free Sam Adams beer seminar. I had strongly considered and then decided against signing us up for one of the demos, but I've gotta say, this was free and very nice! Now I hate beer, but I tried them all-a little. The one on the right was a blackberry beer and not half bad. DP got most of my samples though so he was a happy guy! That left him all beered out so we passed up the beer hop too.

Total cost (oop Prima Vera and spaetzle + 5 snack credits) = $8.78

rating = Food and Wine is a lot of fun. In addition to food we enjoyed a surprisingly good performance by John Waite at Eat to the Beat. But please, by all means, if you are going on a longer trip split your snacking into more than one day! I do this at dim sum a lot. All these interesting looking and smelling dishes come by and I just grab a ton. Before you know it I’ve tackled a mountain of food and have to be rolled out of the restaurant! I wish I’d saved more room for dinner.

up next: dinner at Rose and Crown dining room and a gorgeous view of Illuminations

 

[natalielongstaff]

Count me in, great reviews so far !

 

[abminer]

I can't seem to figure out how to update the title of the thread to show I've updated or added something. Can someone please give me a quick tutorial?

 

[NorweJenNY]

I can't seem to figure out how to update the title of the thread to show I've updated or added something. Can someone please give me a quick tutorial?

When you go to edit your thread, there's a "go advanced" option... click that and it will let you change the title.

Great stuff so far, by the way! I love the idea of food and wine during free dining! I wish I had enjoyed more of Epcot for snacks at the different countries, but we were always so full from everything else! I did try the kielbasa and pierogies, and I must say, I was glad I didn't pay $5 for that but used a snack credit! It was a teeny tiny portion - should have been $1-2 instead!

 

[Mrs. Charming]

Great reviews and pics! Count me in! F&W was the best... omg. I'm still craving that food a month later!!

 

[abminer]

When you go to edit your thread, there's a "go advanced" option... click that and it will let you change the title.

Thanks! Now I just need to find the time to add the next installment...

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

A little late, but I'm in! Looking forward to more!

 

[abminer]

Rose and Crown Dining Room (UK, World showcase)

We arrived at the very busy Rose and Crown podium 10 min early at 7:30. There was a big line to check in partially because the party in front of us insisted they had "VIP" seating on the patio reserved. The CMs told them and everyone else there was no such thing and that no one could wait for an outdoor table either. It's simply the luck of the draw. We got our pager and we waited less than ten minutes before it went off. We didn't get one of the coveted patio tables, nor any special anniversary stuff despite that day being our actual anniversary and us wearing our buttons . We had a two-top right inside the door so it wasn't the best spot, but we could hear the singing and revelry from the bar, which was fun. Our server was a very nice girl from Belfast Ireland, not England, named Carolyn. She asked if we were on the DDP and to see a KTTW card then explained what we would get before taking drink orders. I'm glad I asked if there were only sodas because she rattled of all kinds of beverage options that weren't on the menu including virgin pina coladas and daquiris and chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry smoothies.

I got a strawberry smoothie and DP got a Guinness. She suggested he could use his drink credit for coffee after the entrees.

smoothie $4.69

I liked my smoothie-it was like a Starbuck's strawberry frappucino, but with fresh strawberries and real whipped cream.

One thing I liked about our server was that we weren't at all rushed. A few minutes after the drinks she brought the yummy (warm, not hot) cheese rolls and butter balls. Very good we thought. I wasn't at all hungry, but somehow finished the shake and a roll before our entrees arrived.

I got the surf and turf, medium rare, and DP got the cottage pie.

Surf and Turf - Grilled Steak and Fried Fish with Yorkshire Pudding, Irish Potato Gratin, seasonal Vegetables, and Shallot Gravy $24.99

I couldn't believe the size of the surf and turf! What you can't really see in this pic is the potatoes and broccoli rabe that we under the steak. The battered fish and cheesy potatoes were great! The yorkshire pudding was disappointing (it was dry). My steak wasn't the greatest cut, but was cooked perfectly and very flavorful. I barely made a dent in it before handing it off to DP to tackle.

here's DP's:

Cottage Pie - Ground Beef with Onions, Carrots, and Green Peas topped with Duchess Potatoes $18.99

DP loved his cottage pie and I agreed after a taste. This was another big portion. That dish was the size of my face. I don't even like shepard's pie or mashed potatoes, but the meat was well seasoned and the potatoes buttery.

We ordered desserts and managed to just finish them before our server took us out to the viewing area for Illuminations. I couldn't handle anything heavy so I got the lemon pie and DP got the chocolate scotch cake and a latte ($3.69).

Lemon Pie $5.49

Chocolate Scotch Cake - with Chocolate Filling and Scotch Ganache served with Creme Anglaise $5.99

I'd say both desserts were good, but nothing special. The presentation of the pie (which is as it looks, traditional lemon meringue) left a bit to be desired, but I did like how it was served over mint syrup, which barely cut the sweetness. DP's was chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling and chocolate on top. He really enjoyed it. I didn't taste any alcohol in it and it was a cute presentation.

Then it was off to the best viewing spot for illuminations I've ever had. It was odd that we had to remind our server that yes, it's nine so we want to go out. You need a server to escort you to the roped off area next to the patio. If you go to R&C and don't get a patio table don't worry! This was a great spot and not jammed with people. We handed our card to our server on the way out so our bill was ready when we returned to the table. We made a quick getaway and beat the crowds to the buses.

We had good service, good food, and a good view. This was a great first TS experience for DP.

Total meal cost without the free DDP would have been (w/out tip) = $76.51

Total cost to us (tip and alcohol)= $22.52

rating = A

up next: figuring out breakfast at Pepper Market

 

[Mrs. Charming]

Wow, the R&C food looks good, MUCH better than I thought it would. Nice tip on the R&C area for Illuminations, I didn't know about that!

Keep us posted, can't wait to hear more!!

 

[disneyquilter]

The surf & turf looked wonderful!!! Going in 11 days and can't wait!!! You are doing a fantastic job and I cannot wait for more of your reviews

 

[MrsSpratt]

Mmmm. More, please!

 

[Nebula]

That Surf & Turf looks amazing! And the cottage pie looks delish as well. Rose and Crown is one of the restaurants I'm most looking forward to.