WDW food odyssey Apr 4-12 (with pix!)

[Jock Wu]

Hi all,

hadn't posted since my last trip to WDW back in 2005. Love going to the World not only for the parks and resorts, but also the food! Since my wife and I became parents in 2003 (and again in 2006) to 2 boys, it's become very hard to go out to restaurants that aren't as "child-friendly." So I look forward to WDW as an opportunity to go out to some great restaurants, where kids are pretty much the norm rather than the exception.

Here are the participants:

Me, my wife Sarah, son Ethan (4yo), son Brendan (2yo).

Let's get on with the show!

Joe

 

[Jock Wu]

Arrived at Saratoga Springs around 10:30am on Apr 4. Checked in and went to DTD for an 11:45 ADR at Wolfgang Puck Cafe. We ran a little late but they were able to seat us at about 12:10. I'm a big fan of California cuisine and Wolfgang's is a favourite. I had had dinner here back in mid-March when I attended a conference so this time I decided I would try the sushi. One reason was we had a 5:40pm ADR at Boma so something light would be perfect.

My wife had the Vegetable Napoleon (forgive me if I don't quite recall the names) which she said was good:

I had the California roll:

I was disappointed to find out this had the imitation crab stick instead of the Canadian snow crab as described on the menu on allearsnet. The fake crab is something I try to stay away from, but the rolls were actually quite good. I think the avocado and the sesame seeds helped overcome the blandness of the crab sticks.

Ethan had the cheese pizza (which is superb):

Next: Dinner at Raglan Road

 

[Jock Wu]

Since the kids were happy, we decided to pop over to AK straight away, with the intention of heading over to AKL (for Boma) around 5pm. Boma was a restaurant we had been to twice on a previous trip in Dec 2004, so that tells you how much we like the food there.

However, after about an hour of walking, Ethan became tired (we had had a very early start, departing from NJ at about 6:40am) so we decided to head back to the resort and cancelled Boma.

After a rest, we went to DTD again to try Raglan Road. I had an ADR for Raglan Road for Sunday April 6 but given the good 4-star review in the Unofficial Guide, decided to try it earlier.

Once we were seated, I ordered an Irish beer and admired the room. The atmosphere is very nice and comforting. The menu is obviously made up of pub classics (like fish and chips) but that was fine by us.

We split the Dalkey Duo:

These little battered cocktail sausages with a mustard sauce were a little bland. The crispy batter helped a little with texture but the taste wasn't there.

My wife got the beef stew (picture turned out too blurry and dark - apologies) which she liked, and I got the bangers and mash:

(Sorry if it's a little blurry.) Again, the sausages were a little lacking in spice/taste. I love a good bangers and mash but these were mediocre.

All in all, a disappointing meal at Raglan Road. The setting was great, but my impressions of the food didn't mesh with the expectations.

Next: Saturday lunch at Hollywood Brown Derby

 

[jedi jen]

Nice reviews. I'm in. Looking forward to more. What a beautiful son.

 

[Jock Wu]

After doing early morning hours at the Studios we had an 11:30am ADR at the Brown Derby.

I had the Golden Tilefish:

Tilefish is one of my favourite fish - my all-time best seafood meal was at the Boardwalk's Flying Fish back in 1998 where I had the TileFish with Spring Vegetable Risotto...and seeing as tilefish is seasonal I will almost always spring for it if I see it on the menu. Well, today was a lucky day for me (you'll see why in a later post). Accompaniments were a stalky vegetable (rapatini?) and a sweet chutney/relish that complimented the fish very well.

My wife had the Noodle Bowl with wok fried coconut-crusted tofu, soy beans, sugar snap peas, bok choy and shiitake mushrooms in a red curry broth (description copied from allearsnet):

I sampled the noodles and a corner of tofu. It's a light, almost "healthy" dish, with a good infusion of coconut goodness in the tofu.

Brendan had the tempura fish:

The battered fish was light and crunchy, and a nice change from the generic children's menus we saw at the resorts throughout the week.

Next: dinner at Flying Fish

 

[Jock Wu]

Nice reviews. I'm in. Looking forward to more. What a beautiful son.

Thank you Jedi Jen!

Joe

 

[auntfrannie]

Thanks for the reviews & pictures, Jock! I love being able to see what things look like to go along with the reviews.

 

[suzimar57]

that vegetable napoleon looks so good!

great photos - and your son is a cutie!

 

[phabric]

Enjoyed your review. Looking for more.

 

[sherry]

I am enjoying your reviews. Thanks so much for sharing.

 

[Jock Wu]

Thanks for the comments so far!

We had a 5:55 ADR for Flying Fish. We headed over to Epcot around 4:30pm. Unfortunately the heavens opened while we did the Living with the Land ride, and steadily got worse! We ran through the downpour, and finally got to the dock next to the International Gateway, hoping to board a boat. None came. Finally at around 6:15 we decided to chance it, and after sloshing through a giant puddle, there was a lucky break in the clouds and we made it to FF a little drenched but happy that we made it.

The Flying Fish is another perennial favourite, and as I mentioned previously my best seafood dish of all time was had here back in 1998.

We started with the Crispy Sesame and Togarashi-scented Calamari - spiced green papaya and fragrant vegetables, Asian dipping sauce:

The calamari was very good, with good spices and enough salty flavour to blend with the crunchy squid. My wife rarely eats seafood but she was being adventurous this trip and had a few of the rings. Even the body bits, which I'm usually indifferent to (I prefer the rings), were very good.

Did I mention I liked tilefish? Well, the FF also had it on their menu, accompanied by a potato brandade:

The fish was sweet, but the accompaniments didn't work as well as with the Brown Derby's dish. The potato didn't have the sparkle that comes from the best fish-with-mashed-potato dishes (like the Chilean salmon with mashed and chile oil I had at Wolfgang Puck's a few weeks back).

My wife tried the Mahi Mahi with a poblano sauce (I told you she was being adventurous!):

She said it was good, but I thought it was merely OK (and I'm not partial to the texture of mahi mahi in any case).

Finally for dessert, we had a wonderful pecan tart:

This was warm, rich, not overly sweet, and worth every calorie! Yum!

Next: Tusker House lunch buffet, Artist Palette dinner, Turf Club lunch and Nine Dragons dinner

 

[TigerKat]

Enjoying your reviews!

 

[mom2my3kids]

Love your reviews, can't wait to read more!!!

 

[slavike]

Wow! She was being super adventurous! I like fish and I don't even know if I could go there. It's such a bummer about the imitation crab and Wolfgang's the general quality has gone down there so much. It used to a must and it's drop down to a maybe.

Keep the reviews coming...I love the pictures, I wish my family would let me take them.

 

[D&R love Disney]

Great reviews so far and I'm looking forward to reading more!

 

[suzimar57]

nice photos - and a good selection of various fish!

 

[eventamy]

Can't wait to hear about Tusker House!

 

[Disneyof3]

WOW great photos and review. Can't wait for more....

 

[John's Mom]

Great reviews and pics!

 

[DisneyJo]

Loving your reviews so far, I love seeing the food porn photos and your DS is a cutie