We're bringing DoleWhip back...again! COMPLETE: Sanaa and Yachtsman!

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Great review/pictures of FF. This is definitely on our list of must dos on our next trip.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Wonderful review of Flying Fish
I love that you post a pic of the menu at the beginning of each review
I always choose what I would order
We chose the same entree today, the salmon looks lovely
Do you happen to know if the taste of the Boardwalk desert trio is available on the dining plan?
I would pay OOP if not as it sounds sooooo good

Yep, the Boardwalk trio is included on the dining plan (as of now, at least). I had it in May and thought it was really fun and thematically appropriate.

Here's a pic:

FF is beautiful!!

It's definitely really pretty! There's lots of cute touches in the dining room, such as fish on the ceiling and colorful murals. It gets noisy in there, but it fits the atmosphere IMO.

We really enjoyed FF, (especially those mussels!), except for the Snapper entree, in which, like your Mom, I found the sauce somehow very wrong for the dish. What a great idea to get the sauce on the side! I think next time I'll just order something else. That chocolate mousse dessert looks and sounds like work of art. Glad you had a better meal this time around.

I'm sure that you'll be happy with whatever you choose at FF - sounds like it's absolutely towards the top of most people's lists. Don't know why it's never been top for us, but it's still really, really good.

Another great review!

What date were you at FF? I'm going in a week on 9/4, so I was thinking the menu you showed might be the one I'll get to choose from!

I think we were at FF on the 3rd of August. I actually took a more updated picture of the menu as of August 20th (the menus are always slightly changing):

I notice that you have tea with just about every signature. While there are some of the tea menus on WDW website, other signatures do not. I am a fan of fruity sweet teas, did you see that every signature at least had one fruiter tea?

I think most signatures had at least one fruity tea. Flying Fish seems to be the exception, where our server just named a few (chamomile, green, early grey, etc). We also love our tea - we always have it unsweetened and without milk. Here are some of the fruitier ones I've seen on the menus:

-At Citricos I enjoyed a pear green tea. It wasn't very sweet, but it did have a nice fruity aroma. California Grill, Jiko, Yachtsman, and Le Cellier (dinner) also have this tea.
-I'd love to try Citricos's cassis tea, which has the flavor of black currant.
-At Artist Point, there was a really yummy mountain berry tea, flavored with Canadian saskatoon berries. This tea is also available at Le Cellier dinner.
-The mango oolong at Artist Point was also really good and light.
-The mad hatter tea at Artist Point (a blend of passion fruit, pomegranate, and vanilla) sounds perfect for you, but I've never tried it.
-Nobo whole fruit (a blend of berries) is at Citricos, Jiko, Narcoossee's, and Yachtsman.
-Lemon verbena is available at all signatures except Flying Fish, Brown Derby, and Le Cellier. I've never tried this one, and it sounds like it could be herbal as well as fruity and citrusy.
-The tangerine rooibos at Le Cellier dinner was great. If you're interested in a non-fruity tea, I'd also recommend the vanilla rooibos at Jiko, Narcoossee's, and Yachtsman.

Well that's all I've got. It seems like Flying Fish and Brown Derby are the only signatures without any especially fruity tea. From what I've tried, I'd recommend Artist Point for a good selection. Another thing - if you're interested in trying rooibos tea, Sanaa has some fruity blends. I recently tried their piña colada rooibos and loved it - they also have mango rooibos.

Great review/pictures of FF. This is definitely on our list of must dos on our next trip.

I'm sure you'd really love Flying Fish - it gets rave reviews from almost everyone. Of course, I'll be looking forward to your next review so I can see some stunningly beautiful photos of FF's food.

 

[KatMark]

That Smores cupcake has my husband's name written all over it (now just to find the time to get there).

 

[cbg1027]

Thanks for the updated FF menu!

 

[Tinkerbellah]

Great reviews! I have been logging in but guess I never commented yet. Anyways, WL looks amazing!!! The club level looks like such a treat! I could do that w/o the DDP @ all. LOL! Very nice. Maybe someday.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

That Smores cupcake has my husband's name written all over it (now just to find the time to get there).

I hope you have time to stop at the Boardwalk Bakery! That's one of the best Disney cupcakes I've tried.

Thanks for the updated FF menu!

No problem - hope there's still plenty that appeals to you!

Great reviews! I have been logging in but guess I never commented yet. Anyways, WL looks amazing!!! The club level looks like such a treat! I could do that w/o the DDP @ all. LOL! Very nice. Maybe someday.

Thanks for reading! I highly recommend trying WL eventually, or at least visiting it and walking around. The atmosphere is wonderful there.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

On the last evening, I burned a few more snack credits in World Showcase.

I liked the plain melon kaki gori even better than the strawberry/melon blend:

I stopped at Karamell Küche to try a dark chocolate caramel with sea salt. Great combination of flavors - the crunchy sea salt is lovely with the chewy caramel.

In China at the Joy of Tea Stand, I tried a curried chicken pocket. This came with 2 flaky pastries, each stuffed with a little bit of spiced chicken. I liked this, since there aren't too many unique savory snacks.

Finally, in Mexico I tried the coconut paleta, or popsicle. I was expecting it to have a bit more flavor, but I still thought this was nice and refreshing. The top of the popsicle added a textural element of shredded coconut. I prefer the cantaloupe paleta, but this was okay too.

 

[cbg1027]

Dark chocolate covered caramel with sea salt? I know what I have to get when I'm in Epcot next weekend!

 

[MickeyNicki]

Dark chocolate covered caramel with sea salt? I know what I have to get when I'm in Epcot next weekend!

Thats exactly what I was thinking...but not next weekend I still have 53 or something days left

 

[AshClan]

Thanks again for giving us such thorough, balanced reviews! I, too, love the photos of the menus and, of course, pick what I would order every time as well!

That chocolate dessert at FF looks and sounds amazing. I have heard such great things about the potato wrapped snapper that I've wanted to try it for ages, but just never seem to get there. One of these days.......

And yes, I have tried that dark chocolate caramel with sea salt. (Along with about 50% of the other stuff at the Karamell Kuche.) YUMMY!!

Now that all our meals for October are chosen and booked, I'm starting to evaluate which restaurants I'd like to hit in April, when we expect to have my sister, BIL and mother with us! It's a whole new perspective when planning with newbies in tow!! (And picky newbies at that.....)

 

[Tinkerbellah]

Thats exactly what I was thinking...but not next weekend I still have 53 or something days left

The salted caramel is on OUR LIST too!!Only we have....70 days left!!

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Dark chocolate covered caramel with sea salt? I know what I have to get when I'm in Epcot next weekend!

Thats exactly what I was thinking...but not next weekend I still have 53 or something days left

The salted caramel is on OUR LIST too!!Only we have....70 days left!!

The salted caramel is an excellent snack choice! I hope time passes very quickly, so you're all back at WDW very soon.

Thanks again for giving us such thorough, balanced reviews! I, too, love the photos of the menus and, of course, pick what I would order every time as well!

That chocolate dessert at FF looks and sounds amazing. I have heard such great things about the potato wrapped snapper that I've wanted to try it for ages, but just never seem to get there. One of these days.......

And yes, I have tried that dark chocolate caramel with sea salt. (Along with about 50% of the other stuff at the Karamell Kuche.) YUMMY!!

Now that all our meals for October are chosen and booked, I'm starting to evaluate which restaurants I'd like to hit in April, when we expect to have my sister, BIL and mother with us! It's a whole new perspective when planning with newbies in tow!! (And picky newbies at that.....)

I'm glad you like the reviews! Hope you make it to Flying Fish eventually, it's definitely worth trying.

Sounds like I need to spend more time at Karamell Küche, as everything there looks great!

Good luck planning a trip with picky first-timers. We went with friends a few years ago and took them to our favorite restaurants at the time: Marrakesh, Rose & Crown, Les Chefs de France, California Grill, and Boma. We didn't know how picky they were - that was a mistake.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Here are a few other things that we burned snack credits on.

From the bakery, I couldn't resist trying the oreo bon bon cupcake. Inspired by the dessert at Cape May Cafe, this is another one of my favorite cupcakes now. It wasn't too heavy, and the filling tasted just like cookies and creme.

Besides the bakery, Boardwalk has another great place for snacks: Seashore Sweets.

Chocolate toffee bar:

Rocky road fudge:

Both tasted very good. I liked how the fudge had a crunch from the nuts but was also soft, chewy, and rich.

I guess that's one of the good things about the DDP. We would've never gotten all those snacks if we weren't on the plan. Next time (which probably won't be on the plan), we'll already know which snacks are worth the money to us.

 

[Linda67]

Ooh the chocolate toffee bar looks delicious

I am hoping I can get a Magic Cookie Bar somewhere on the Boardwalk

I fell in love with them at the Wilderness Lodge in May

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

The salted caramel looks delish! And your pics of the oreo cupcake literally made my mouth water!

 

[Tinkerbellah]

Wow. I have no words for that cupcake. I think it speaks for itself. Let me ask is this WDW cupcake craze a new thing or have I just never noticed it?

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

Ooh the chocolate toffee bar looks delicious

I am hoping I can get a Magic Cookie Bar somewhere on the Boardwalk

I fell in love with them at the Wilderness Lodge in May

I don't think they have magic cookie bars at Boardwalk, but between the bakery and Seashore Sweets, there are plenty of choices. If you have to stop at WL once for a magic cookie bar, I think that's reasonable.

The salted caramel looks delish! And your pics of the oreo cupcake literally made my mouth water!

That cupcake was definitely one of my new favorites. I'm thinking about it right now

Wow. I have no words for that cupcake. I think it speaks for itself. Let me ask is this WDW cupcake craze a new thing or have I just never noticed it?

I think the cupcake trend is relatively new. 5 years ago, there weren't many unique cupcakes in WDW, just generic vanilla and chocolate. I think Starring Rolls and Contempo Cafe were 2 of the first places to begin offering unique cupcakes (I think this began about 2-3 years ago). And ever since, it's spread to other resorts and locations. In the past year or so, there have been quite a few cupcake TV shows, such as DC Cupcakes, which have pushed the trend further. All I can say is, I can no longer imagine WDW without cupcakes.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

It’s been a hectic past few days, so I wanted to return with a rarely-reviewed restaurant from our most recent trip: Todd English’s bluezoo! This Dolphin restaurant gets raves for its seafood, and I was looking forward to trying it.

I don’t have a picture of the restaurant, but I have to say the decor is beautiful. This place looks like The Wave done right, with lots of blue tones, a show kitchen, and a gorgeous bar area. I think this restaurant would easily fit in at a stylish Las Vegas megaresort.

I was surprised by how busy bluezoo was. This restaurant is at Dolphin and does not accept the DDP, so I assumed it wouldn’t be too packed. However, it looked very full (and it’s not even a small restaurant). Lots of families were there, too. For this reason, it took a while for our server to make it to the table. He brought out bluezoo’s breadbasket with some fennel seed butter.

The breads are sourdough, onion focaccia, and a cheesy, crunchy bread. The butter was so creamy and had a tasty bite from the fennel.

Fennel seed butter

Onion focaccia (this was so soft and lovely with the sweet onions) and the crispy one:

Here's the bluezoo menu:

After a long day of travel, we were super hungry, so we ordered 4 appetizers to try.

Teppan seared jumbo sea scallops with braised beef short ribs and silky cauliflower purée. I wish the scallops had more of a crispy sear on them. Aside from that, we loved the flavor combination of sweet, plump scallop with hearty beef and creamy cauliflower.

Low country jumbo shrimp with white cheddar hominy, okra, and smoked bacon butter. This was a very well executed plate of (what I imagine to be) southern comfort food. Creamy, cheesy, smoky and salty flavors combined wonderfully with the shrimp.

Next up, the yellowfin tuna tartare with miso caviar, scallion cream, and nitro sriracha aioli. The nitro sriracha aioli is the cream-colored stuff on top. It was frozen with liquid nitrogen and was literally steaming when placed table-side on the tartare. How cool is that? At first, the nitro aioli was crispy, but it melted and soon provided a nice creaminess and warm spice that I enjoyed with the tuna.

Finally, thai chilled lobster with green curry consomme, whipped coconut, candied peanuts, and mixed melon. The coconut was actually in the form of a powder (which dissolved and became creamy), and the melons were cooked via sous vide. Mmmm! I still think about this dish. Lobster with tropical fruit, savory nut, and the very subtle flavor of curry? It was absolutely delicious. Plus, I really enjoyed the use of molecular gastronomy in the various courses (liquid nitrogen, fruit turned into powder, sous vide, and there was even a foam in the dessert course).

Next, our entrees. My mom chose the heritage chicken with savory cereal grains, fava bean, english peas, and maitake mushroom. The chicken was crispy, which my mom likes - I thought it was dry. However, we both didn't love the accompaniments. Every single component seemed very salty, and when combined, it wasn't the most pleasant flavor. I rarely complain about salt - I've had no salt issues at Le Cellier, which is a common receiver of salt complaints. But this wasn't the best entree overall.

I was hoping their seafood would be more successful. I went with the simply fish (which was wahoo), and I chose to add the warm crabmeat, dijon, and chives. My server asked if I wanted to add lobster for $5, so I thought "why not?" and said yes.

Fish with lobster on top:

Sauce on the side:

The fish is simply fish, but accompaniments included a salad with fennel, some olive tapenade, and heart of palm. Unfortunately, I didn't love it. The components were good, without a doubt. But I think at a restaurant like this, I would prefer the chef/server telling me what flavor combinations are good with what fish. I had never heard of wahoo before, so I just picked the sauce I thought sounded best to me. In retrospect, I think the sesame ginger or carrot harissa would've worked better with the fish, and I don't think the lobster was necessary. I found the sauce to be rich, buttery, and slightly overpowering.

We also ordered some sides, such as the fries with grated parmesan and crushed garlic. I liked them, but I wish I could've tasted more garlic. There was plenty of rosemary flavor:

Also, the lobster broccoli stuffed cheddar potato. The lobster was chopped really fine - I could see tiny red pieces, but sadly I couldn't taste any lobster. Like the image suggests, there was a strong cheese flavor.

Compared to the appetizer round, the entrees featured less molecular gastronomy and were less successful in their execution. Nevertheless, a review isn't complete without dessert, so we picked one from the menu (we were too full to try 2 desserts).

We ordered the chocolate melange. The menu description was very intriguing, and here it is:

There were five mini desserts on the plate. They are: 1) lime milk chocolate crème brûlée; 2) coffee cremeu with crudo napoleon; 3) vanilla marshmallow chocolate crème, graham cracker crumble, and milk chocolate foam; 4) orange chocolate sorbet; and 5) soaked flourless sponge, pop rock crunch, and gold leaf deco. The first pic doesn't show it, but the crème brûlée was flaming when it arrived:

As expected, this was a very yummy dessert. My favorite bite was the middle one, which was a really cool play on s'mores. The creamy marshmallow, light crunch of graham cracker, and liquid chocolate foam were delicious. The orange chocolate sorbet was also delicious, and the one on the far right was really cool with pop rocks that crackled and tingled in my mouth (just like the candy). The touch of edible gold was also adorable, and the crème brûlée was wonderfully balanced between crunch and cream, milky chocolate and tart citrus. The whole dessert was awesome.

Overall, I really liked bluezoo. My mom liked it less than I did. Despite our slightly differing opinions, neither of us are in a huge rush to return. My expectations were high; I was expecting bluezoo to far exceed any restaurant on the DDP that we've been to. Instead, we both preferred Artist Point, Citricos, Jiko, and Yachtsman, and my mom also prefers Flying Fish. The appetizers and dessert were really cool with their molecular gastronomy touches, but the entrees weren't perfectly balanced. Plus, bluezoo feels more expensive than the typical Disney signature (but it does accept TIW, which is a plus). I'm sure we'll return to bluezoo within 3 years, and I'm happy we tried it - this meal showed us that restaurants on the DDP can be as good as or better than non-DDP restaurants of a similar caliber.

 

[Linda67]

I don't think they have magic cookie bars at Boardwalk, but between the bakery and Seashore Sweets, there are plenty of choices. If you have to stop at WL once for a magic cookie bar, I think that's reasonable.

We are doing the Haunted Carriage Ride at FW in October so a quick stop at WL for a sugary treat will be essential

 

[Disneyfreak616]

Thanks for the review! Sorry about your entrees, but that dessert sounds amazing! I'm a huge chocolate fan, so any new spin on it is always welcome in my mouth! I love the idea of a new take on s'mores and pop rocks with chocolate. I don't think we are going to do the DDP next time, so places like this may be on our list to try. What I was wondering if you could tell me was what exactly is TiW? And how can we get it? Thanks so much for your help.