Kill, Refurb or Marry - World Showcase Counter Service - FOOD! YES!

FOOD ! YES! FINALLY!

Mouse on the Mind and This Happy Place Blogs have delightfully been the inspiration for half of my posts over the past 6 months. And here they are with a FOOD CHALLENGE!

 

This time we are eating around the world - World Showcase in Epcot.

Creme brulee on the lagoon - does it get any better

I am going to set my own rules - only permanent counter service locations - not the moveable ones that appear during Food and Wine Festival and the Flower Festival. And I am also going to put aside all the drinks vendors - I know you love getting smashed on the margaritas and the grey goose slushies - but I am all about the food.

KILL KILL

Disney counter service just has so much not going for it! At least in World Showcase the bad food is themed for your entertainment.

I tend to avoid counter service cause it can kill YOU!

and guess who I think is in need of a good fire?

Tangierine Cafe!

Maybe some people think this is exotic. Let's not embarrass them here. But felafel wraps, hummus and tabbouleh are - let's say it out loud - late night drunkards food.  The donor kebab shop in Sydney is famous for the late night munchies, wacky tobaccy and brawls with cab drivers. But you do get the next day off work recovering from the food poisoning. Even the freakin' parsley can kill you in these places. I go to Disney to get away from the real world for a while - not to have it follow me in all its bacterial glory.

REFURB

This is sooo difficult. So many places come with the promise of the great street food of their homeland. With just a little tweaking and being more authentic, they could become wonderful. Just when you think - "Wow! Disney's discovered okonomiyaki!" you bite into it and discover it is greasy and stodgy. And yes - I lay the same complaint at the Yorkshire Fish and Chip stall (sacrebleu!).

The place I think holds the most promise for a menu refurb is ........

Liberty Inn

This place does the olde worlde "publick" dining thing - with roasted meats? corn cobs? pumpkin pie? NO - none of that olde worlde crape here! Liberty Inn serves USA ALL THE WAY burgers, hot dogs and chicken nuggets!  Really? Really? Rise up to meet your theming and take pride in your slow food heritage.

MARRY

you know what - I'm gonna stay single 

STREWTH - did I just ... break the rules!!

C'mon - maybe the custard inside the school bread at Norway? but the cafe is cramped and mostly boring. Tacos and Nachos? Am I Beavis or Butthead?

There just isn't anything left that justifies standing in the queue at Town Hall to see the mayor (even Mayor McCheese).

Oh well - please excuse me whilst I go back to my Chateaubriand - oh - and don't get saucy with me Bernaise. (that joke doesn't work when written)

OK - now GO GO  and check out the other blogs and the other recommendations  - that will slowly populate below over the next few days! learn more about World Showcase than I could ever have taught you!

If you read one article about Disney Dining, make it this one.

Any one who follows Mrs Banks on Facebook knows that time has just disappeared with Christmas and birthdays and travel to Sydney and dining reservations. I am now enjoying my summer holiday and have the chance to sit and relax to prepare these posts for a couple of weeks - in between bouts of chopping things with my new chainsaw!! Oh - how The Ken Man knows me so well......  

OK .. On with the show! Here's a post I started writing about 2 weeks ago: 


It's all fuss and excitement and crazy internets clicking here tonight!

If you want to secure your favourite table service Disney dining reservation you have to book 6 months in advance - and that day is almost here past for me!!  (ha ha ha - that shows how long it takes me to write a post)

guess what I'm doing tomorrow evening?? (source: pscalculator )

Only 4 more sleeps until (now after) Christmas Day - but I feel like it's already arrived as I go crazy with the dining reservations!

We have some underlying rules to follow with our dining arrangements, including:

• We want to try lots of different things
  
• We can't eat everything (dang!) SO a la carte dining more often to give more control over the amount of food purchased and consumed.
• We are happy to split large dishes, and taste each other's meals - also happy to hoard if it's too good to share!
• Limit buffet attendance. (Usually poor food items and some of us have limited intake.)
• Enjoy meals with others.
• No cheap and nasty park food - hot dogs, burgers and dreaded Disney fries (oh, I shiver just thinking about Pecos Bills - ewwwwww - and where they ask you not to spit. Well not in front of women and children.)

Please don't make me go here (source:Disney food blog)

• Let your friend wear stretchy pants

By getting online the moment bookings opened I was able to get everything I wanted - some of which are very coveted bookings! Here are some highlights from our bookings so far:  (the links will allow you to see the current menus)

• Breakfasts - Staying in Boardwalk Villas gives easy access to fabulous breakfasts including Greek style Kouzzina (21st); Captain's Grill (22nd) and Kona Cafe (26th) (the home of REAL coffee in WDW). We are also visiting Safari Donald at Tusker House (24th) for Harambe style.

Kona Cafe's Tonga Toast. My precious ....

• Good fun themery lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe (23rd) where you eat your veges and keep your elbows off the table.  Biergarten (21st) where it's Oktoberfest every day! Liberty Tree Tavern (22nd) where it is 4th July everyday!

 

No, Please, your quiet enjoyment of the meal will be thanks enough for these coveted bookings:

• Le Cellier - the Canadian Steakhouse (21st). This small underground wine cellar serves it's signature dishes: cheddar cheese soup and Filet mignon on truffled mushroom risotto. Oh sigh.

 

•  Chef's Table at Victoria and Albert's Restaurant - this classic is rated one of the USA's 15 most iconic restaurants, and with scores like 29/30 is one of Zagat's most highly rated. 

Now the category: "Everyone is arriving in Orlando now. Let's all go out together for a meal"

• The Crabby Shack! Fulton's Crab House will be hosting at least 10 of us on the 25th. Will you join in for more than you can eat seafood?

lobster tails, crabs, prawns, clams, oysters - served on platters, in towers, in buckets!

• On the afternoon of the 26th, we shall be raising our pinkies and ensconced at the Grand Floridian Resort's Garden View Tea Room for Afternoon Tea. It's all cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off and scones with jam and cream.

(source: wdwinfo - read their full review including menu)

And now here's a booking that will be a highlight of your trip - the all new California Grill! (26th)

Closed for 8 months in 2013 to undergo a complete overhaul, I am so excited to see this new look and new menu. One thing that hasn't changed - location. It is still on the roof of the Contemporary Resort and every meal offers premier viewing of the Magic Kingdom fireworks show!

Our last evening in WDW will finish on a high note! (source: DisneyFoodBlog - read their full review)

Who cares about pictures of the restaurant or what's on the menu. Because FIREWORKS!

UPDATE: I have now secured a 2nd California Grill dinner booking for Sunday 29 June - when everyone will be in Orlando.

If you would like to come meet everyone and join in, please contact me ASAP before seating books out! As is the case with Zontians, the more the merrier!

Are you a foodie? What type of cuisine do you want to enjoy in Orlando?

When onstage just isn't enough at Walt Disney World

You might not believe this, but there are only so many times I can go on it's a small world. Even with its green and purple koalas.

I'll let Larry and Chuckie explain.

Originally commissioned to celebrate UNICEF, it has a classic history and is now part of America's art scene with classic stylings by Mary Blair.

It is a great example of what this post is about - everything at Disneyworld has a story behind it.

Walt didn't just whack up a bunch of amusement rides. He created backstories for every little detail in the parks and resorts. Every hotel has a story, every ride and show, even the entry gates are part of a story.

And the easiest way to discover all these stories are to take a backstage tour.

(source: waltdisneycompany.com)

Disney run a pile of them and they are changing all the time. A tour makes for a very different experience of the resort. Always full of background stories, hints, information, some give you unique experiences or some make it easier to experience to experience a park.

These babies are expensive. You can score discounts using Disney Visa Cards, Disney Annual Passes or purchasing a special "My Way" dining plan which can include the tours among all the offerings.

I've done a number of tours now, and for first timers let me recommend the one not to bother with: Backstage Magic.

Expensive at about $250+ p.p., 8 hours, and you see lots of this:

Magic Kingdom parking lot - I suppose I could have guessed. What else would be backstage! (source: disneytourreviews.com)

This tour is TOTALLY backstage - so no free rides in the parks. In hindsight it isn't that bad. We saw:

• the topiary work area at the nursery

Minnie's let herself go in her older age. What?

... and a whole lot of other places in which photography was banned! Like one of the sewing/costuming rooms; a machinery shed (where they paint and repair signs and ride vehicles); the parade float holding sheds; and the back door to the Tower of Terror ride.

We did see backstage at The American Adventure at the huge mechanical rotating stage sets; and the water holding pond for Splash Mountain!

Back of Frontier Land in Magic Kingdom - kind of what you'd expect really. (source: disneypix.com)

Lunch was pretty good - Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Squirrel Wilderness Lodge. An all you can eat BBQ skillet affair with tin plates, mason jars and YEE-HAH entertainment! Whispering is really the last thing happening here.

Umm ... yeah .... don't ask for the ketchup.

Disney has heaps of other tours - long and short - to suit all interests.

Train fanatic? You're accommodated, but get up very early.

At least this is more credible than the creepy bus spotters. (source: waltdisneycompany.com)

African Safari Trek? Wander through the back of the Animal Kingdom Zoo and visit the hippos and crocodiles, then enjoy some refreshing snacks looking out over the savanna  - all without the danger, smells or tsetse fly.

For the keen gardeners, you can go Behind the Seeds at Epcot to learn how 1981 saw futuristic hydroponic gardening.

space age brussell sprouts taste just as bad. which must be why they are grown in such low density. (source: flickr.com)

If you think Disneyworld is just kiddie rides and amusement attractions - well - maybe one of these tours can show a different side to the resort.

I do have one tour I enthusiastically recommend for all first time visitors. But in the true spirit of any reality programming, you have to wait for next week for the big reveal.

What do you think? Would you like to see backstage? or would that break the magical illusion for you?

How does a Disney TV commercial relate to Zonta International?

Mostly I stay away from describing the theme parks. We all know they are there, and it is easy to get information on them. There are almost 600 blogs covering the parks!

For people who have never been to WDW, it is easy to confuse WDW, as a group of theme parks, with your average amusement park. Communication from WDW themselves has frequently not helped, with the release of vague, restrictive or just weird advertisements.

This one is one of my favourites. I get the idea - travelling to another time dimension - to another world. But really, I wonder if they were high on drugs when they made it - or assumed you'd be high when you watched it?

Good luck trying to work out what's actually at the park. It looks like you'll get terrorised by giant plastic characters and Peter Pan doing a cheshire cat impersonation.

Then Disney changed the drugs they were taking. Suddenly we were on the guilt train, next stop negligent parenting town.

Ummm ... WOW. At least you are now kind of seeing the resort. But geez .... I am surprised everyone can stand up straight with all the emotional contortions going on in that ad.

More recent ads are still following the same script. They still play on the "world's worst parents" theme, and rarely show what you actually get, they have higher production values, and hey - I got to meet Mickey!


From recent releases this one bears examination. This one shows just how low the advertising can go

OK - so yeah we've got a smiling happy family and we are finally inside a park checking out the attractions. There may be an argument that says they purchased a song rather than prepared an original soundtrack. But let me give you one major clue as to the lack of care: whilst advertising WDW in Orlando, the ad was filmed in Disneyland Resort, Anaheim. Yep - they didn't even film the thing they are advertising. 

And my big bugbear? I am not a white family of 4, with 2 kids aged between 6 - 12.  So yeah, Disney has a target demographic? But don't they realise that they are making Leave it to Beaver commercials for a Modern Family world?

SO....

I was inspired to write this post when this new video started being shared around the internets last week. Take a look:

We've still got a bunch of primary school aged kids - but they come in different colours! There are more ages. We see each of the parks - and get glimpses of the resorts. We see other activity too like golfing, and the adult thrill rides like the water slide plunge, Rock and Roll Coaster and Tower of Terror - yes it was filmed at WDW! (what an innovation!). There are older people, there's a wedding, a fancy V&A dinner. There is alcohol! Cirque du Soleil. The guilt theme is left behind for straight up celebration and glory - finishing with the heart tugging family watching the fireworks with wonder.

BRAVO DISNEY!!

At last a film that conveys an experience in more broader and wider spectrum.

oh - I just had to get that off my chest ...... (breathe...)

Finally, I really want to share one of my favourite all time Disney advertisements. I love the music, the tiltshift look, the careful timing and again - a beautiful, clean, simple celebration of the park.

Enjoy:  A Day at Epcot:

Here is your homework assignment: what does the history of WDW advertising suggest is important for how Zonta can raise it's own brand awareness in the world?

2014 Zonta International Convention Orlando

Quickie Food Porn - Teppan Edo

I'm here - in Orlando! Stuff's happening - I have soooo much to show you. Once again I am working on the tablet - but this time I have the little matching keyboard, and Blogger have updated their android version - BWAH HA HA HA HA HA There is no escape! I am meeting up with Zontians and other Disney Freakaphiles - my schedule is changing minute to minute - hopefully I get something up that has a semblance of cohesion. Here's a quickie food post to keep you going.
 
Day 3: Teppan Edo - the teppanyaki restaurant in Epcot's World Showcase.

There must be 20 teppanyaki tables in here, each of which seat 9 people. In a small attempt at authenticity, Disney run an international exchange program for hospitality students and graduates. These people are drawn specifically from the countries to man the corresponding country showcase. So all of the staff in Teppan Edo are Japanese. But all the food is very very safe for your average Disney customer. No unagi, no dried fish - and definitely no natto!

I was alone and was seated with a family - I know nothing about and cannot share anything - except the young girls you'll see in the photos were astonishingly quiet! Not a peep. Boy, the chef had to work hard just to get them to watch him!

were they pleased to be here, or what?

let's get on with the food.

The appetizer choices include a small dish of edamame, a "salad" which consisted on a plate of chopped iceberg lettuce with a sweet dressing. Sushi rolls and sashimi tuna. I had the Waku Ribs - pork ribs marinated in ginger, garlic and soy and reheated on the grill plate. This was BBQ heaven! They were very tender - fall off the bone - very tasty and moist. I was so pleased - and the 2 blokes sharing the table were also very impressed. I'm a real man.

For the main, everyone scores a bowl of rice, udon noodles which have been fried with onion and zucchini, and fried mushrooms. Your choice is the protein. You can mix and match or just have one. They offer fillet mignon, sirloin steak, chicken, prawns, and scallops. I chose to have half & half sirloin and prawns.
The prawns were fine - but nothing special. The steak was very good - moist, cooked to order (medium rare), very tender and had a meaty steaky taste.


The chef puts on a bit of a show whilst cooking - lots of spinning knifes and pepper shakers. The best part of the show is the onions. Of course, the onion rings are first used to make a mickey head!  And then the signature move - they are stacked and water poured in to form a steaming volcano - so much fun! (In the meantime - those girls are sitting there like zombies with their mother apologising profusely to the chef)

"is that all you've got?"

I didn't do dessert - this time. They do offer green tea pudding, chocolate and ginger cake, and ice cream. The cake is a very light sponge and has a very mild ginger teint to it. They could stick more in and make the flavour distinctive. The green tea pudding has so much sugar in it, the green colour is merely a nod to its design.


Teppan Edo is 2 Mr Creasotes - not too heavy - but more than I could finish.

And only 2 spoonfuls of sugar - nice and good fun but not a meal you'll rave about.

If only they threw the rice and prawn heads at me!

Just 3 words: Italian, desserts, and wine

I know you are all enjoying the Italian cuisine in Torino!

Did you know when you come to Convention 2014, you can keep that Italian Party going?! At the Italy Pavilion at Epcot!

Gee ... am I in Venice or Florida?????

I have that wonky kind of love for the way Disney mangles everything

And when I turn around ......

I'm suddenly I'm in Florence!

With its own little Disney trashcan - just like the original would have!

And in this little spot of Italy in Florida is the Tutto Italia ristorante and Tutto Gusto wine cellar.

But I was there for a special reason: The Food and Wine Festival Event: Italian Desserts and Wine matching!

OH YES!!

Ushered into room ... yeah yeah .... 50 ish people ... yada yada ... a couple of welcome speeches ... LET'S GET TO THE FOOD!

So we were all seated and presented with this array of shiny glassware and cutlery:

Four desserts and four matching Italian dessert wines! Pancreatic heaven!

The wines all came from the same winery: Batasiolo. All dessert wines - an Asti, Moscato, Moscato Rose and Sparkling Red. They were quite sweet, and it was explained to us that the sweetness is due to less fermination of the sugars, and so the wines had a lower alcohol content. They were also just slightly bubbly or 'frizzante'

Now I know nothing about Batasiolo - from my scant Google research they seem to range from the excellent down to the average everyday. They seem to get average and above reviews

The first dessert up was Tiramisu. I love a good Tiramisu and this was very close to Delia Smith's recipe. How authentic is that!

All that chocolately, coffee, mascaponey goodness in a martini glass - YUM! 

Paired with an Asti - I polished it off quickly. Living up to it's name, Tiramisu always 'makes me happy'.

With my tastebuds just getting going, the next dessert was a cannoli

Fresh, fresh cannoli creaminess. I surrepticiously wiped the creamy filling through the chocolate sprinkles. I don't think anyone noticed.

This was the freshest crispest shell I had experienced in a long time. Had a smooth creamy filling that was studded with flecks of chocolate. Fantastic - and paired with a moscato. I love moscato. I am now having a moscato fling - I notice it on every menu and must have a glass! You know, moscato makes for the best Bellinis!

Onto dessert No. 3: Torta Di Ricotta Con Fragole al Limone.  All you gals currently in Italy: Do you remember what is 'Fragole'??

Yes! It's strawberries! Our first fruit for the session

And look - ripped off - only half the dessert! After giving us two full sized ones now this??  To be frank, someone had to pace my consumption for me - cause I wasn't doing it.

This was nice - well done, technically good etc. Just a little bland. The lemon flavour didn't really cut through. I ate it gratefully but mostly enjoyed the moscato rose with which it was served.

Batasiolo Moscato Rose

This was my favourite of the wines. More bubbly and depth of flavour and fruitiness, whilst still carrying that dessert wine sweetness. Why is this not available in Australia?? (someone please tell me that it is) Don't worry about the small amount in the glass - top ups were continuous.

By now the table was getting clearer - I was running out of glasses and cutlery and all they had left to serve was No. 4: Semifreddo Alla Nutella Con Cioccolato Amaro. No translation needed.

Oh look! More fruit!

Back to the dairy based, fibre free, full sized zone. THIS was my favourite dessert. Basically really upmarket chocolate ice cream. By this stage, the smooth coolness of the ice cream was refreshing and the rich sauce was a bit too much for me. Dessert No. 4 proved my killer.

I took one for the team, and just ate the important bits

.

This was paired with a Sparkling Red - an unidentified varietal. Unfortunately by now I was a bit too full to really appreciate the wine. I do remember that it was not as luscious as sparkling burgundy and seemed a bit like a half failed carbonation of  your average house red.  Perhaps this one is down at their "average" range of products.

In 2 hours I had consumed 3.5 full dairy based desserts and at least 2 glasses of wine. I was a tad buzzy and a tad porky and definitely very happy.

This was definitely 3 Mr Creasotes cause I was "stuffed" and

2 spoonfuls of sugar - because whilst delicious - it was not the most inventive, creative, diverse range of desserts they could have served. I bet there is better in Torino!.

 This special event was part of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival held from September to November every year. However, these desserts are available all year round at Tutto Italia ristorante. Only the Moscato and the Moscato Rose are available, and only at Tutto Italia.

Adjacent to the restaurant is the brand new Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar - which is looking very impressive (according to this review on Disney Food Blog). Have a look at both menus and plan your trip to Italy in Florida!   

Sweet Desserty Goodness: Battle of the Food Festivals: Epcot vs Canberra Part 2

After all the fun of Part 1, can you believe there is more?

Oh you should know me by now - of course there is .....

Dessert!

In the morning I'm making waffles!

Epcot Belgium stall produced these baby waffles with a squish of whipped cream and a dollop of berry compote. I had this as my breakfast one morning (before I continued eating at all the other stalls for the next two hours) and it was a fresh, sweet, tasty start to my day.

Canberra's Waffle Kitchen produced a full sized serve: 2 freshly cooked waffles with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream, stewed strawberries and maple syrup. Fortunately I was sharing this with The Ken Man. This was also delightful - crispy waffle with fluffy soft insides mixed with strawberry and maple - YUMMO!

It's sweet sweet waffles - what can go wrong? Everyone Wins! YAY!

Although there is something wrong with both offerings ... what could it be??

This shape makes ALL the difference

Appley Goodness

My grandmother used to say that all those appley baked goods, such as pies, slices, tea cakes etc, were really made out of chokos with apple flavouring.

Who knows - but my grandmother still ate it all.

Epcot German Apple Strudel vs Canberra Dutch Poffertjes with imitation apple sauce

I don't even know why I put these up against each other. The Epcot Germany Apple Strudel is fresh chunky spicy sugary apple slices inside fresh flaky pastry that has soaked up the apple juices, drizzled with Werther's caramel sauce and cream. Oh how this came together in harmony! All elements in balance - a magnificent example of what can be done with humble ingredients.

The Poffertjes were - well - little mini pancakes with some kind of vaguely apple flavoured gooey sauce - more like it was at one point shown an apple and expected to absorb the flavour by osmosis. The pancakes were well cooked - you can see they are a little bit brown, not too crispy.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and to commemorate my grandmother's memory, I snorfed the lot.

Happy-ish and Happiest!

Let's take a quick run through the remaining desserts from both festivals.

Epcot L - R: Dessert Trio of lemon chiffon, tres leches verrine, white choc macadamia mousse with dark choc pearls; Italy stall cannoli with sweet ricotta, chocolate and candied fruit; France stall chocolate creme brulee.

How great are these? Full blown traditional desserts with creamy bits and chocolatey richness and diary wonderfulness! Tres Leches means "3 milks" - usually evaporated, condensed and cream - so not so much milk as all the fat and sugar that exists in milk condensed and intensified with all the water removed! Astonishingly it makes for a very light, fluffy moist spongy cake. What a wonderful array of hard core desserts!

 Canberra: L to R: Tongan pineapple pancakes; Thai banana and jackfruit springroll; Italian gingerbread man

So I learnt one lesson from this. When other countries have a go at something that it is not traditional to them, frequently my expectations are sadly dashed against the rocks of culinary destitution.

Pancakes are not meant to be balls, springrolls are not meant to have jackfruits in them and Italians must use the word "ginger" when it does not mean what I think it means.

So the pancakes - yes they did have a sweetness that could have come from pineapple, and the dough is golf ball sized and deep fried. So pretty much nothing like a western style pancake - but it was sweet and greasy and comforting. Think doughnut hole.

The jackfruit in the springroll gave me a sad. The banana was nice, but the jackfruit was basically reduced to bland starchy lumps. sigh.

As I ran (OK wobbled with additional intensity) across to the Italian Gingerbread, I created visions of soft, squishy, spicy gingerbread men dancing in my head. Alas, whilst the little man had the soft squishy texture the flavour can only be described as mildly sweet - not ginger flavoured, not even spicy - just non descript sweet. I didn't even finish off his head. He was ruthlessly discarded with swift and brutal justice.

So my lesson: Epcot desserts are worth the airfare. Canberra desserts are worth the cost of parking. Which was free.

Epcot:

small, albeit delicious, servings allowed for pacing

not enough spoons for creative, cheer-making, creamy comestibles

Canberra:

greasy and fattening to fill up, but inedible enough to limit consumption

1 point for the golfballs and the tiny chunk of banana

What have been some of your dessert surprises?

Battle of the Food Festivals: Epcot vs. Canberra

Epcot's Food and Wine Festival vs Canberra's Multi-Cultural Festival

Do you want informative or colourful?

Which festival has the best variety? The most authentic dishes? The most amazing flavours?

Who's cuisine will reign supreme?

I need to acknowledge that Epcot F&W lasts for six weeks and the Multi-Cultural Festival goes for only 3 days. So it is like comparing the long slow cricket test match against the wham bam speed and colour of a Twenty20 match. 

So this time difference leads to some fundamental and obvious differences in how each festival is run. Let's have a look. There's a lot to cover. This may take a while. I'll have to stop at bedtime.

The Stalls

Both festivals were a mixture of special events and little specialised stalls that covered the nations of the world.

Disney had around 35 stalls. They are a cute, pastiche interpretation of the country they represent.

Canberra's festival had maybe 300 stalls. Marquees - not cute, not pastiche - but I bet plastic tents and hand painted signage is the standard in your average African village.

Best use of local wildlife in generic stew

Epcot Irish Lobster and Scallop pie (potato mash topping removed - it's Ireland - of course there was potato - quite a lot really!) vs Canberran Generic African Goat Stew with stewed spinach.

The lobster pie was like a creamy casserole with a mash potato top. Big chunks of meaty seafood - a mild seafoody flavour. No pastry - served straight in the bowl. Quite enjoyable and stick to your ribs stuff.

The goat curry was very generic. Mild curry style flavour, with chunks of meat, potato and pumpkin in gravy. The curry flavour dominated and the meat was just chewy lumpy bits. The spinach was a bit creamy and quite nice - not over pulverised.

Little Nibbly Things

Epcot China stall 'potstickers' vs Canberra's Sri Lanka stall's wadai patties.

The potstickers are what Australians call gyoza. And they were the same as any chinese takeaway - porky dumplings with a sprinkling of soy-vinegar sauce.

When The Ken Man bought the wadai, the Sri Lankan lady said "they're so good you'll come back for more" And he did! These are fried lentil, chickpea and potato patties with a good deal of spice and heat. Despite their appearance they were quite moist and had a spicy nutty flavour.

Grilled on a Stick

Epcot Singapore stall prawn cake on sugarcane vs Canberran Bangladeshi chicken.

The prawn cake was wonderful! fresh, prawny, with ginger, shallots, garlic, chilli, lightly fried on the grill plate which created slightly caramelised crispy bits. I was at the stall on opening and got mine fresh off the grill. There was no rubbery-ness in the prawns! Served on pan fried noodles this was deliciousness on a plate.

Besides gneric curry, generic grilling chicken on a stick was one of the standards at the Canberra festival. This Bangladeshi chicken was really nice! Fresh & tender. They had avoided cooking it for too long and drying it out. It had been marinated in yoghurt but was very light and was not overly seasoned. Well done for a BBQ hot plate.

Cheesy Goodness

I think it has been established on this blog that I am rather partial to nice bit of cheese - I can have it straight up like the Epcot Cheese stall's cheese platter or cooked in Turkish Gozleme.

The cheese platter contained (L to R) Sweet Grass Diary Thomasville Tomme - it was tangy, bitey, smooth, delicious.  The dutch Wyngaard Kaas Chevre Affine was a lovely goats cheese - mild & firm - went down easily.  Lincet's Delice de Bourgogne was very creamy, smooth and was nicely aged - not to young or old - like a good quality brie.

And my cheese came with a view across World Showcase Lagoon

Back in Canberra, I had turkish gozleme - a very fine, thin, yeasty dough filled with spinach and fetta and grilled on the hot plate. With lemon juice squeezed all over, there was a reason why this stall had one of the longest queues.

This was the gozleme view

Gozleme + Massage - what more could you want?

 Traditional Meals

Epcot China stall served up Black pepper shrimp with sichuan noodles whilst Canberra served up Indian dosai with vegetable curry and coconut curry.

Canberra was the winner on this pairing! The black pepper was almost non-existant and the noodles were not particularly spicy - just generic chinese takeaway. Whereas the vege and coconut curries were not greasy, distinct flavours, the spices came through cleanly and the dosai were freshly made. This was gone in a flash!

The Memorial "Billy the Beef Tallow Boy Award for DEEEEP FRRRYYY!"

Disney is more than capable in this field with restaurant offerings such as the Doh-Bar and the Monte Cristo, however at the Epcot festival I didn't see anything that could compete with this Canberra offering:

Take 1 potato, spiral cut, dip in batter & DEEEEP FRRRYYY!!

CHIPS ON A STICK! They'll coat your veins with impenetrable goo!


So festivals have the potential for massive Mr Creasote style gluttony. And I was certainly contemplating breaking out the stretchy pants - although I managed to restrain myself.

and as  I am a sugar addict and so far we have been exploring the savory options I can only offer 2 spoonfuls of sugar.

Come back for Part 2 when I'll cover desserts and drinks and balls.
Bon appetite!

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