The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is an annual event that takes place in Disney World. This is a garden festival with thousands of flowers and plants as well as themed topiaries. These provide fantastic photo opportunities, brighten up Epcot and sing of spring. Another draw of the Flower and Garden Festival is the International Food Booths. These booths offer food and beverages from different parts of the world. We picked up a ‘passport to the festival’ this has menus and you can tick off what you have tried. As well as lists of the gardens, topiaries and concerts. Epcot has a number of festivals throughout the year. Whilst a festival is on, the weekends get busier and the evenings can take on a real party vibe. This was the first time I have managed to get out to Epcot during the Flower & Garden festival. I really enjoyed it and it makes exploring each pavilion more fun with something to eat in hand. During our stay we opted out of ‘mouse-keeping’ the Disney speak for house keeping. This is an option if you are staying in a moderate or value resort. For each night you get $10 on a gift voucher. We decided to use this gift voucher at the festival food booths. I would recommend using a voucher. Then you have a limit as some things can be slightly expensive and as well the choice is huge. It would be very easy to spend spend spend at the festival so a predetermined limit is particularly useful. Now on to the food we tried. Whilst usually I go through my food adventures chronologically, we spent a couple of days at the festival and tried different things each day; and so for ease I have grouped them into their respective food booths.
The Citrus Blossom
The first food booth we visited was The Citrus Blossom I could have eaten everything on this menu. We decided that we were going to share every snack. This means there’s more space to try more dishes. We picked up Crispy Citrus Chicken, this was fried chicken breast with orange aioli, cucumber and micro greens. This was delicious and so flavourful. The chicken was crisp with a yielding soft interior and the cumber provided freshness that cut through the orange aioli. We also picked up a Citrus Shortcake from this booth. Orange chiffon cake with lemon curd, mandarins, whipped cream and citrus crumble. The cake was so light and the mandarins were juicy, with sharp lemon curd and rich whipped cream this was a great combination. Cool and sweet in the hot Florida sun. We also got a drink here it was an orange cream slushy this tasted like the orange ice lollies that have vanilla ice cream at their centre, in blended drink from. There was the option of a souvenir cup; which of course we ended up getting ( You can see him in the picture our ‘Orange Bird Sipper’). We did end up washing this out and filling with water for around the park. This kept us more hydrated as we constantly had water to hand. The drink was very sweet and I wouldn’t get it again but if you like the idea of orange, vanilla sticky, sweet, creamy slush then go for it. Most people loved it – just not my favourite drink.
Bauernmarkt: Farmer’s Market
This food booth is located in the German pavilion. This is a beautiful pavilion and this food booth often has a queue. We picked up Potato Pancakes with Apple Sauce. This is all house-made and you can taste the freshness of the apple sauce. The pancakes we light and provided the perfect vehicle to scoop the sauce up. We also grabbed a Toasted Pretzel Bread this was topped with Black Forest Ham and Melted Gruyere Cheese. This was the perfect ham and cheese toasty. The amount of cheese was massive and the ham had a smoky flavour that was bumped up by the salty bread and smoothed out by the cheese. I could have eaten three of these, whilst wandering by the lake and smelling the sweet smells of the caramel shop nearby.
Primavera Kitchen
Off to Italy with this one the Italian pavilion is heavily based on Venice. The attention to detail is fantastic and really does make you feel like you could be in Venice. Although it doesn’t have the tight alleyways and walkways shaded by tall thin buildings, the architecture is detailed and brilliant. We got the Pizza Toscana (when in Italy). This was a white pizza with fennel infused sausage, caramelised onions and 3 types of cheese – Mozzarella, Asiago & Parmesan). This was incredibly cheesey I like cheese, so that was fine with me. Pork and fennel is also a favourite combination. The onions provided a sweetness that paired with the salty pork and parmesan really well. I would recommend this as I enjoyed it, however if you are not a cheese lover this may not be the perfect pizza for you.
The Smokehouse: Barbecue and Brews
This is in the American pavilion; the smoker they have is shaped like a steam train with smoke coming from the chimney. The smells coming from this food booth were amazing, the deep barbeque and charring of meat is always going to tempt me over. We decided upon a Pulled Pig Slider. This was pulled pork topped with coleslaw and served on a soft white roll. The pork was smoked well and had a deep flavour. The creamy coleslaw on top was a great partner, cooling with added crunch that was welcome against the blanket of soft pulled pork and bread. We also grabbed a frozen lemonade. Whilst not the most adventurous of drinks this is the perfect cooling beverage for the heat of the Floridian sun. It was super tart and cut through the wonderful richness of the pork. This booth also had two different barbecue sauces for you to apply to your dishes, one labeled sweet and the other, hot. It was fun to guess which one different people would go for. Definitely a booth I’d revisit.
Fleur de Lys
This booth is of course in the France pavilion. One of the prettiest pavilions that does recreate the feeling of Paris in the spring with many different food offerings, this is even before the festival rolls up. We decided to have a drink from this booth. We got La Vie en Rose Frozen Slushy. The theme of frozen drinks continues. In heat of Florida a frozen drink is a treat. This was Grey Goose Vodka Orange, St Germain Liquer, White and Red Cranberry Juice. This was very reminiscent of a cosmopolitan and was refreshing and deadly! You could easily drink these all day, although you’d certainly be worse for ware so that’s maybe not advised. The cranberry juices with the hint from the orange vodka was a brilliant combination that many people were experiencing. Everywhere you looked in the France pavilion someone was slipping one of these, and rightly so it’s a great drink.
Hanami
Hanami is the Japanese food booth at the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival and is the home of Frushi. Frushi is a sweet snack that is based on sushi. We ended up getting this twice as it was one of our favourites along with the citrus chicken. Frushi is Slices of fresh Pineapple, Melon & Strawberry rolled in Coconut Rice and was served with a garnish of Whipped Cream, Berry Sauce and Toasted Coconut. This was a revelation for us. My fiancée does not like coconut however the flavour was very subtle and the fresh fruit overtook it. The rice was a sweet vessel that contained really fresh fruit. Fresh fruit in the heat simply cannot taste bad – add whipped cream and I’ll certainly be smiling. Frushi is a festival favourite and everyone I spoke to raved about it. I can tell you the hype is to be believed. This will be back next year I’m sure, at least I wouldn’t want to be in the Japan booth if they decide not to offer it next year.
Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Carts Speciality Festival Offerings
Whilst not a festival exclusive location the different Joffrey’s carts each had a unique festival offering. I went for the coffee cart in Future World East, just after MouseGear on the way to Test Track and Mission: Space. Here they had the aptly named Pedal to the Meadow being located by test track and celebrating flower and garden. This was a frozen Cappuccino spiked with Vodka & Kahlua. This was all mine, as my fiancée doesn’t drink coffee. It was glorious. I really like the coffee from Joffrey’s anyway, now add vodka, Kahlua and freeze it and I am in coffee heaven. The flavours took me back to my college days when my drink of choice would be a Black or White Russian (maybe one for each hand). This went down far too quickly and it was a shame it was the last day of the festival, otherwise I would have definitely been back.
The Epcot Flower and Garden Festival was a lot of fun. It was beautiful to look at with so many flowers and plants that had been specially planted and designed. The food and drink offerings were really delicious and there was so much choice. Epcot is a fun park anyway and a festival just brings yet another element to enjoy. I’m already looking forward to the next one; which will be at the end of this year. Epcot International Festival of the Holidays! Find out what else we ate during our trip to Walt Disney World in June using the links below.
