With the EPCOT International Festival of the Arts coming to a close on the 19th, I thought it would be a good time to recap all the food and treats I had this year! This is one of my favorite festivals for so many reasons but the food is definitely at the top of that list. It’s pretty but also tastes as good as it looks. There are some really creative dishes that truly are works of art and ALMOST too pretty to eat, almost! I wish I had gotten the chance to eat all the things but I did get a good variety in considering how short this festival is, so here are the things I tried and how they were, enjoy!
Cuisine Classique
This booth was over by Test Track and had “Delightful flavors inspired by classic art” according to the Festival Passport. We had the Beef Wellington from here and it was DELICIOUS! It came with a mushroom duxelles, prosciutto and puff pastry with red wine Demi glaze. The actual Wellington was great and the mash that came with it was to die for!! Especially when you dipped it in the sauce that came on the plate. It has little carrots and onions too that were cooked perfectly, not over done and mushy.
I would definitely get this again! You could have also gotten Cast Iron roasted P.E.I Mussels at this booth and two different beers
The Deconstructed Dish
This booth is also over by Test Track and featured “Dishes fragmented and presented as never before”. We had the Deconstructed Key Lime Pie here and loved it! It was sweet and tart and all the flavors went so well together. This was a flexible key lime curd, “key lime” mousse, graham cracker cake and meringues. It’s honestly so pretty and well presented that you almost don’t want to eat it…..but I did….twice! Hahaha!
You could have also enjoyed a deconstructed BLT, a deconstructed strawberry mint julep with or without alcohol and a beer at this booth.
Deco Delights
You would find this booth near the Port of Entry at World Showcase and it featured ” Sweet treats inspired by Art Deco, from the gilded jazz age to the pastels of Miami Beach”. And I will say this is probably the cutest thing I have ever eaten! We had the Neapolitan Dessert Trio that included a chocolate tart, vanilla bean cheesecake and strawberry mousse. It tasted as good as it looked and I would definitely get it again. None of these desserts were over sweet to me and even though they were very different from each other, they complimented each other very well.
You could also enjoy three different beers, a beer flight or the espresso martini at this booth. This booth is also where you go once you have completed the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine to get your prize.
L’Art de la Cuisine Francaise
If you couldn’t guess, this booth was located in the France Pavilion and featured ” Spectacular French cuisine, plated with elegance and prepared with flair”. This booth had more options that most but we did only get the chance to try one thing from here. We had the Creme de brie en petit pain which was warm creamy brie in a house made bread bowl. I’ll be honest I didn’t have a lot of this, I don’t eat a lot of bread and cheese normally so this was a bit much for me. It was good but very rich and a little overwhelming for me. The bread was really good, the brie was just too rich and heavy for me.
Other things at this booth were the salmon mousse with smoked salmon, dill and flaxseed biscuit, the salmon puff, a duo of both of the salmon dishes, chocolate lava cake (this was my vote for what to get from this booth but I was overruled). They also had the frozen martini, an elderflower cocktail, rose and a pinot noir.
Vibrante & Vivido: Encanto Kitchen
This beautiful booth was located between France and Morocco in it’s own little tropical jungle and surrounded by art booths. This location featured “Authentic Columbian cuisine inspired by the Disney animated film, Encanto”. We tried two things at this booth! We had the Chorizo and Potato Empanada which was really good, better than last year I thought. It came with Turmeric Aioli and Annatto Aioli and I felt like it wasn’t as spicy as last year. I liked it last year but it was a touch too spicy for me so this was a welcome change for me! The pastry was perfectly cooked, flaky and crispy. I will absolutely get this again.
We also had the Coconut and Passion Fruit Smoothie that comes in a little souvenir cup, which I am a sucker for! This was really refreshing, not too sweet and Thatcher loved it. They also had a passion fruit filled mango cheesecake, a frozen Pina colada and a passion fruit daiquiri.
Goshiki
This is the booth in the Japan Pavilion featuring ” Delectable dishes featuring the “five colors” of Japanese cuisine”. We had the Wagyu Bun here that was a steamed bun filled with American wagyu beef served with green shiso sauce. This was outstanding! It was rich and buttery and just tasty. It looks like the steam pods in Animal Kingdom’s Satuli Canteen but this is WAY better than those and worth every penny.
You could also enjoy a sushi doughnut, ichigo mocha-dalfuku, a non alcoholic blueberry drink, a beer, a sake in a souvenir wooden cup that can be personalized and a blueberry cocktail.
L’Arte di Mangiare
I’ll be honest, the Italy booths are usually ones I skip at festivals because they never have anything that sounds good. But not this festival! The booth featured “Flavorful Baroque cuisine, prepared with rich colorant dramatic flavor. They blew it out of the park for the Festival of the Arts in Italy, I wanted everything here. But we decided on the Mozzarella Frita which was flash fried breaded fresh mozzarella with artist palette condiments that included basil pesto, marinara and a ketchup/mayo mix that I avoided! Hahaha! These were amazing and so good, not over or under cooked and the basil pesto was perfect!
We also decided to try the Conchiglle Ripiene or baked, stuffed conchiglie pasta with beef, ricotta, peas, pomodora and creamy sauce. These were also excellent and I would absolutely get them again. They were a great portion size too! At this booth you would also find a chocolate cheesecake, two beers, Prosecco, Italian sangria, Italian margarita with limoncello and an elderflower sparkling cocktail.
The Painted Panda
The Painted Panda was located in the China Pavilion and features “Decorative cuisine inspired by magnificent Chinese art”. We had a few things here and none of them were a disappointment. We had the Black and White Bubble Tea made with black tea, milk, chocolate and black and white boba pearls. This was good but a little too oily and creamy for our tastes so this is one that go thrown in the trash before it caused everyone t have a belly ache!
We also had the General Tso’s Chicken Shumai and it was so so good! These are the cutest little dumplings filled with General Tso’s Chicken and I love them! We also got the Butterfly Blue Cocktail that consists of butterfly pea flower infused with Vodka, light rum, lychee syrup and magic boba pearls. The drink itself was pretty good and light, refreshing, but unfortunately I am not a huge boba pearl fan so I feel like it distracted from the drink.
Figments Inspiration Station at the Odyssey
Guess where this is….the Odyssey Pavilion! This “booth” featured “Art, food and little sparks of magic”. This is where you go if you want to do some art while you ate as there were smaller vendors set up in the pavilion offering some fun activities like the bike spin art! So it could be a great place to take a mid day nap! We had two things from this booth, first up if the Rainbow Cake. This beautiful cake comes with freeze dried skittle on top and it was super moist and delicious!
We also grabbed the Blueberry filled Pasty Tart with Purple Icing that was a sugar cookie with blueberry filling. This was ok, I think I prefer the lunchbox tarts from Woody’s lunchbox in Hollywood Studios but it wasn’t bad. You could also find that super cool popcorn bucket at this location, a grape smoothie, 3 colorful ciders or a flight of all three and three beers.
Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine
One of my favorite things about all the EPCOT festivals in the food walk in the passports. You have to collect five stamps by trying five treats from across the festival. When you’re done you go to one of the booths, in this case Deco Delights, and collect your prize. My five stamps came from two Deconstructed Key Lime Pies, the Chorizo and Potato Empanada, the Neapolitan Trio and the Blueberry Filled Pastry Tart. This is just such a fun way to try things at the festivals. The prize this year was the same as last year, an artists palette cookie and a fruit smoothie in a souvenir plastic cup. The cookie is super cute and the smoothie was good but had kind of a bitter taste to it.
Conclusion
The food at Festival of the Art is some of my favorite, second only to Flower and Garden Festival if I am being honest. I am a sucker for presentation and everything at this festival is presented perfectly. It’s all so beautiful and delicious. The festival booths are great to me because instead of sitting down and paying a large amount of money on a giant entree you may not finish, you can go get a lot of small bites to eat alone or share for less money and get to try more. While I love sitting down at a nice restaurant, for me this is the way to go!
I hope this made you hungry! Hahaha! Just kidding, just hope it made you feel like you got to enjoy the EPCOT International Festival of the Arts one more time before it ends. It really is a fantastic festival. Thank you all for being here, you know I am so thankful for each and every one of you reading along each week, you are the best. Have the most magical day!