2017 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival: August 31, 2017 - November 13, 2017

I was disappointed with the crispy chicken from farm fresh. The gravy was cold and the corn bread tasted like it had been sitting. The chicken was okay but nothing special. The Mac & cheese handwich was really good. The le cellier filet mignon was also very good. I will admit it was better the first time I had it though. The second time tasted like it sat for awhile.
 
This year, my top two food favorites came from Canada. Both the filet and soup were excellent, and almost a good value compared to what you’d spend to eat there.

If I had 3 filets the same size of what I was served at the F&W this year, I would have spent $24 and had a meal size portion. What’s that dish going for at LeCellier these days? Like $50?

I think the soup was not such bargain, but there was only so much soup I felt like eating in the heat. It was super delicious tho.

Others in my group agreed that these were among our favorite items of the 2017 Festival.
 
I really love reading every one's opinions and experiences.
They really make me appreciate our attendance early in the festival and weekdays. Everything was made fresh, they didn't run out of anything, and dishes were consistent. Low crowds.
 


I also thought the smoked corn beef was good but salty. Maybe if it was served over warm crispy potatoes like the description instead of chips it would help haha.

Anyways, guys we gotta stop reviewing dishes I wanna go back! :rotfl:
I just had a quick few days at the end of September, beginning of October. Did 4 special dining events & a few deminars while I was there around a couple of D23 events at EPCOT for the 35 & F & W. Got to try a few things but I go back next Wednesday for 2 weeks so hopefully I'll get to try the rest of the items I want before the end of the Festival. Have 5 more special events and one deminar booked. The rest will be booths & visiting the other parks along with a couple of dessert parties. I wish I could manage the Holiday Festival in EPCOT but I think I'm done for this year after this next trip and there are no DVC rooms to be had so that helps.
 
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My top foods were the liquid nitro chocolate truffle, the Scottish lamb stew with Neeps and Tatties, and the Creme Brûlée in France, but in all honesty I'm such a fan of Creme Brûlée that you could probably tell me anything was Creme Brûlée and I'd like it. The lamb was a real step down this year-parts of it seemed raw and it was very grissly.
 


Just back from our annual Food & Wine Fest trip. This is probably our 14th or 15th year attending and we are big foodies. We no longer do many of the special events (been there, done that) unless there is something really new and intriguing. Instead, we concentrate on the booths and wine tastings. We arrived Monday morning and spent the first three days almost entirely at Epcot, eating from the booths. We did two wine tastings on Wednesday and one each on Thursday and Friday, so we were at the festival every day of our trip. Here's our take:

The good:
* Crowd levels were nice and low for our entire trip, which is why we come mid-week. We didn't wait in many lines. The weather after Monday night's storm was perfect, too!
* The mini gift cards are still the best way to go, even better than in years past. With the wrist gift cards, the CMs could just scan the back to charge us. No pins, no signatures, no sliding or waiting to process! We skipped ahead in so many lines because we used the card and others were paying with other methods.
* Loved the continued practice of spreading out the booths through the park and having more in future world. The little area in Future World West with a collection all together was really nice.
* Management of the wine tastings. Check-in was quick and easy, the festival center was never very crowded, and we never waited very long to be seated.
* Loaded Mac & Cheese and the M.I.A. cucumber and lime hard water at Active Eats
* Braised Beef "Stroganoff" at The Cheese Studio
* Cauliflower Risotto at Almond Orchard
* Beijing Roasted Duck Bao Bun at China (always a favorite and didn't mind this being bigger!)
* Warm Goat Cheese Pudding with Spinach in France
* Roasted Irish Sausage in Ireland


The bad:
* Larger portion sizes. Normally we do about a third of the booths each of the first three days, then revisit favorites the rest of the trip. However, even sharing between the two of us, we found the portion sizes were filling us up and we began tossing a LOT of food that we really didn't want to waste. Not to mention, they're charging more because of the larger portions. Isn't it meant to be a "taste"?
* Less focus on wine. Many of the booths had mixed drinks or beer instead of (or with a smaller selection of) wines. We've discovered many wines at the festival in previous years and felt like there wasn't much interesting or new this year among the limited offerings. We did buy wine from the tastings, but not because of our experience at the booths as we usually do.
* Merchandise - I love Figment but did not like the animation style drawing they chose for all the merchandise with him on it. The white shirt was somewhat cute, but they were sold out of small sizes. The grey one was okay, but too subtle in the design (you couldn't even read the words on it). For the first year in probably 10, I did not purchase a festival shirt.
* Madras Red Curry from India - overwhelmed by the taste of overcooked carrots
* Smoked Beef Brisket and Pimento Cheese at Hops & Barley - Salty, dry, AWFUL brisket (I'm from KC, so yes a snob, but it was SO bad), not nearly enough pimento cheese
* Wasabi Shumai Steamed Pork Dumplings - more disappointing than bad... if you begin the name of the dish with "wasabi", you might actually want to put some in it
* ALL the drinks at Light Lab - not only did they taste bad, they did NOT glow! I was more impressed by the glass of sprite with the fruit boba balls in the light-up glass at the Odyssey
 
Just back from our annual Food & Wine Fest trip. This is probably our 14th or 15th year attending and we are big foodies. We no longer do many of the special events (been there, done that) unless there is something really new and intriguing. Instead, we concentrate on the booths and wine tastings. We arrived Monday morning and spent the first three days almost entirely at Epcot, eating from the booths.

Thank you so much for this fantastic summary. I really appreciate it, especially since you've attended so many.
 
@The Expert Nice report, thanks for sharing.

Our experience was smaller portions this year compared to last. Last year, we were there the week leading up to Matthew. This year, we got there right after Irma. I wonder if the difference in portion sizes had something to do with the storms. Like last year, they were trying to get rid of the food ahead of the storm, and this year, they were waiting on supplies to be replenished.

IDK. It’s probably simply luck of the draw. I was with a big family group, and we split a lot of things so we could taste more items. In that scenario, bigger is def better.

Anyhow, the wine samples were very tiny and much too expensive. I doubt I’ll be back next year, but I hope they improve on these points next year.
 
Just back from our annual Food & Wine Fest trip. This is probably our 14th or 15th year attending and we are big foodies. We no longer do many of the special events (been there, done that) unless there is something really new and intriguing. Instead, we concentrate on the booths and wine tastings. We arrived Monday morning and spent the first three days almost entirely at Epcot, eating from the booths. We did two wine tastings on Wednesday and one each on Thursday and Friday, so we were at the festival every day of our trip. Here's our take:

The good:
* Crowd levels were nice and low for our entire trip, which is why we come mid-week. We didn't wait in many lines. The weather after Monday night's storm was perfect, too!
* The mini gift cards are still the best way to go, even better than in years past. With the wrist gift cards, the CMs could just scan the back to charge us. No pins, no signatures, no sliding or waiting to process! We skipped ahead in so many lines because we used the card and others were paying with other methods.
* Loved the continued practice of spreading out the booths through the park and having more in future world. The little area in Future World West with a collection all together was really nice.
* Management of the wine tastings. Check-in was quick and easy, the festival center was never very crowded, and we never waited very long to be seated.
* Loaded Mac & Cheese and the M.I.A. cucumber and lime hard water at Active Eats
* Braised Beef "Stroganoff" at The Cheese Studio
* Cauliflower Risotto at Almond Orchard
* Beijing Roasted Duck Bao Bun at China (always a favorite and didn't mind this being bigger!)
* Warm Goat Cheese Pudding with Spinach in France
* Roasted Irish Sausage in Ireland


The bad:
* Larger portion sizes. Normally we do about a third of the booths each of the first three days, then revisit favorites the rest of the trip. However, even sharing between the two of us, we found the portion sizes were filling us up and we began tossing a LOT of food that we really didn't want to waste. Not to mention, they're charging more because of the larger portions. Isn't it meant to be a "taste"?
* Less focus on wine. Many of the booths had mixed drinks or beer instead of (or with a smaller selection of) wines. We've discovered many wines at the festival in previous years and felt like there wasn't much interesting or new this year among the limited offerings. We did buy wine from the tastings, but not because of our experience at the booths as we usually do.
* Merchandise - I love Figment but did not like the animation style drawing they chose for all the merchandise with him on it. The white shirt was somewhat cute, but they were sold out of small sizes. The grey one was okay, but too subtle in the design (you couldn't even read the words on it). For the first year in probably 10, I did not purchase a festival shirt.
* Madras Red Curry from India - overwhelmed by the taste of overcooked carrots
* Smoked Beef Brisket and Pimento Cheese at Hops & Barley - Salty, dry, AWFUL brisket (I'm from KC, so yes a snob, but it was SO bad), not nearly enough pimento cheese
* Wasabi Shumai Steamed Pork Dumplings - more disappointing than bad... if you begin the name of the dish with "wasabi", you might actually want to put some in it
* ALL the drinks at Light Lab - not only did they taste bad, they did NOT glow! I was more impressed by the glass of sprite with the fruit boba balls in the light-up glass at the Odyssey

I always enjoy finding other Disney fans from KC. My wife and I live in Raytown.

We didn’t do any special F&W special events this year when we were there in September, and we did just the booths.
 
Below you will find my updated list of ratings for food and wine offerings. Items with an asterisk have been updated since my last post. This will very likely be my last update. I’ll be going one more time, but don’t anticipate trying anything new.

I was entertained by an employee at the Africa booth “correcting” the pronunciation of somebody ordering. The person ordered the Lentil stew using the boring old normal pronunciation. The employee replied, “oh, you mean the lent-eel stew?”

Food


*Pulled Duck Confit - Wine & Dine Studio (9/10, 9/10, 9/10) - Tasty, tender, and a HUGE serving! Best item of the festival for sure!

Teriyaki Glazed Spam Hash - Hawai'i (9/10, 8/10, 7/10) - I can't believe one of my favorite items is a Spam dish! Though the last one was a small portion with hardly any spam.

Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle - Chocolate Studio (8/10, 8/10)

Braised Beef “Stroganoff” - Cheese Studio (8/10) - Very tasty, and a hearty portion.

Roasted Verlasso Salmon - Active Eats (8/10) - The chimichurri was amazing!

Carrot Cake and Cream Cheese Icing - Hops & Barley (8/10)

Belgian Waffle with Berry Compote - Belgium (8/10)

Pão de Queijo - Brazil (8/10)

Piggy Wings - Flavors From Fire (8/10, 7/10)

Quesito - Islands of the Caribbean (8/10)

*Spinach and Paneer Cheese Pocket - Africa (7/10, 8/10, 8/10, 8/10) - Has a nice spice to it.

Tipsy Laird - Scotland (8/10)

Baked Shrimp Scampi Dip - Coastal Eats (7/10, 7/10, 9/10) - Great flavor, but the Shrimp was chewy the first two times.

Salmon BLT Sushi Roll - Japan (9/10, 5/10) - The first one was amazing. All I tasted the second time was lettuce and tomato.

Passion Fruit Cheesecake - Hawai'i (7/10)

Croissant aux Escargots - France (7/10) - So buttery!

Seared Scallops - Coastal Eats (7/10, 7/10)

*Seared Scallops - Wine and Dine Studio (7/10)

Korma Chicken - India (7/10)

Crispy Pork Belly - Brazil (7/10, 7/10)

*“La Cellier” wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon (7/10) - Had some gristle, and wasn’t remotely warm. Other than the gristle, it still tasted good.

Kalua Pork Slider - Hawai'i (8/10, 5/10) - Second one had tough, chewy meat and a completely soggy bun.

Traditional Scottish Lamb Stew - Scotland (7/10)

Seared Shrimp and Scallop Cake - Thailand (7/10)

Black Pepper Shrimp - China (7/10, 7/10)

Zesty Cheeseburger and Cheddar Cheese Macaroni Handwich - Craft Beers (7/10)

Peanut Butter White Chocolate Mousse - Earth Eats (7/10)

Loaded Mac ‘n’ Cheese - Active Eats (7/10)

*Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup - Canada (7/10) - Good flavor, but it was much thicker than previous years. Pretzel roll is a nice addition.

Warm Cheddar Cheese and Stout Dip - Ireland (7/10)

Smoked Corned Beef - Flavors From Fire (9/10, 5/10, 5/10) - Delicious the first time. The corned beef was borderline inedible the other times, though the chips and cheese were still good.

Pistachio Cardamom Bundt Cake - India (7/10)

Beer Braised Beef - Belgium (7/10)

Cheese Trio - Cheese Studio (7/10)

Charcuterie in a Cone - Spain (7/10)

Crème Brûlée à la Confiture de Framboises - France (6/10) - Could have been a tad sweeter. Almost tasted like milk.

Savory Caramelized Onion Boursin Garlic Cheese Tart - Cheese Studio (6/10) - Huge portion, but only okay taste.

Lump Crab Cake - Coastal Eats (6/10)

Chocolate Picante - Flavors From Fire (6/10) - Dense, but good flavor.

Wasabi Shumai Steamed Pork Dumplings - Japan (6/10) - Wife HATED these.

Roasted Irish Sausage - Ireland (6/10)

Seafood Salad - Spain (6/10) - Quite oily with TONS of bell peppers. What little seafood there was tasted pretty good.

Grilled Tuna Tataki - Hawaii (6/10)

Smoked Beef Brisket and Pimento Cheese - Hops & Barley (6/10)

Beef Empanada - Patagonia (6/10) - A bit too sweet.

L'Orange Cotton Candy - Craft Beers (6/10)

Almond Breeze Strawberry Smoothie - Almond Orchard (6/10)

Crispy Chicken - Farm Fresh (5/10, 6/10)

Warm Goat Cheese Pudding with Spinach - France (5/10)

*Warm Indian Bread - India (5/10) - Bread was decent, but we didn’t like any of the sauces. I’ll stick with Sanaa for my naan fix!

*Mango Lassi - India (5/10)

Grilled Lamb T-bone - Australia (5/10) - Fatty, tough, and chewy. Bring back the lamb chop!

Sweet Pancake - Flavors From Fire (5/10) - Pancake was extremely dense.

Cauliflower Risotto - Almond Orchard (5/10)

Fresh Potato Pancake - Scotland (4/10) - Is the smoked salmon supposed to be hot? It was somewhat off putting.

Tequila and Chipotle Shrimp - Mexico (3/10) - The Shrimp were decent, but the thing they were served on was horrible.

Sweet Avocado Crema - Active Eats (2/10) - This just did not work for me. The wife liked it well enough.


Drinks

Mango Bubble Tea - China (9/10, 9/10, 8/10, 9/10, 9/10, 9/10) - So refreshing! Third one didn't have as much mango flavor, but it was still good. All others were awesome!

Moët & Chandon Brut Rosé Imperial Champagne - Almond Orchard (8/10)

Italian Margarita - Italy (8/10, 8/10, 8/10) - Extremely weak, but a very good, refreshing frozen lemonade!

Kurt Russell's Gogi Pinot Noir - Earth Eats (7/10)

Spiked Chai Latte (frozen) - Future World East Joffrey’s cart (7/10)

Two Henrys Elderberry Cream Hard Cider - Farm Fresh (6/10)

Frozen Caipirinha - Brazil (6/10)

Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Yellow Label Brut Champagne - Almond Orchard (6/10)

RGB (strawberry kiwi apple freeze) - Light Lab (3/10)
 
So I decided to try the ratings. I didn't do as much this year as in the past, but...

Food



Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle - Chocolate Studio 9/10

Braised Beef “Stroganoff” - Cheese Studio 7/10 I love Boursin Cheese, there was no taste of it here

Savory Caramelized Onion Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs Cheese Tart with Cold Arugula Salad and Aged Balsamic 4/10 Huge serving no taste! Threw a lot of it away

Loaded Mac ‘n’ Cheese with Nueske’s® Pepper Bacon, Cheddar Cheese, Peppers and Green Onions 8/10

Beer-braised Beef served with Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes 7/10 My beef was a little tough!

Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup served with a Pretzel Roll 9/10

Chicken Potstickers 8/10 Pretty basic, but they didn't screw it up!

Lump Crab Cake with Napa Cabbage Slaw and Avocado Lemongrass Cream 5/10

Ricotta and Zucchini Ravioli with Rustic Tomato Sauce 8/10

Crispy Chicken with Griddled Cornbread and Red Eye Gravy 1/10 I'm southern, that was bad cornbread and bad gravy with soggy chicken... YUCK! Into the trash!

Warm Goat Cheese Pudding with Spinach 8/10

New England Lobster Roll 2/10 Dried out lobster!

Warm Irish Cheddar Cheese and Stout Dip with Irish Brown Bread 5/10 Lost points due to unappetizing appearance!

Puff Pastry with Sweetened Cream Cheese and Guava Sauce 9/10

Rib Eye Taco: Marinated Rib Eye, Roasted Chipotle Sauce and Grilled Scallions on a Corn Tortilla 7/10

Tequila Chipotle Shrimp: Served on a Black Bean Huarache garnished with Red and Green Cabbage, Queso Fresco and Crema Mexicana 9/10

Fresh Potato Pancake with Scottish Smoked Salmon and Herbed Sour Cream 10/10 My only repeat of this festival!

Traditional Spanish Paella with Shrimp, Mussels, Chicken and Crispy Chorizo 8/10

Artist Palette of Cheese and Wine 8/10




Drinks


Italian Margarita - 3/10

Spiked Chai Latte (frozen) 8/10

Two Henrys Elderberry Cream Hard Cider 7/10


Moët & Chandon Brut Rosé Imperial 8/10

Happy Peach with DeKuyper Peach Liqueur and Myers’s Dark Rum 9/10 (Be careful this one packs a punch!)

La Passion Martini Slush 6/10 (I liked last year's better)

St-Germain Sparkling Kir 8/10

Caposaldo Peach Moscato 8/10

Bunratty Meade Honey Wine 9/10 (My biggest surprise!)

Caribbean White Sangria 1/10 (threw most of it away)
 
I've been debating since day 1 if I should buy a cookbook. There are only about 4 or 5 recipes that I'd want
 
The liquid nitro chocolate almond truffle paired with the valpolicella is just mind blowing!

I agree! By far it was the best thing at the F&W festival. Also enjoyed lamb stew in Scotland, Creme Brûlée in France, and Carrot Cake at Hops and Barley. Worst were the Savory Caramelized Onion Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs Cheese Tart, Pistachio Bundt Cake (so dry), and former lamb chop thing. Mine was almost raw!
 

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