A Week in the World - 10/7 - 10/21

[ElizaDoesDisney]

The tasting at WBG looks amazing. I'm very tempted to try to go this month or next. I've done one other tasting event there with George and it was fantastic. My only quibble is I'd prefer more comfortable bar stools with backs but it's a minor complaint. Chalk Hill is a great chardonnay. I think it's on several WDW menus. I'd love to know the local spots your foodie tablemates recommended. I've somehow not made it to Jaleo yet. I really need to fix that!! Love Amare and that modern grape drink is my favorite!!

The tasting at WBG was upstairs and the tables were a mix of the high tops with stools and regular tables with chairs. I bet if you asked ahead of time, they could make sure you got sat at a lower table with a normal chair.

Here's the spots my new friends recommended (we talked about a bunch of other places on property that we've all been too before, but I only wrote down the new-to-me ones):

• Illume (JW Marriott)
• Lobby bar at JW - daily happy hour 4-5PM - 2 for 1 glasses of Tattinger Champagne
• Knife & Spoon (Ritz)
• Capa (Four Seasons)
• Ravello (Four Seasons)
• Ravenous Pig
• Shiki-Sei (EPCOT)
• Three Bridges (Coronado Springs)
• Eddie V's Prime Seafood
• Camille (very small tasting menu place - Vietnamese-French fusion)

They also mentioned that places, including Jaleo and WBG, have started doing more wine dinners recently, so keep an eye out for that.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

The tasting at WBG was upstairs and the tables were a mix of the high tops with stools and regular tables with chairs. I bet if you asked ahead of time, they could make sure you got sat at a lower table with a normal chair.

Here's the spots my new friends recommended (we talked about a bunch of other places on property that we've all been too before, but I only wrote down the new-to-me ones):

• Illume (JW Marriott)
• Lobby bar at JW - daily happy hour 4-5PM - 2 for 1 glasses of Tattinger Champagne
• Knife & Spoon (Ritz)
• Capa (Four Seasons)
• Ravello (Four Seasons)
• Ravenous Pig
• Shiki-Sei (EPCOT)
• Three Bridges (Coronado Springs)
• Eddie V's Prime Seafood
• Camille (very small tasting menu place - Vietnamese-French fusion)

They also mentioned that places, including Jaleo and WBG, have started doing more wine dinners recently, so keep an eye out for that.

Ooooh, thank you!!! 2-for-1 Tattinger, I'm tempted to run over this afternoon! I think Paddlefish has started to do some recent wine dinners as well. Sure wish the EPCOT restaurants would return to offering them during F&W festival! I haven't tried it yet, but the Bonnet Creek resorts are offering an epicurious progressive dinner experience on Fridays and Saturdays into November. It's under refurb right now, but if you haven't tried Bull & Bear at the Waldorf, that's worth a try. Is Four Flamingos at your resort? I've been curious about it as the concept is from former Top Chef winner, Richard Blais - he's there pretty often but not nightly.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Ooooh, thank you!!! 2-for-1 Tattinger, I'm tempted to run over this afternoon! I think Paddlefish has started to do some recent wine dinners as well. Sure wish the EPCOT restaurants would return to offering them during F&W festival! I haven't tried it yet, but the Bonnet Creek resorts are offering an epicurious progressive dinner experience on Fridays and Saturdays into November. It's under refurb right now, but if you haven't tried Bull & Bear at the Waldorf, that's worth a try. Is Four Flamingos at your resort? I've been curious about it as the concept is from former Top Chef winner, Richard Blais - he's there pretty often but not nightly.

I did the progressive dinner at Bonnett Creek two years ago and it was excellent. It’s sold out Friday and I’m staying out by airport Saturday so not sure it makes sense this time.

Four Flamingos is at this resort. Maybe I’ll get a chance to wander over for a drink and a bite some evening.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Between late night snacks last night and mid day snacks today I tried all three Gideons cookies. Good. But I’m not sure any cookie is worth a 3.5 hour wait. Even the 30 minutes it took from joining the physical line to checking out yesterday is right on the edge of too long for me.



While I’m on vacation from my main job, today was expected to be a busy day for my side hustle so I decided it was a good day to do a resort day. Only got about 50% of the volume I’d hoped for the side hustle. But by every other metric a successful day. I had a leisurely brunch at the hotel buffet (meh), read my kindle, laid by the pool, took a nap, swung in a hammock. And then had dinner tonight at Victoria and Alberts. One of my local friends ended up coming along. I surprisingly was able to add a person in app yesterday and they confirmed it via email this morning. We had a great time. I’ll get pictures organized and posted at some point - I’m kind of in a food coma at the moment.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Victoria and Alberts. It’s not for everyone. It’s pricey and the food can sometimes veer into presentation over taste imho. That said, I loved it. Again. I went for the first time in January of this year. I was a little concerned that the menu would be too similar, but it was wholly different. Although some proteins were same (toothfish, caviar) the dishes were different enough to feel new.

Menu


Zero proof welcome cocktail


Three starting bites.
Melon with iberico.


Lobster tartlette


Wagyu with Parmesan foam - this had such deep beef flavor


I’m on the skyline now to Epcot. Will be updating with more courses as I find time in lines.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Champagne



Caviar over corn flan. This was lovely - the sweetness of the corn and the salty of the caviar balanced perfectly. (Also I’ve never tried a popcorn shoot before but I’ve seen them on chopped. Not a ton of flavor but always fun to try a brand new ingredient.)


Rose champagne


Salmon - Smokey and delicious. The flower on top was visually stunning. This was served with a whey sauce mounted with butter - it was very aromatic, but was a miss for me. It just didn’t add anything taste wise and the fish was swimming in it.


First bread and butter course - baguette.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Blagny (Pinot noir grapes).


Paired with a toothfish served with summer squash and topped with fried squash blossom. If I could order an entire plate of the fried squash blossoms - I would.



Second round of bread and butter. Regular butter on the bottom and a ramp compound butter on top. Ramp butter sounded so weird but was fabulous - very onion forward.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Primitivo - I missed a picture. Too much eating and chatting and drinking.

Cochon - Basically fancy bacon. And as you can see I started eating before I remembered to take a picture - those pairings were catching up to me.


Red wine with lamb medallions. My friend noted that she’s not a huge lamb fan, but was willing to try it. They offered to sub it out for chicken which she loved.



Last bread course - rustic wheat. It was delicious. But I was filling up at this point and only tasted a bite.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Sherry paired with cheese plate - four cheeses. They told us what they were, but do I remember? No. I remember the brownish one was made into a foam that was great with the cracker. And the blue cheese paired particularly well with the Sherry. It turns out my note taking goes down considerably when I’m out with a good friend and yapping versus when I’m solo. Who would have thought?


Then coffee. This mad scientist contraption is such fun.

Dessert 1 - Mascarpone ice cream with banana foster sauce and crumble. This was fabulous! If they sold it by the pint, I’d be in for a regular shipment.



Dessert 2 - Strawberry. Strawberry cake, strawberry compote, white chocolate mousse, white/ruby/strawberry chocolate. This was too sweet for my preferences, but still very good.


And petit fours. We were stuffed so we had the mini marshmellow squares (marshmallow whipped with goat cheese and topped with chocolate) since the server did they wouldn’t travel well. The rest are packed up in my fridge still.

All in all a fabulous meal. It’s definitely in the worth a splurge bucket for me. I could see this turning into an annul tradition. At least while I’m still working and can justify the cost. The food is fantastic, but the service is arguably even better. We had two servers and they both managed that incredibly difficult balance of being formal/professional while still being warm/fun. And they were clearly passionate about the food and wine (or at least faked it well enough that I couldn’t tell.).

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

That brings us current. I slept in, did a little bit of side hustle work, skipped breakfast because it sounded like way too much and finally headed to parks. I’m stacking up some lightning lines for DHS this afternoon while poking my way around World showcase.

Mimosa flight = the best way to start a Disney morning.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Poking around world showcase. Despite the weather being better than expected, it’s still a bit hot and muggy for me today. So basically nothing sounded good from the booths and I decided to grab a late lunch reservation at Shiki-Sai. Looking forward to some sushi.

Key lime radler from Belgium. Very refreshing.


Fig cocktail from Morocco. Very good - right on the edge of too sweet for my taste - so folks who like sweet will love this I think.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Lunch at Shiki-Sai was good. It’s not the best sushi in Disney (see: Morimoto’s), but it’s pretty darn decent for in park sushi. And a nice, relaxed atmosphere.


I started with a Sapporo


Otoro nigiri. Good but not as fatty as some otoro I’ve had. I think I’d stick to more “standard” sushi next time.


Salmon roll


Agedashi Tofu - Very good (I love tofu but never get it right trying to make it myself). I’m sure it’s traditional to serve it this way, but I wish the tofu was served separately from the broth. The best parts were the crispy bits that hadn’t gotten soggy from the sauce.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Catching up. Spent the afternoon over at Hollywood Studios riding and exploring. Including a stop at my favorite bar - Tune Up Lounge for a cocktail.



Stayed in the parks until it became clear that the weather was going to be moving in and it was going to be a yucky night. Decided I didn’t want to deal with that so back to hotel.

Ended up eating at the bar at Four Flamingos, by chef Richard Blais. It was excellent.

I started with a Summer Thyme Cocktail - strawberry infused vodka, limoncello, thyme simple syrup, lemon juice, and soda. Yum yum.


The bartender recommended a King Estates “Inscription” Pinot Noir to go with my food. It was nice and drinkable.


Tuna Tostada - I cracked into it before remembering to get a pic. It was topped with. A “passion fruit yolk” which looked like an egg yolk but added a citrus note to the dish once broken open.


Oxtail and foie gras empanada.


Everything was very good, I’d come out of my way to come back here even if I wasn’t staying on property. And they validate parking which makes it easier. (I hate paying for parking to dine - it’s one of my pet peeves.)


The weather today was meh. I just had an incredibly lazy resort day instead of actually doing anything. Going to Knife & Spoon tonight for dinner. And broke down and booked the Bonnet Creek Progressive dinner for Saturday - very much looking forward to it.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

I think you and I are cocktail soulmates. Everything you order looks and sounds so delicious!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Having fun catching up. I don't get the hype around Gideon's either ... but I don't really have a sweet tooth. V&A looks absolutely exquisite and how cool that a friend was able to join last minute. I also dine solo often and enjoy it but sometimes it's fun to have a dinner companion. I enjoyed Shiki Sai. I'm hoping that with the bar it will regularly be available as a walk-up. I am SO excited that you tried Four Flamingos! Thank you! And even more excited that you loved it and would return even if not staying there. Moving it up on my list as we speak. The strawberry cocktail and tuna tostada are right up my alley. Super interested in Knife & Spoon and if you think it lives up to the Michelin star (know it's a new chef). And hurrah for adding the progressive dinner! Can't wait to hear about that too. I think I want you to make all my dining plans from here on out!

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Back at the hotel doing laundry after a long day at MK and EPCOT. Time to catch this up. Last night had dinner at Knife & Spoon. It was good - some dishes very good. But service was a bit haphazard. All in all I would say it was a very good dinner. But, this is my first time dining at a Michelin starred restaurant and it didn’t crack my top ten list, so take that as you will. Also of note is I didn’t try their dry aged beef which sounds amazing since those are all large format steaks. Maybe that would sway me and I’d definitely come back here when I can drag some folks along to share it.

I went with the “Green Menu”, a five course tasting menu featuring local ingredients with tasting. I figured it would be a good introduction to the menu. Plus I’m a sucker for “local ingredients”.



First course was a yellowtail with miso sand and sea foam paired with a Gruner. This was excellent.


Salad of endive, radish, grilled green onion and grilled kale. This was well balanced, but was a huge portion. Paired with a dry Reisling.



The Seasonal Vegetables of zucchini and squash with an incredible pistachio sauce. There were some small bits of pickled something or other that really brought the dish together. This is the kind of dish that makes me think I could maybe try going vegan. Paired with a local beer - Sun Squishy IPA.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Last savory course was a broiled snapper with an aji broth. This was excellent, but again was a ton of food - I was sad to have to leave some of the fish behind. Served with a new to me wine. I have no tasting notes (oops) but I enjoyed it and thought it paired well.



And dessert was a pear chutney, tea sorbet, phyllo, and meringue. This was very, very, very good. Really nice balance of flavors and textures. Paired with a sweet ice wine.


And as a final treat, a passion fruit paper plane cocktail.


Pretty reasonable bill for a tasting menu with pairing at a Michelin starred restaurant.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

Today I spent most of the day at Magic Kingdom. Including a lunch/air conditioning break at Jungle Skipper’s Canteen. MK is kind of a food wasteland. This shrimp/rice dish is my go to for in park dining. And along with a lager, or in this case, two, it makes for a decent meal.

 

[ElizaDoesDisney]

I reached my MK limit and was headed out of park a little before 4. Took a boat to GF and decided to grab dinner there.

Started at Enchanted Rose for an Island Rose cocktail. A fancy (and expensive ) vodka with pineapple juice. Kind of takes me back to my college era Malibu and pineapple days.



The over to Citricos. I started with an Orange Blossom martini.


As always they bring up incredible bread and butter. A nice bonus here.


Started with a hamachi crudo.


And then a glass of Sancerre.


And finally, the duck with celeriac purée and tagatelle pasta. This might be my favorite dish on property.


Then went over to EPCOT to hit up some future world attractions. That catches us up to live. I’m in the room watching hockey, doing laundry, and noshing on the last of the Gideon’s cookies. Tomorrows plans: ? I have the progressive dinner tomorrow night. Beyond that I haven’t decided. Maybe AK or DHS. Maybe Disney Springs. We’ll see.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Thanks for the review of Knife & Spoon. I'm a huge Top Chef fan and really kicking myself that I didn't try it when one of the contestants was still the day-to-day chef there (he left shortly after the star was awarded). But still looks well worth a try -- that yellowtail dish especially! Totally agree on MK being a food disappointment. It's so disappointing as there's so much potential ... but I suppose they don't "need" to do anything to draw crowds and probably more than any other park they have toddler palates to please. You're reminding me I'm due for a return to Citricos. Have fun today. Hope the progressive dinner is awesome!