10 Best Snacks at Epcot Food & Wine Festival
Spread across the Global Marketplace booths around Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival are some 70+ different snack-sized food options of varying quality: some good, some bad, and some ugly (I’m looking at you, Vegan Korean BBQ). This post shares our picks for the best food at the event. If you are so inclined, you can see everything on our Booth Menus: Epcot Food & Wine Festival post (which now have been fully updated with reviews and photos for all menus).
Obviously, tastes may vary. Even when it comes to dishes that are objectively well-prepared, some people will love them while others won’t. Beyond that, there’s the added wrinkle with Food & Wine Festival’s samples differing from day to day and even hour to hour. Samples are produced quickly and in large quantities, and are not made to order. As such, quality can be inconsistent, and one person’s “perfectly cooked” steak could be over-cooked for a guest who orders the same thing 10 minutes later.
For that reason, I’m refraining from ranking these 10 best (actually, 11…I can’t count) Epcot Food & Wine Festival snacks in any sort of order. I’m also doing it as a bit of a cop-out, since I really enjoyed several items from the event, and had a difficult time just narrowing my list to 11.
Anyway, let’s start with the best-of Epcot Food & Wine Festival list…
Lamb Meatball with Spicy Tomato Chutney (New Zealand) — It’s tough to go wrong with lamb, and this dish at the New Zealand booth really delivered. What I really appreciated here was that this isn’t just a few meatballs plopped into a cardboard container. The large meatball is placed on a bread puff, and topped with a spiced tomato chutney that enhances the flavor of the meat. This should be a real crowd-pleaser, so don’t let the “spicy” scare you away.
Spicy Hummus Fries (Morocco) – Since approximately 3.5 parties dine at Spice Road Table per day, there’s a good chance most of you have never tried this dish from that restaurant. Remedy that by ordering them at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival. The portion is generous, and the flavor of the spicy (but not too spicy) fry-ish things contrasts with the zest of the cucumber tzatziki. I’m guessing the name on the menu will lure in a lot of picky eaters, with the actual product being something at the edge of some comfort zones, making it a good way to “accidentally” try something slightly adventurous.
Schinkennudeln: Pasta Gratin with Ham and Cheese (Germany) – I’m a bit reluctant to add this to the list because it’s fairly similar to the Nudel Gratin served at Sommerfest and not the kind of exotic dish I favor sampling at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, I can’t leave it off the list. It’s just too good and the portion size is too large to ignore. Grab some Schinkennudeln, a cold La Fin du Monde from Canada, and watch IllumiNations from the second story of Mitsukoshi in Japan–now that’s my idea of a great evening in Epcot!
Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond Truffle with Warm Whiskey Caramel (Chocolate Studio) – Is any explanation really necessary here? The name starts with “liquid nitro” and also includes “chocolate,” “truffle,” “whisky,” and “caramel.” That’s an all-star culinary cast if I’ve ever heard one. Seriously, though, this dessert lives up to all of the hype, and should not be missed.
Chilled Tomato Gazpacho (Greenhouse Guru) – Were I not aiming to do everything at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, I most definitely would have skipped this. Not because I strictly oppose gazpacho, but because I wouldn’t expect it to be the kind of dish done well when prepared in mass quantities. Well…it was. A creamy flavor that remained light and refreshing, with more than just a dash of crab. The new Greenhouse Guru booth was actually a surprise favorite for me at this year’s event.
Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Mousse with a Caramel Drizzle (Chew Collective) – With a variety of flavors and textures, this is peanut butterlicious dessert is not to be missed. Peanut butter is the predominant flavor here, but it’s not the only one, which is nice. I’d still like to see a return of the Pumpkin Mousse from a few years ago, but this is a nice consolation prize, I suppose.
Jamaican Beef Patty (Islands of the Caribbean) – Rarely does the Epcot Food & Wine Festival under-promise and over-deliver, but in the case of this beef patty, you actually receive two patties (plural). Granted, they are each smaller than hockey pucks, but still. I loved the rich, curried flavor of the meat in these, and the outer case provided a nice coating, too. This one was not unanimously enjoyed amongst our group, but I really liked it.
Croissant aux Escargots: Escargot Croissant with Garlic and Parsley (France) – I would say that this year’s Epcot Food & Wine Festival offers across-the-board improvements as to the last couple of years, but one booth that has been in decline (I think) for a while has been France. It used to be the highlight of the event, but that’s no longer the case for me. The escargot croissant is one exception, and is still most definitely worth trying. It’s also a good use of a snack credit.
Duck Confit with Creamy Polenta and Fire-roasted Salsa (Greenhouse Guru) – I love duck, so I was really looking forward to this. It did not disappoint, with the duck offering a great flavor and the polenta (which I ate separately so as to not overpower the unique taste of the duck) offering a rich finish. Maybe I’m softening up in my old age, but I never thought there would be a time when the booth with more of my favorites than any other would be called “Greenhouse Guru.” At least both dishes have meat in them, so I won’t be losing any carnivorous street cred.
Flan de Chocolate Abuelita (Mexico) – After the otherwise mediocre offerings at the Mexico booth, things ended on a high note with this. Not only was it delicious, but unlike the other offerings in Mexico, it felt like it was individually prepared using quality ingredients. This is one of the better flans I’ve had anywhere, and its quality was totally unexpected.
Le Cellier Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle-Butter Sauce (Canada) – This was another big surprise–for me at least. When I last tried this a few years ago, I was thoroughly underwhelmed. I had heard so much hype about it, and it turned out to be the biggest disappointment of that year’s Food & Wine Festival for me. This year was totally different, as the cut was great: tender and lean. Likewise, the preparation was impeccable. It reminded me of the Le Cellier of yore, actually. While I think your mileage may vary as to whether you get something perfectly cooked here, it’s worth the gamble–particularly if you’re only “betting” Disney Dining Plan snack credits.
Those were my favorites, but the good news is that there were another 10 or so snacks at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival that I thought were very good, and many more that I thought were at least good. There were only a few duds (like the aforementioned Vegan BBQ in South Korea and the entirety of the Italy booth), and overall the food offered at the booths was fairly good as compared to the last couple of years.
Check out our Epcot Food & Wine Festival Booth Menus post if you want to see and read more about every menu item we recommend–and DON’T recommend–this year! You’ll also want to read our full Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival Guide before you go to get an idea of what to do, strategy for the festival, and much more.
For Walt Disney World trip planning tips and comprehensive advice, make sure to read our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide and related articles. Also make sure to read our other Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews and Disney Dining Plan Resources.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you have any favorites from the Epcot Food & Wine Festival? What about least favorites? Anything you’re excited to try? Hearing from you is half the fun, so please share your thoughts in the comments below!
Perhaps I had a bad sample, but I found the liquid nitrogen truffle highly overrated (and tiny). I’d far rather have an ice cream cone from France.
But good call on the whole Flavors of Fire booth. It was great!
Thank you, Tom, for your great advice. I have already taken note to make the best of my September visit to EPCOT FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL 2017!!!
Tom Thank you for sharing this list. We will be going back the first of Sept 2017 for the first time since 2013. We will not have the DP so I am looking to make the most of my money by researching the offerings before we leave. Do you expect the food to be close to the same as last year based on your experiences? Prices I am sure will be more but maybe not too much? Thank you so much for this blog. I enjoyed reading and taking notes from your experiences.
Heading to the festival in November. We will be at the Swan for a couple of days before our DDP kicks in. While I’m going to try to save snack credits, I think we would be remiss in not wandering over for a light meal. This blog makes everything look fantastic!
The “bread puff” looks extremely similar to a Yorkshire pudding. Obviously I can’t be certain as I haven’t tasted it. But Yorkshire puddings are extremely easy and not expensive to make if you should ever want to give it a go.
I have tried the “Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Mousse with a Caramel Drizzle (Chew Collective)” and I love it. Thank you for sharing the list. I will try them when i have chance to come there again!
I was extremely surprised by the Chicken and Dumplings from Farm Fresh. It’s not typically something I eat, but something told me to try it. And it was KILLER. It is my favorite so far….but in certainly not finished.
Thanks for this! I do think it would be helpful though if it was clearer exactly which booth to find which item. This November will only be my second Food & Wine venture so I’m not as well-versed as some other Disney travelers.
…and you already did! This is why you’re my favorite Disney blogger. 🙂
Some very good suggestions here. The mousse was one of our favorites, and I really enjoyed the Schinkennudeln. But I was VERY pleasantly surprised by the Jamaican beef patties. GREAT flavor. They didn’t look too appetizing to me when I got them, but they were incredibly tasty.
We also really liked the beef skewers from The Chew booth.
Was the sauce on the filet sweet? I watched a vlog recently that really panned the filet because of the sweetness of the sauce. I loved the filet two years ago but the sauce has changed. I loathe sweet meats and sweet sauces on meats. Love the blog!
I’d say it’s only sweet to the extent that any buttery sauce has a bit of sweetness. It did not strike me as overly or unexpectedly sweet. It’s definitely not like a sweet BBQ sauce or sweet wine reduction.
We were there on the first day and were actually in line in front of you at the Islands of Caribbean booth (ok, I was a little star struck but kept my cool, lol). I was disappointed in the lack of flavor with the Seared Grouper as I was looking forward to trying it the most. Of everything we tasted that day I have to say the Lobster Rolls and the Kalua Pork sliders were the best thing we ate. Neither of these were exoctic or new this year but really tasty!
Ha, you could’ve said hello–I can assure you that there’s absolutely no reason to be “star” struck by me. (If anything, meeting me in person is one of the most disappointing experiences a person can have.)
We all thought the lobster roll was a lot better than the last few years, too!
Meeting Tom and Sarah in person is not a disappointment. I met them in January in the Contempo Cafe after the Half Marathon, Meeting Tom and Sarah was the highlight of my trip!
This is awesome, thank you! I’d love to reference it when we’re there in a couple of days … is there any way you can add the country/region(/state … LOL) to the items?
I can’t believe I forgot to add location previously. It’s there now!