Here are some reviews I posted in my Dining Reviews thread:
Today we are at the Festival of the Arts
First thing I did was buy a wristlet gift card, loaded the minimum $15 on it, and then transferred the balance from my regular gift card over. Sooo convenient to use the wristlet!
First booth we came across that we liked the look of was the one with the Deconstructed BLT ($7)! While DH was waiting for the food, I spied the Lobster Chips ($10.50) across the way and snagged one.
The BLT was a delicious medley of flavors although DH wasn't as impressed. I loved the juxtaposition of the crispy flavorful pork belly and the soft, creamy egg yolk. I thought two generous slices of pork belly and a whole egg provided decent heft to this dish.
The lobster chips had a generous amount of large pieces of tender lobster and a rich, creamy, delicious cheese sauce. However, the chips were heavily salted which realy detracted from the dish. Especially as the salting was uneven. I left a couple of chips on the plate. I wish I had asked for it without chips and with more sauce lol. To be fair, I am not a chips fan. Then again, DH is and even he didn't care for the excessive salt.
We wandered onwards and found the Vanilla, Rose Water and Pistachio Panna Cotta ($8). With this and the BLT I have two stamps on the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine - if I get 5 stamps I get a free treat.
It was completely different from what I expected. I thought it would be like a custard. But it was chilled and tasted like a delicious ice cream cake with a thin white chocolate coating. Even DH enjoyed this one
We were surprisingly not too hungry after this and said we were good for lunch. But after watching the new Canada Far and Wide and the Beauty and the Beast singalong, we decided to watch the acrobatic show at the World Showcase stage. We happened to be early enough to catch the harpist and I was surprised that DH enjoyed the music so much - he was actually sad when it ended! (The man can still surprise me after 20 years)
But cheered up when I ran over to Pop Eats to pick up an Almond Frangipane Cake ($4.50). Coated in belgian chocolate, we weren't quite sure about this one but ppl rave about it so we were game to give it a try.
We REALLY liked it. I expected a basic sponge/butter cake but this was an extremely dense cake using almond flour. The light touch of raspberry jam and thin coating of rich Belgian chocolate enhanced the almond cake. DH was very impressed.
It was lovely to nibble on this while watching the acrobatic show. What an awesome Epcot day!
Our lunch total was $30. Surprised DH didn't eat much today but he said he was not too hungry after a filling breakfast of oatmeal and cereal.
After a nice nap, we strolled back into Epcot and started our dinner at Pop Eats with the Chicken Sous Vide for $6.75. The CM gave me an end piece and I ended up with a giant portion. It looked so pretty.
The chicken was generally good and reasonably moist. However, despite all the colorful sauces on the plate, it all tasted rather bland and boring. The chicken was extremely thick and overwhelmed the tiny amount of apple stuffed inside. There wasn't enough sauce to really flavor anything. Good for someone looking for a simple, plainer meal but IMO, rather boring.
Next up was Mexico for the item receiving rave reviews - the Sopa de Barbacoa ($7.25). The Agave Pork Belly ($7.50) looked appealing so we got that too.
Now THIS is what I expected from the Festival of the Arts! Beautifully crafted with a medley of interesting flavors. We enjoyed both dishes. The pork belly tasted a lot like Chinese Char Siu and the lentil salad was absolutely delicious. The Sopa had a delightful balance of flavors with the beef and the coleslaw. Both were fairly large portions so felt more worth it for the price.
We spent some time in China then headed off for the next booth - the well-reviewed Braised Short Rib ($8). It was decent with moist flavorful meat and a good sized portion. However it was also rather boring. Nothing interesting about this dish other than the slightly bitter aftertaste of the parsnip puree.
After this, we were rather done with the Festival food. It had been a really expensive day although I had been mentally able to ignore the prices and just scan my gift card at each place. Still - we just weren't feeling it and there were enough disappointing expensive dishes.
All in all, we are glad we gave this food booth thing our very best effort after my obsessing with food reports and blog reviews. But we are unlikely to go out of our way to do it in the future. Just a snack here and there when something looks good (I have a feeling another Almond Frangipane cake is in our future!) We much prefer Epcot's regular offerings or having a nice meal in a table service restaurant for the same or less money. Ooo...maybe dinner at Chefs de France
Dinner tonight was $50 even (DH also got a QS meal from Katsura Grill and we got gelato from Italy).