I grew up “off the grid”, mostly because there wasn’t a grid yet. When my kids will readily tell you that their favorite restaurant is Benihana, I was well into my teen years before trying any Asian cuisines. My first seafood meal, other than fish ‘n chips, wasn’t eaten until my fifteenth birthday. Yes, when it comes to food, my memory is long!
All of this probably has a lot to do with why our impromptu “food crawl” around the World Showcase in EPCOT is one of my favorite memories from the recent trip I took with my parents.
It started with a lunch reservation in the Mexico pavilion. I love the San Angel Inn, and have referred to it as Walt Disney World’s version of the Blue Bayou. Living in Arizona, I know good Mexican food. If I had to choose a type of food to eat for the rest of my life, it would be Mexican. Can you tell I like Mexican food? Any way, here we are happily eating our yummy lunch!
We had already decided to forego dessert at the restaurant because Norway is next door, meaning SCHOOL BREAD! Probably a very wise decision, as you can see we didn’t stop with only school bread…
I think I liked the waffles with strawberry jam almost as much as the school bread. The scent of them baking was wafting out the door of the shop – freshly prepared and delicious!
We also sampled the lefse and rullekake (which is super fun to say), from the Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe. As with each of the countries in the World Showcase, the cast members are actually from their respective countries and enjoy speaking with guests about their language and culture. In my experience, the Norwegians are decidedly friendly.
As we made our way into the China pavilion my dad said, “So what’re we eating here?” We had just had lunch and dessert, and I admit that I was confused, and I’m sure responded as such. “Aren’t we gonna try something in every country?” he asked. With a gleam in his eye, I knew it was on! So, we tried some potstickers from the Lotus Blossom Café. One for each of us!
We ordered nudel gratin and this wonderful potato salad from the quick service window outside of the Biergarten Restaurant in Germany. Both were super yummy!
Lacking in quick service options, we sampled strawberry gelato from the Italian Gelato Kiosk in Italy.
I wasn’t overly impressed, but have since been informed that they serve an espresso gelato that is divine. I’ll concede that we may have just made a poor choice and try to do better next time we visit.
Back in the U.S.A., we sampled the Surf ‘n Turf burger from Liberty Inn. When ordering, a cast member asked if we were celebrating anything special. I said that we were visiting for my parents’ 60th birthdays, and with pure, Disney magic, she gave us a complimentary piece of cake! Topped with a Maryland crab cake, the burger was excellent. Remember the cake was free, lest you think we’re complete gluttons!
In Japan we found the Katsura Grill. This little gem of a quick service restaurant is tucked back in the pavilion, and just lovely. We shared a vegetable roll off of the sushi menu, which was both educational and interesting.
So pretty, but I’m not a fan of the seaweed wrap or ginger. Mom, amazingly, enjoyed it all.
Dad went a bit heavy on the “pistachio ice cream”.
Making our way to Morocco, I was getting pretty full. Probably not the best time to order something containing the word “platter”? The chicken shawarma platter from the Tangierine Café. Again, my mom surprised me with how much she enjoyed the different cuisines we were trying. I think my dad was still getting over the wasabi from Japan.
Ah, France! I have mixed feelings about this pavilion. I took four years of French in high school and, believe it or not, I’m still in close contact with Madame Pallissard, our instructor. She assured us that eventually the language would “fall from our mouths like pearls”…nope, didn’t happen for me. So while France holds a special interest for me, I’m going to sound super stereotypical when I say that the cast members in this pavilion are…dare I say, snooty?
For me, it’s fun. I enjoyed the way the young lady looked down her nose at me from behind the counter while I did my best to order, with correct pronunciation, from within the Boulangerie Patisserie les Halles (see, even looks pretentious). I can’t even tell you what we ended up ordering. I think one was savory and toasted with fromage, and the other was a French pastry, of some sort.
We were in the home stretch as we neared the U.K. pavilion. This is my favorite in all of the World Showcase, and I have to keep myself in check, lest I pull out my British accent. I love listening to the cast members in this pavilion, and am so attentive to their parlance and slang that I’m afraid I could be mistaken for a stalker.
We bought an order of fish ‘n chips from Yorkshire County Fish Shop, and it was unbelievably good…maybe the best I’ve had. So tasty, it is the one place we did a repeat tasting of when we returned to EPCOT a few days later.
Coming to the end of our evening we ran into a bit of a hiccup. Canada has no quick service options! Needing closure for our crawl, I made an executive decision. We headed to the International Gateway near this pavilion and I ordered a cronut, christening it Canadian. Seriously, get it together! I’m sure that Disney could figure out some sort of quick service locale brimming in maple-y goodness. Our U.K./Canadian mash up!
For now, if I had it to do over (yes, I’ve thought extensively about this) I would have ended our night with reservations at Le Cellier. This may be taboo to admit, but since I’ve already offended the French, I wasn’t overly impressed by the steak that this restaurant is known for. What did impress me, however, was the poutine, and it would have fit in perfectly to cap off our crawl. Le Cellier Poutine is French fries loaded with Canadian Cheddar, black truffle and red wine reduction…holy taters, Batman!
So there you have it! I would encourage you to think about some type of crawl for your group when visiting the World Showcase. There’s the ever popular “drinking around the world” option. Perhaps if shopping is your thing, you could look for a special souvenir from each country? Of course, food is always the best option for my family. Just make those memories!