Best Food at the 2019 Epcot Food and Wine Festival

Headed to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival? Read this guide first to see reviews and photos of almost all the food at Disney’s biggest food and wine festival event ever! It’s the perfect way to make sure you’re eating the best food and wine festival food not just spending money on things that aren’t worth it!

Pictures and reviews of everything on the Epcot Food and Wine Festival 2019 menu! A top 10 list of things you must-try when you go to Disney’s food and wine festival - 10 savory dishes and 10 desserts! It’s the ultimate guide to the food at Disney’s Food and Wine Festival 2019!

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase via one of my links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Disney provided me with a park ticket + dining gift card for this post – but the majority of the food was purchased with money out of my own pocket, so I could give you all the details!

I’ve been home for about a week after eating my way around the world at the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, and it’s taken almost me that entire week to recover from eating ALL the things. That and edit all the photos and put together my thoughts to make this the most helpful food guide to the 2019 Epcot Food and Wine Festival.

Unlike the Disneyland Food and Wine Festival at California Adventure that you really can try most things in a day or two, the Epcot version is huge. There are 40 different global marketplace booths that are offering speciality food and drinks.

Forty-one if you count Joffrey’s (drinks only).

I grabbed my business partner, aka my husband, and we made quick work of over half the booths in the morning then I partnered up with some of my blogging girlfriends and finished off the rest of the world that evening.

Eating around the entire world in one day is no joke.

I don’t recommend it, but I did it for you so I could give you the ultimate guide to food at the festival, so you’re not wasting your money on something when there’s something much better just around the corner.

We didn’t get through everything, but we tried about 75% of the food available before we ran out of time. I’m hoping to get back again this fall to try the other things but this guide couldn’t wait until then!

This guide is just about the food. If you want more information about Epcot Food and Wine Festival 2019 dates, concerts, cost, etc. check out this Epcot Food and Wine Festival 2019 guide first!

Then come back here and read this post because really it’s all about the food! You can also find all of the food in the Festival Passport – pick it up when you walk in the park and put a passport stamp on any of the countries you try!

Epcot Food and Wine Festival 2019 Festival Passport

Best Epcot Food and Wine Festival Food

I’ll start with my top things to eat out of all of the marketplace booths then I’ll go into the entire menu and what I liked, didn’t like, etc.

And to make it a little easier – you can click on each of the items below if you want to jump right to them! There’s plenty of information in between that you should read but if you want to skip just to the best stuff, click away!

Top 10 Snacks

Lump crab cake at Coastal Eats
Pacifico True Striped Bass Tostada at Coastal Eats
Black Pepper Boursin Souffle at The Cheese Studio
Butternut Squash Ravioli at The Wine and Dine Studio
Taco de Puerco at Mexico
Charcuterie in a Cone at Spain
Ravioli Carbonara at Italy
Frothy Ramen at Japan
Pao de Queijo at Brazil
Ropa Vieja Empanada at Islands of the Caribbean

Top 10 Desserts

Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond-Truffle at The Chocolate Studio
Maple Bourbon Cheesecake at The Cheese Studio
Passion Fruit Cheesecake at Hawaii
Shimmering Strawberry Soft-Serve at Shimmering Sips
Capirotada de Chocolate at Mexico
No Worries Panna Cotta at Refreshment Outpost (by Africa)
Chocolate Hazelnut Cake at Italy
Freshly Baked Carrot Cake at Hops & Barley
Creme Brulee at France
Warm Chocolate Pudding Ireland

Epcot Food and Wine Festival Cheese Extravaganza

I explained it more in detail in this Food and Wine Festival post but if you purchase five of these cheese items – either try all five or try multiples of your favorite – and get your passport stamped, you can take it to Shimmering Sips for a small complimentary cheesecake.

That little cheesecake is cute but totally not worth it – but it’s a fun added thing to go for as you’re eating around the world!

Impossible Cottage Pie from Earth Eats
Black Pepper Boursin Souffle from The cheese Studio
Schinkennudeln from Germany
Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese from The Alps
Pao de Queijo from Brazil

Cheese page at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival

Free cheesecake from the Epcot Food and Wine Festival

Full Food and Wine Festival 2019 Menu & Food Reviews

Okay, now let’s get into everything we tried and our thoughts on each of these dishes.

I’ve broken it down by marketplace booth and included a note on if there were other items we didn’t try as well. There were definitely a handful we didn’t try either because of lack of time, ingredients (no onions for me!), or they just didn’t sound great.

If you tried one of the things we didn’t, leave a comment and let me know how it was, and I’ll update my post with readers’ notes!

NOTE: As with all food, our opinions are subjective. You may have loved something that we thought was a skip item. And we may have loved something that you didn’t like at all. This isn’t fact, these are our opinions. We also went opening day so it’s possible some of the things we didn’t love were just execution errors from the first day jitters.

It’s always worth trying something if you have the money to spend. Our goal is to help you pick out the best of the best if you only want to try a few things and want to get your money’s worth!

I’ve also put little notes next to each of the food items below based on what’s in the Food and Wine Festival Passport to help you make decisions. My food list also goes in the order of the passport so you can use this post in conjunction with the passport.

V = vegetarian friendly
G = gluten/wheat-friendly
K = kid-friendly
C = counts for the cheese tour (to get the free cheesecake)
F = our personal top 10 favorites (not in the passport)

ANOTHER NOTE: This post only includes food. I don’t do alcohol so no drink reviews for me. There are a few non-alcoholic drink options (frozen apple pie, drinking chocolate, etc.) but I just skipped those and focused on the food. There’s enough food to keep you full whether you’re drinking or not.

Frozen apple pie at the Food and Wine Festival

The Donut Box (opening October 1)

We didn’t try anything at the Donut Box because it doesn’t open until October 1, but it’s one of the main reasons I want to head back in the fall. That and to take my son to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party !

Sunshine Seasons (The Land)

I skipped Sunshine Seasons because this sundae just didn’t seem that exciting or unique to me. I’ll try and grab it next time but there were definitely more enticing options elsewhere. I would’ve loved to see something like this Baby Groot Beer Float to get ready for Guardians of the Galaxy!

Flavors from Fire (Future World West)

This is one booth we skipped altogether because the line was insanely long both times we went by. I promise I’m going to get to some food we did try though! The menu looks delicious, especially if you like spice!

Steakhouse Blended Burger – Blended beef and mushroom slider with brie cheese fondue, arugula, and a truffle and blue cheese potato chip on a brioche bun
Smoked Corned Beef with crispy potatoes, cheese curds, pickled onions, and beer-cheese fondue
Charred chimichurri skirt steak on a smoked corn cake with pickled vegetable slaw and a cilantro aioli
Chocolate picante – Dark chocolate mousse with cayenne pepper, paprika, and mango-lime compote

Earth Eats (Future World West)

Another booth we skipped altogether. As much as we like to try and eat clean and healthy around here (or at least my husband), we’re not a fan of vegan meats and cheeses. Earth Eats uses Impossible ground beef for both of their dishes. A number of my blogger friends tried the impossible cottage pie and said it was not their favorite at all.

Coastal Eats (Future World West)

Alright, now let’s get into the actual food talk. We went from trying nothing at the first three booths to trying everything at Coastal Eats. These reviews are all from my husband since I’m not a seafood fan, but I promise you – he’s more of a foodie than I am. He knows what’s good and what’s not great. He wrote out a ton of notes on the flavor, execution, etc. of each of these – I’ll give you the cliff notes!

The striped bass tostada was also really yummy with the fish being well cooked and the slaw underneath crisp and crunchy. And I can tell you from tasting it myself, the tostada was so good. Crunchy, flavorful, and the perfect bite. The only problem with this dish was that it was big chunk of fish in the middle of the tostada, which made for interesting eating. We recommend breaking it up into smaller chunks so you can get fish with every bite of tostada.

Crab cake at the Food and Wine Festival

Scallop and shrimp dip at the Disney food and wine festival

Striped bass tostada at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival

Active Eats (Future World West)

The fruit and nut energy snack was actually surprisingly good. It didn’t make the top 10 list because there were so many delicious desserts, but if you want something less dessert yet still sweet, it’s a good alternative. My husband called it kind of like what you’d get if a granola bar and rice krispy treat had a baby.

Insider Tip: Eat it fast – the chocolate chips melt quickly!

Salmon at the Epcot food and wine festival

Fruit and nut energy snack at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival

The Chocolate Studio (Future World West)

The Chocolate Studio is about all things chocolate, although honestly I’m not really sure why they don’t just combine the chocolate studio and chocolate experience into one larger experience. But it’s Disney – they always have a reason for what they do.

I’m pretty sure I’ve had the liquid nitro chocolate almond truffle at some festival before – maybe flower and garden. Maybe last year’s food and wine festival. Who knows, it’s been delicious both times. If you’ve ever had liquid nitrogen ice cream from SubZero or somewhere similar, that’s what this tastes like – just a little less melty. The chocolate is smooth, creamy, and pairs really well with the slightly salty caramel sauce.

The dark chocolate raspberry tart was a total miss for us. The cake was fairly dense, the entire thing was lacking in flavor, and it wasn’t very sweet (but not in a good way). If you want something chocolate, go for the liquid nitro truffle or the warm chocolate pudding from Ireland instead.

Liquid nitrogen chocolate dessert at the Disney food and wine festival

Chocolate raspberry tart at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival 2019

The Cheese Studio (Future World West)

The Cheese Studio is about all things cheese! And if you like boursin cheese (like in my favorite baked boursin dip ), you’ll likely love this booth!

The black pepper boursin souffle sounds kind of weird, but it was so good! The souffle itself had a tiny bit of spice to it from the black pepper, but it paired perfectly with the sweet fig marmalade. This is one dish that definitely wasn’t impacted by first day execution issues and that’s impressive since souffles are not easy to make! Try and save some of the fig for each bite – it’s much better all together!

Out of all of the cheesecakes we tried, the maple bourbon cheesecake was the definite winner (passion fruit cheesecake was a close second). It was light, creamy, and a good combination of sweet and crunchy.

Cheese souffle at the food and wine festival 2019

Maple bourbon cheesecake at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival

Wine & Dine Studio (Future World West)

I’m not 100% sure what the theme of the wine and dine studio was supposed to be. It kind of just felt like a mish mash of flavors and dishes, like they had some extra things to try and decided to add them in all together. Who knows but the food was decent, so I’m not complaining.

My husband was the most excited to try the seared scallops out of any dish at the whole festival and unfortunately they fell pretty flat. The scallops were rubbery (1st day execution issues?), the puree was lacking in flavor, and the brussels sprouts were soggy. It was okay but not in our recommended best uses of your money.

The butternut squash ravioli tasted like fresh made pasta (not sure if it actually was) and the filling inside was creamy and sweet, which paired perfectly with the salty parmesan and pumpkin seeds. One word of caution if you don’t like onions like me – the vinaigrette actually has onions in the brown butter sauce, which was a total bummer for me to find out when I tried it. It sounded so good!

We didn’t try the artisan cheese trio, stuck with trying cheese dishes instead of actual cheese throughout the festival.

Seared scallops at Epcot food and wine

Butternut squash ravioli at the Disney food and wine festival

Hawaii (near Refreshment Port)

If there’s one thing I know I like, it’s Hawaiian flavors. From these pork and pineapple kebabs to this pineapple monkey bread , I know I like fresh pineapple so I was hoping to love the Hawaii menu.

Spoiler – I did!

My husband called the tuna tataki a tasty dish but very small, especially compared to the photos on the booth. The tuna and seaweed salad were both just standard but the dish was really brought to life by the wasabi cream sauce and crunchy strips on top to add texture. If you like tuna, you are going to want to try this – just try to get cream sauce with every bite!

The passion fruit cheesecake was also a big winner. I’m not a huge passion fruit person and even I thought it was delicious. It was light, fresh, fruity and a little tart. The macadamia nuts provided a nice island inspired crunch to balance out the creamy texture.

Tuna at the food and wine festival

Passion fruit cheesecake at the Epcot food and wine festival 2019

Shimmering Sips (Near Port of Entry)

Right before you really get into the World Showcase is Shimmering Sips – the home of all the desserts and mimosas. I didn’t try and mimosas but all of the desserts were calling my name. You should’ve seen the looks I got as I tried to photograph two ice cream dishes at the same time before they melted all over my hand.

This is also where you pick up your complimentary cheesecake if you do the cheese challenge. The cheesecake was supposed to be a pineapple coconut cheesecake, but I didn’t get much of either. It just tasted like a regular cheesecake and not even that good of one. But it’s free so if you do the challenge, might as well pick it up!

Banana almond soft serve at the Disney food and wine festival

Cheesecake trio at food and wine

Strawberry soft serve at the Disney food and wine festival

Refreshment Port (Canada)

Refreshment Port used to be home to the delicious cronut (one of the items on my best Disney World food list) but now it’s become the home of the poutine it seems.

I’m not sure how Dole Whip makes it on a Food and Wine Festival menu because well it’s a Disney World staple but I guess maybe it’s special because it’s being offered in Epcot? Anyway, you probably already know I’m a big fan of Dole Whip (it’s on my best food at Disney World list), but I’d recommend skipping it if you’re trying to enjoy festival foods. You can get one at Animal Kingdom or Magic Kingdom another day instead.

I didn’t personally try the duck confit poutine but my Disney loving friend Sarah did, and she said it was delish. I just hope it was better than their Thanksgiving style poutine they were offering last time they were there. The hot chocolate style marshmallows on top just did not work.

Australia (Near Port of Entry)

As someone who went to Australia last year (and how has it been almost a year!!!), we were really excited to see the Australia menu. Unfortunately, none of these things really felt like Australia to us and the dessert was a total miss.

Grilled Sweet and Spicy Bushberry Shrimp with pineapple, pepper, onion, and snap peas (G)
Roasted Lamb Chop with sweet potato puree, bushberry pee salad, with pistachio pomegranate gremolata (G)
Deconstructed Pavlova with pastry cream, citrus-macerated berries, and lemon myrtle meringue (VGK)

We tried all three of the items and none of them really wowed us. The shrimp was okay but the stir fried veggies had a really sweet pineapple flavor to them that my husband didn’t love.

The lamb was good if you’re a lamb fan and the puree and salad were a good addition. The gremolata however was soggy, probably from sitting around waiting for someone to order the dish! Skip if you don’t love lamb – it’s not going to convince you to love it.

The pavlova was probably our least favorite dessert of the entire festival – okay maybe second least favorite dessert. The berries were soggy, meringues were peaked but kind of gross when you bit into them, and and pudding was just like a loose cream. This might’ve been okay all together but deconstructed, it’s a hard pass for our family.

Shrimp and veggie stir fry at food and wine festival

Lamb chop at Epcot food and wine festival

Pavolva at Epcot food and wine festival 2019

Pavlova at Epcot food and wine festival 2019

Thailand (near Disney Traders)

I honestly forgot Thailand was even one of the countries with marketplace booths because the only dish we tried there (the shrimp) was forgettable. The others just seemed like standard Thai food and not something we were in the mood for at the moment. Oh and no dessert, which meant I didn’t try anything there.

new years eve games for kids

The shrimp and cold noodle salad were better than the shrimp and noodle dish you can get at Galaxy’s Edge (hello strong sauce!) but unfortunately it tasted like this dish had been sitting for a while so the noodles were soggy and tasted like they’d been sauced hours ago. Definitely not a dish that got better with time.

Shrimp and noodle salad at Epcot Food and Wine Festival 2019

Islands of the Caribbean (near Mexico)

I’m a big fan of island food. I mean the jerk chicken from Beaches Turks & Caicos is one of my favorite dishes there! The Islands of the Caribbean menu looked promising and for the most part delivered.

I skipped out on the jerk chicken but the quesito was an okay way to end the meal. The flavor was decent on the dessert, but I really wish it was served cold. It was kind of like a room temperature cream puff, and I wanted one straight out of the refrigerator instead. Definitely better dessert options out there but if you’re only going to grab something at one booth and getting an empanada, it’s okay.

Empanada at Disney food and wine festival

Quesito puff pastry at food and wine festival

Mexico

As soon as my blogger friends and I headed into the World Showcase the first place they wanted to go was Mexico for some margaritas. Apparently Mexico is a popular place for people to make their first stop when they drink around the world. If you’re eating around the world during the Food and Wine Festival, Mexico would make a good first eating stop too!

The pork belly taco was my husband’s favorite thing he ate around the entire festival and that’s saying something. The dish was fantastic all the way down to the garnish of micro greens added on top. The only complaint was that the taco was really small – definitely not one to share or fill up on.

The bread pudding isn’t a traditional bread pudding, it’s one large piece of dessert that’s sitting on a delicious chocolate sauce. I’m not even a big bread pudding fan, and I could appreciate how good it was.

Pork belly taco at Epcot food and wine festival

Chocolate bread pudding from Mexico during food and wine

The Alps (near Norway)

Switzerland is one of my favorite places in the entire world. We’ve been twice now and are always looking for a reason to go back. If I was basing my decision to go back to Switzerland on the food served at The Alps booth, pretty sure I’d book a trip elsewhere. This was easily our least favorite out of all of the booths overall.

China

My husband had to go back to take care of the baby before we made it to China, so this is one of the few booths that we just skipped altogether. My friend Fairytale Foodie did a review of some of these items though if you want to go check out her post here!

India

Okay, another booth we skipped altogether. No desserts here and none of these dishes sounded that good to me as someone who doesn’t like curry. If we’d had a bit more time, I know my husband really wanted to try madras red curry and korma chicken. Maybe next time.

Refreshment Outpost

Don’t get confused. Just because the refreshment outpost started offering their Food and Wine Festival offerings early for the release of the new Lion King movie doesn’t mean that they’re not still part of the festival. So put on your matching Lion King shirts and head over because this food is worth a stop!

The Nigerian Meat Pie was similar to the empanada with a flaky pastry crust and a flavorful, almost curry flavored, filling. The only problem was there was very little filling compared to the amount of pastry. If you’re a fan of curry flavors, get this. If you’re not, get the empanada mentioned above instead.

I was worried (ha!) the No Worries Panna Cotta wouldn’t taste very good because it was so pretty with its bright colored layers. I was pleasantly surprised how good it was from the layers to the cookie crumb base. I didn’t care for the white chocolate Lion King medallion but that’s mostly because I don’t like white chocolate. Get this one for the Instagram photo then enjoy its refreshing flavors!

Meat pie from Africa during Disney food and wine festival

No Worries panna cotta from the Disney food and wine festival

Africa

Africa was one of the few places that really had major logistic issues during my visit. They’d apparently run out of the coffee barbecue beef sauce and ended up having people wait for it for a long time. The problem was that instead of serving other people (like me) the shrimp dish, they let the shrimp sit until the sauce showed up so they could serve the people ahead of me (who ordered the beef first). This caused all sorts of issues from having to wait to the shrimp not being as good as I think it could have been.

So I already mentioned the issue with the missing barbecue sauce and timing of the other dishes above, but the overall effect was that the shrimp skewer sat for a while and ended up being overcooked and dry. The couscous also had good flavor but was dry – not nearly as good as this homemade orange-scented couscous I make all the time! This again may have just been first day execution issues, so I highly recommend trying the shrimp if you’re a shrimp fan.

We didn’t try the other two dishes, which is probably good because I honestly don’t even know what githeri is.

Shrimp from Epcot food and wine

Germany

You’re welcome to read this entire thing but after trying two of the three dishes in Germany, I’d say this is one country you can skip altogether unless you’re going for the free cheesecake. There’s much better food elsewhere.

I don’t really like hot apples but thought I’d try the apple studel anyway. It was a dessert, and I was trying all of the desserts. Just not good at all – even with the vanilla sauce on top. My friend Sarah confirmed she was disappointed as well and she likes hot apples – so it’s not just me.

German mac and cheese from Epcot food and wine

Apple strudel can be skipped during Epcot Food and Wine Festival

Sommerfest (Germany)

If you want to try this even after my note below – Sommerfest is an actual quick service restaurant right next to the main restaurant in Germany. It’s tucked back around the corner and if you don’t know where to look for it, you’re going to miss it. Go to the main restaurant, go to the right (where it says Sommerfest) and the line is inside.

Spain (between Germany and Italy)

I’m a bit biased because Spain is one of my favorite countries in the world after spending a summer studying abroad there but the rest of the girls I was with loved the food here as well! And food in a cone is always fun.

The charcuterie in a cone was probably my favorite savory dish I tried all day and not just because it brought me back to walking around El Mercado in Barcelona. The flavors of everything inside the cone was delicious. Our cone came with manchego cheese, prosciutto, another type of harder salami type meat, and olives. This was my kind of snack and a great representation of Spanish food markets.

We didn’t try the paella or seafood salad but if the execution is as good as the cone, I’d say they’re probably worth trying – especially since paella is like the dish of Spain!

Spanish meat and cheese cone from the Disney food and wine festival

Italy

Does it get any better than Italian food? I mean as long as it’s done right, Italian food is comfort food at its best.

Ravioli Carbonara – A parmesan and pecorino ravioli with egg yolk, cream, and bacon (F)
Costine di Maiale – Balsamic glazed and oven roasted pork ribs
Pollo – Crispy chicken with marinara sauce (K)
Traditional Sicilian Cannoli – Crisp pastry filled with sweet ricotta, chocolate, and candied orange
Chocolate Hazelnut cake – Vanilla cake and chocolate hazelnut mascarpone cream dipped in chocolate (KF)

I tried the ravioli, cannoli, and hazelnut cake because my stomach just couldn’t handle getting all five. Next time for sure.

The ravioli was my second favorite thing I ate all day. It wasn’t anything particularly unique like the chocolate hazelnut cake, but the flavors of the sauce were fantastic, the pasta had a really good texture, and the saltiness of the bacon complemented the creaminess of the sauce perfectly.

The cannoli was nothing special. I’d say if you like cannoli, get this – but then probably not because it really wasn’t the best cannoli. It was just okay, and I don’t even remember tasting the candied orange.

The chocolate hazelnut cake on the other hand – now that’s unique. It’s kind of like a cake pop, except covered in dipping chocolate instead of actual melted chocolate. That means it melts and gets all over your hand if you’re holding onto it, but it also means that the outer layer is thin and just like cake with a light chocolate sauce.

My brain is fried and I don’t think that made any sense – but just believe me, this one is yummy. It’s on of the few desserts I had to finish because it was so unique and tasty.

Ravioli from Italy during food and wine festival

Cannoli from Italy during food and wine

Chocolate hazelnut cake is a must-try during Epcot Food and Wine Festival 2019

Funnel Cake

During every festival it seems like they offer some special funnel cake at the funnel cake stand. I normally don’t get them because it’s normally just funnel cake with something like Oreo crumbles or a basic topping. This one is different.

Guys, it’s a mini funnel cake. At first I thought it was going to come out shaped like Minnie Mouse, but it’s literally just a small version of a funnel cake. I normally don’t get funnel cakes because they’re so big but if I could get a small funnel cake all the time, I’d be all in. The addition of a slab of vanilla ice cream and super flavorful berry sangria on top made this a few bites of funnel cake I personally loved.

Tip: Forget the picture and eat this one quickly. You don’t want the funnel cake to get cold/hard – you want it hot and fresh!

Mini funnel cake from Epcot food and wine

Hops & Barley (The American Adventure)

This place always seems to have decent food during festivals, which is good because it seems like the America section of Epcot is sorely lacking when it comes to food!

New England Lobster Roll – Warm lobster with fresh herb mayonnaise and griddled roll
New Brunswick Slider – Slow-braised beef brisket “pot roast style” with horseradish cream, crispy fried onions, on a potato roll with pickled vegetables on the side
Freshly Baked Carrot Cake with cream cheese icing (VKF)

I skipped the savory dishes here and went straight for the sweets. And that carrot cake is totally worth going for – it’s soft, filled with sweet surprises (yellow raisins maybe??) inside and the cream cheese icing is the perfect addition. One of my favorite desserts and highly recommended!

Carrot cake from Disney food and wine festival

Japan

I’ll be the first to admit that I bought my friend Sarah the frothy ramen here just for the Instagram photo. But frothy ramen in front of the Japanese architecture, I mean that’s like Instagram gold right there. And this photo will definitely be showing up on my Disney food Instagram page ! If you don’t already follow me – it’s @girleatsdisney !

Can we talk about how many things my husband wanted to try at the Food and Wine Festival and didn’t get to? We were planning to stay an extra day to finish up a number of items like the Spicy Roll from Japan. Then Hurricane Dorian threatened to hit Orlando while we were there, so we decided to leave a day early and skip the second day of eating. Hurricane Dorian hung out in the Bahamas (so sad, especially because the Bahamas is home to our favorite Castaway Cay) and we missed out on so many good sounding dishes.

I would totally have tried the ramen if it was warm but cold ramen didn’t sound appealing. My friend Sarah tried it for me though and she ate the entire thing and said she’d get it again – pretty sure that translates to it was good, get it!

Frothy ramen from Epcot food and wine festival 2019 menu

Morocco

I wasn’t planning to try anything in Morocco until a friend said she wanted to try the chocolate baklava. I loved the baklava during our trip to Turkey so thought I’d give it a try. You can see what I thought below!

Belgium (near Morocco)

I really really wanted to try the smoked gouda mashed potatoes but when I showed up they were totally out of the beer-braised beef and they wouldn’t sell me just the smoked gouda mashed potatoes. Next time for sure.

I’m not sure if they’ll do this for just anyone, but I really wanted to try both the chocolate ganache and the berry compote with my waffle so instead of buying both, I asked if it’d be possible to do chocolate on one side and the berry compote on the other. They ended up doing chocolate and whipped cream on the waffle with the berry compote on the side (that’s why the picture looks like it does). It doesn’t hurt to ask if you want to try both sauces!

I’ll be honest – the chocolate ganache was not memorable at all. I was hoping it would be more chocolate, not just like drizzled chocolate sauce. And the berry compote was okay, but the berry sangria topping on the mini funnel cake was better. If you want some sort of sweet dessert topped with berries and cream, go for the funnel cake. This was just so-so.

Belgian waffle from Disney food and wine festival

Brazil

So funny story. I was walking around with a bunch of other women checking out all of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival food. Mostly me buying and trying a bunch of the food while the other girls just hung out and took pictures with me. I stood in line and ordered two orders of the Brazilian cheese bread (to finish off my cheese challenge) and when I got out of line, two of the other girls had already bought their own cheese breads. And each one comes with two little cheese breads. No one really bought much else on our tasting around the world but everyone ended up buying cheese bread.

Needless to say, we ended up with way too much! It was good but not THAT good.

We only tried the Brazilian cheese bread here and it was melt in your mouth good. But filling and it comes with two breads for one order, so you can definitely share with a friend. One other cool fact – it’s gluten free so perfect for anyone who wants something that tastes like bread without having gluten.

Brazilian cheese bread from Epcot food and wine festival

France

French food isn’t my favorite, but I am super excited about the new crepes restaurant coming to France as well as all of the other Epcot changes announced at D23 Expo last month!

Fondue Savoyarde – Fondue of imported cheeses and chardonnay served with croutons (V)
Croissant aux Escargots – Escargot croissant with garlic and parsley
Boeuf Braise a la Bordelaise, Pomme Dauphine – Beef braised in a cabernet sauvignon with red onions and puffed potatoes
Creme Brulee – Creme brulee with housemade chocolate hazel-nut cream (VGKF)

Just like when I go to Melting Pot, I went for the cheese and chocolate (sort of). We skipped the beef and escargot in France, but I’ve heard rumblings that the escargot croissant is a must-try for anyone who likes escargot (not me).

I’m a big fan of cheese fondue but I found this one to be very sharp, almost too sharp. And the “croutons” were actually pieces of pretty dense bread. Not my favorite fondue ever but definitely better than the raclette cheese in The Alps booth.

The creme brulee, however, was delicious, and I’m not even a creme brulee fan. The thing that made this one unique was the housemade chocolate-hazelnut cream on the bottom. Pair that with a perfectly crunchy bruleed top and yeah, I enjoyed this one. And so did all of the other bloggers with me.

French fondue from food and wine

Creme brulee from Epcot food and wine festival

Ireland (near UK)

We were running low on time when we got to Ireland so just grabbed the warm chocolate pudding and didn’t try any of the savory dishes. After having the pudding totally wished we’d tried the cheese cheese dip too!

This isn’t warm chocolate pudding in any sense of the imagination. This is a fantastically delicious (that’s a term right??) warm chocolate cake topped with a complementary cream. And the inside is ooey gooey and warm like a perfect lava cake. It almost makes me think they forgot to add a word in the description because nothing about that description says cake or heaven. But it’s pretty much amazing.

Tip: Eat it warm, it’s so much better when the inside is ooey gooey.

Warm chocolate pudding from Disney food and wine festival

Canada

We never made it to Canada, but I have heard some amazing reviews of the filet mignon – so if you like beef, I recommend that just based on the reviews.

Appleseed Orchard (near Le Cellier Steakhouse)

Even if you don’t want to try anything on their menu, go check out the Appleseed Orchard. It’s super cute inside and makes me want to use some of their ideas for my next apple party ideas .

Here’s the thing – the caramel apple popcorn is good. The popcorn snack in Galaxy’s Edge is better. And you can’t buy the caramel apple popcorn without buying it in a collectible little apple container, which is cute, but totally unnecessary. And it’s not Disney related at all – I mean who wants to take home a plastic apple that says Appleseed Orchard on it? At least the drink in Oga’s Cantina is a Porg collectible cup, something to do with Disney.

So yeah, if you really want to try the caramel apple popcorn, it’s good enough. But it’s not worth the price tag unless you’re dying to get that plastic apple.

I’d skip the caramel apple popcorn and just pay for the frozen apple pie drink and curb your apple fix that way instead.

Caramel apple popcorn from Epcot food and wine festival

Something that is worth the splurge are the cute plastic Food and Wine Festival plates shown in the photo below. Not only can you put your food on the plate but it has a little spot to hold your drink glass. And I can’t tell you how much I needed that as I walking around trying to eat all the things.

Get them at stores throughout the park and throughout the festival. They’d be perfect for bringing a snack and drink into one of the Eat to the Beat concerts!

Epcot food and wine festival plate

Eat This Not That: Epcot Food and Wine Festival Edition

Have you ever seen those books – This Not That? I thought it’d be fun to do a quick rundown of some of the more popular ingredient items used at the Food and Wine Festival and tell you which ones are best in each category. I’ve even created a little printable you can take with you to the festival (print it out with the foodie guide at the bottom of this post!).

Cheesecake – Eat the maple bourbon (The Cheese Studio) cheesecake instead of the cheesecake trio (Shimmering Sips)
Chocolate – Eat the warm chocolate pudding (Ireland) not the dark chocolate raspberry tart (The Chocolate Studio)
Ice Cream – Eat the strawberry soft-serve (Shimmering Sips) not the banana almond soft-serve (Shimmering Sips)
Shrimp – Eat the shrimp skewer (Africa) not the shrimp and cold noodle salad (Thailand)
Meat Pastry – Eat the empanada (Islands of the Caribbean) not the meat pie (Refreshment Outpost)
Berry Dessert – Eat the mini funnel cake (Funnel Cake) not the Belgian Waffle with berry compote (Belgium)
Cheese & Bread – Eat the cheese bread (Brazil) and not the warm cheese raclette (The Alps)
Unique Dessert – Eat the chocolate hazelnut cake (Italy) and not the deconstructed pavlova (Australia)
Seafood – Eat the crab cake (Coastal Eats) and not the seared scallops (Wine & Dine Studio)
Apple – Eat the caramel apple popcorn or frozen apple pie (Appleseed Orchard) and not the apple strudel (Germany)
Fruity Dessert – Eat the passion fruit cheesecake not (Hawaii) not the peach tart (Sommerfest)

Printable Food Guide to the Epcot Food & Wine Festival

I’ve created a little printable food guide that has our top 10 both savory and sweet items as well as the “eat this, not that,” from above. There are also a few blanks where you can write in some of your own favorites if there are other things that sound good you want to try that we didn’t.

If you use my guide or read this post to get ready for the festival, I’d love to hear about it! Tag me on social media at @playpartyplan – I love to feature my readers!

Enter your name and email address in the form below to get a printable copy of both the top eats and sweets as well as my “eat this, not that” guide. There will be two pages in the PDF – each one has three copies of the printable.

If you don’t see the form below, click here to get to it . Once you submit the form, you’ll be taken directly to the printable PDF and you’ll receive an email version as well for later reference.