We’re back with more reviews of all the tasty items available at the 2021 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival! If you missed part one of our Flower & Garden Food Review, be sure to check it out. There are so many Outdoor Kitchens that you can spend two, even three days visiting Epcot and still have plenty of different options to choose from! We shared some of our favorites when we visited on opening day earlier this month. Because the festival lasts through July 5, 2021, you have plenty of time to try everything! Here are some of the additional items we tasted on a recent visit.
EPCOT Sunshine Griddle (Future World East)
It’s rare for me to order every single thing on the menu, but after some Mezcal tasting in Mexico, we were hungry! Everything was amazing. I would rate this as my favorite “Outdoor Kitchen” for this festival. The photo doesn’t do justice to the avocado toast. Not only is it tasty – it’s incredibly beautiful. The shrimp and cheddar grits was perfection. The corned-beef brisket hash with potato barrels were also amazing. For us, this was super fresh – mind you sometimes depending on the time of day these items may sit for a while. When food is fried, that’s not always a good thing.
We all enjoyed the fried cinnamon roll bites. They had the perfect amount of frosting and was topped with bacon. We all enjoyed the delicious cold brew coffee cocktail with Kahlúa, coffee liquor and vanilla vodka. Alas, I was the only one in the group that liked the Froot Loops shake. It tastes exactly as it is described and for being frozen, was super creamy.
Rating: 10/10 on EVERYTHING
The Honey Bee-stro
Our group had some mixed feelings about this station. We didn’t get everything, but we did try the Tupelo honey and sweet corn spoonbread, as well as the lavender honey mustard chicken flatbread and honey bee citrus ale. The spoonbread is chock full of corn. They might as well call it a corn pinata. Not a few kernels like in some corn bread. It is truly a spoon bread so it’s equal parts batter and corn. One of our was not spicy at all; the other had a ton of jalapenos so if you don’t like spice, BEE careful before you bite in.
The beer was the perfect pairing, in my opinion. I didn’t think much of the flatbread from appearance, but this was taste central. The ricotta was a perfect fit.
Rating:
Spoonbread 7/10
Flatbread 8/10
Pineapple Promenade (Showcase Plaza)
You can never go wrong with Dole Whip. Especially when it’s topped with coconut rum. I was adventurous and tried the spicy hot dog with pineapple chutney and plantain chips. The hot dog itself was flavorful. Unfortunately, the chutney had too much liquid and the plantains became soggy, not to mention it was topped with a tasty sauce which added to the mess factor.
It’s also pretty pricey at $8+ considering the size of this hot dog. The dealbreaker for me was the super soggy steamed bun. It should have been toasted or just left plain. Steaming them added to the overall messiness.
Rating:
Dole Whip with Rum 15/10 (duh)
Spicy Hot Dog 3/10
Festival Favorites (World Showplace)
We already tried two of the offerings from this location.
This time we tried the key lime tart and the watermelon salad. The tart was really great. I wish I could say the same for the salad. It didn’t look anything like what was shown. You can see in this photo that it was served covered in too many greens and drowning in balsamic.
Rating:
Key Lime tart 9/10
Watermelon Salad 3/10
Cider House (World Showplace)
The house-made potato and cheddar biscuit with salmon tartar had a lot of promise. Unfortunately, the biscuit was ice cold. It would have been far better toasted or even room temperature. We paired it with a watermelon cider, which was quite good. Nice and refreshing on a hot day.
Rating:
Biscuit with salmon tartar 5/10
Watermelon Cider 8/10
Northern Bloom (Canada)
Canada never disappoints with its beef and seafood dishes. We really enjoyed the seared scallops with green beans, potatoes, and a brown butter vinaigrette.
The tanginess was perfect. The tenderloin tips were perfectly cooked with whipped potatoes and a mushroom sauce. We tried the maple popcorn shake with whiskey. It was…interesting? But not great.
Rating:
Scallops 7/10
Beef tenderloin 7/10
Maple popcorn shake: 3/10
Wrapping Up the Magic – 2021 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival
There are plenty of great items to enjoy at the 2021 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival! So much so, that we still haven’t tried all of them. What are some of your favorites? Tell us in the comments!
