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BEST of the FEST! What to Eat and Drink at the 2020 Taste of EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival!

The 2020 Taste of EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival is upon us! We’ve got an extra-long festival season in store this year to take in the sights, sounds, and TASTES of our favorite EPCOT festival!

Taste of EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival

No surprise here, but we’re most concerned with the TASTES! This year, the festival features 20 Festival Marketplaces, each with a menu full of specialty eats and drinks. We’ve eaten our way around the World (Showcase) and back again — and we have some thoughts.

We know how hard it can be to decide what to eat when you’re headed to an EPCOT fest! With that in mind, we’ve eaten our way through ALL of the options at the 20 marketplaces AND additional locations to bring you the absolute best of the best. Not to come across as pushy, but we think there are just some snacks you just NEED to try at Taste of EPCOT Food & Wine! 

World Showplace

Hold on to your hats, folks! Without further ado, here’s the Best of the Fest for the 2020 Taste of EPCOT Food & Wine Festival! 

Click here to see PICS of EVERY SINGLE menu item at Food & Wine!

Mongolian Beef Bao Bun at China

China’s menu was a lot smaller than we’ve come to expect at past festivals, but the Mongolian Beef Bao Bun for $6.75 didn’t disappoint.

Mongolian Beef Bao Bun

The Beef was juicy and tender while Mixed Veggies were still nice and crispy and the Bao was perfectly soft. Our only grievance was how quickly it was gone since it only takes a few bites to make it disappear!

Check out our full review of China’s menu here!

Schinkennudeln at Germany

Aside from bratwurst and beer, Germany was serving up another festival staple — the Schinkennudeln! It’s not much of a looker and has a bit of a funny name to say, but trust us on this one! We’ve been Schinkennudeln-ing for many ‘a year!

Schinkennudeln

For $4.25, you’ll receive this massive brick of Pasta Gratin with Ham, Onions, and Cheese. It’s basically the cornerstone of our Food and Wine Festival diet at EPCOT. Since it’s so densely rich and cheesy, we suggest enlisting the help of a friend or family member so you can divide and conquer the Schinkennudeln together!

Get our full review of Germany booth’s food and beverages here!

Mimosas at Shimmering Sips Mimosa Bar 

We were super excited to see Shimmering Sips Mimosa Bar made the cut the year — not only are their drinks super pretty, but they’re pretty delicious too! And did you know their Tropical Mimosa is made with Passion Fruit, Orange, and Guava juices? It’s a literal POG Mimosa!

Key Lime, Blood Orange, and Tropical Mimosas

But you really can’t go wrong with any of their Mimosas! We highly recommend sampling their Key Lime Mimosa with Key Lime Sparkling Wine and Cranberry Juice as well as their Blood Orange Mimosa with Sparkling Wine and Blood Orange Juice! All their Mimosas cost $6 each, no matter which flavor you get!

Check out our complete review of everything on the menu at Shimmering Sips HERE!

Canard Confit à l’Orange at France

Fans of EPCOT’s Flower and Garden food booth Fleur de Lys should start quacking their way over to France! The Canard Confit à l’Orange has returned for Food and Wine time!

Canard Confit

The Braised Duck Confit à l’Orange is super tender and juicy, served over a warm bed of mashed sweet potatoes. We’re drooling just thinking about! Pick up this delight for $6.25.

Tarte aux Oignons Caramelises et Chévre at France

France coming in with TWO fest favs! The Tarte aux Oignons Caramelises et Chévre for $5.50 has found its way to A Taste of EPCOT after first introducing itself at EPCOT’s Flower and Garden Fest!

Tarte aux Oignons Caramelises et Chévre: Goat Cheese Tart with Caramelized Onions on a Flaky Pastry Crust

This goat cheese tart has stacks upon STACKS of super flaky crust! Plus the caramelized onions bring such a nice flavor and texture to this gorgeous square of deliciousness. Do NOT pass this one up!

See what other goodies France is serving up here!

Kalua Pork Slider at Hawai’i

ALOHA! We’re doing the hula dance now that we’ve had our first of MANY Kalua Pork Sliders of the Festival!

Kahlua Pork Slider

For $5.25, you’ll get one of these pulled-porky bad boys served with a sweet-and-sour DOLE pineapple chutney and spicy mayonnaise. This has basically become a festival essential since it was first introduced and for good reason. It’s that sweet and spicy combo that always keeps us coming back for more.

Aulani Sunrise at Hawai’i

And to wash down our Kalua Pork Sliders there’s a brand new beverage option at the Hawai’i booth. It’s called the Aulani Sunrise in homage to Disney’s Hawaiian resort! Boy, we could use a little island getaway right about now!

Aulani Sunrise

The Aulani Sunrise is made with vodkaDOLE Pineapple Juice, and grenadine and costs $14. This drink was definitely sweet, but not too overpowering, plus it’s served in a really cool-looking tiki cup that you get to keep! We’re never one to turn down a souvenir cup, especially when it’s this fun!

Read our full review of the Hawai’i food booth here!

Pork Tostada at Mexico

Mexico is usually one of our favorite booths at Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival and their Pork Tostada for $6.75 was our favorite dish this year! That means you probably don’t want to skip this one! It’s just so tasty!

Pork Tostada

The fried corn tortilla had a nice crispiness to it while the roasted pork was melt-in-your-mouth tender! It’s served street-style with Chipotle Black Beans, Fresh Salsa Verde, Onions, and Cilantro. If you inherited the soapy-cilantro flavor tastebuds you might want to ask for yours sans cilantro, but otherwise, this was a slam dunk!

Clásica Margarita at Mexico

And for us, it’s a crime to eat tacos without a margarita! Luckily, Mexico has a couple of different options to choose from depending on how smoky you like to go. We preferred their Clásica Margarita for $10.75 made with Tequila, Chile Poblano Liqueur, Lime Juice, and Agave Nectar with a Salt Rim.

Clasica Margarita

It’s crisp, clean, and pretty straight-forward with a slight spice to it from the chile-poblano liqueur. If you’re not a fan of salted rims, you can ask for it without. And if you’re more into Mezcal margs, give their Mango Smoky Margarita. For our palettes, the classic margarita went down better!

We went a little loco at Mexico’s food booth this year! Check out our full review here!

Chirashi Sushi Flowerpot at Japan

Frothy Ramen has reappeared this year at Japan’s booth, but so has this variation of the Flower and Garden’s Salmon Flower Ikura!

Chirashi Sushi Flowerpot

The presentation is a little bit different as you can see. The Fresh-cut Salmon is now chopped up instead of rolled up like a flower, making it a little less pretty, but a lot easier to eat. The other ingredients included are Salmon Roe and Spinach and instead of Chilled Ramen at the bottom, it’s served over Sushi Rice with Furikake and Poke Sauce. There’s also no Watermelon Radish, but it’s still being served in an adorable flower pot and we actually liked the rice better than noodles! Still, if you’re not a fan of raw fish, you might want to sit this one out.

Furano Martini at Japan

One of our favorite Hanami Flower and Garden cocktails has also returned. We first laid lips on the Furano Martini last March and it was LOVE at first sip!

Furano Martini

It’s made with Vodka, Lavender Syrup, and Yuzu Juice, and for $7.50 we were wowed by how complex this drink tasted. It’s not TOO overwhelmingly floral, but that flowery taste is very much there. We happen to think it was really complex and fun!

Click here to read our review of Japan’s eats and drinks!

Gourmet Macaroni and Cheese at Mac and Cheese, Hosted by Boursin

Heaven must have FINALLY heard our call! We’ve been hoping for more ways to cram mac and cheese into our mouths and this year there’s a brand new food booth dedicated to doing exactly THAT! A whole booth of mac and cheese!! This Gourmet Macaroni & Cheese served with Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs Cheese Sauce and topped with Herbed Panko for $4.50 was one of the BEST by far!

Gourmet Macaroni and Cheese with Boursin® Garlic and Fine Herbs Cheese topped with Herbed Panko

Maybe it’s because it came with a giant GLOB of Boursin cheese as a SIDE? Could it have been that? Yeah, probably! 😉

Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese at Mac and Cheese, Hosted by Boursin

And if you’re wanting to spice your mac and cheese routine up, go for the Buffalo Chicken Macaroni & Cheese for $5.50.

Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese with Boursin® Garlic and Fine Herbs Cheese Sauce topped with Carrots, Celery, and Blue Cheese Crumbles

This one’s a little more complex and it’s made with Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs Cheese Sauce topped with Carrots, Celery, and Blue Cheese Crumbles. While we could’ve used a lot more buffalo sauce, it was still super yummy!

Read our full review of the Mac and Cheese booth’s cheesy offerings here!

Parish Brewing Co. Ghost in the Machine Double IPA at Appleseed Orchard

And we gotta mention one of our favorite festival BREWS! Appleseed Orchard is back for its second year and has brought back their Ghost in the Machine Double IPA6oz. glasses are $4.50 while 12oz. glasses cost $8.50.

Parish Brewing Co. Ghost in the Machine Double IPA

Unfortunately, none of the booths are doing beer flights this year, so we wanted you to know which beers we liked BEST! If you’re into IPAs, definitely give this one a try!

Check out our full review of Appleseed Orchard here!

Collective Arts Brewing Blackberry Fruit Beer at Canada

Another beer we’re BIG fans of this year is the Collective Arts Brewing Blackberry Fruit Beer! If you’re into hard ciders or fruiter beers, give it a shot!

Collective Arts Brewing Blackberry Fruit Beer

It has sweet, tart finish and comes in two sizes — a 6 oz. cup will cost ya $4.50 while a 12 oz. cup goes for $8.50.

Canadian Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Soup Served with a Pretzel Roll at Canada

And since we’re in this neck of the woods, we have to get our beloved Canadian Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Soup at the Canada booth for $5.25. At least, that’s how strongly we feel about the Cheddar Cheese Soup at Le Cellier in the Canada Pavilion.

Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup with Pretzel Roll

This soup has been at the festival seemingly FOREVER (ok, not THAT long, but it’s VERY popular!). We love this cheddar soup so much, we’d marry it if we could! The pretzel roll can be the ring bearer.

Click here to see everything the Canada Booth is cooking up!

Crispy Citrus Chicken with Orange Aïoli and Baby Greens at Citrus Blossom

An entire food booth from Flower and Garden has sprouted back up at A Taste of EPCOT Food and Wine and it’s brought a bunch of its Orange buddies back with it! You won’t want to miss some of its best of the fest eats from the Spring like the Crispy Citrus Chicken with Orange Aïoli and Baby Greens for $5.75

Crispy Citrus Chicken

It’s a gluten-free offering, which sometimes translates to “sog fest” when it comes to breading, but the crunch factor is THERE! Plus the fresh baby greens and zingy aïoli make for the perfect bite when you mix them all together!

Orange Cream Shake in a Souvenir Orange Bird Sipper Cup at Citrus Blossom

And look who’s also RSVPed to A Taste of EPCOT’s par-tay! It’s the one and only Orange Bird Sipper! He’s back again and he’s still filled with the yummy non-alcoholic Orange Cream Shake! Take this little cutie home with you for $15.00!

Orange Bird Sipper

We’ve also seen the Spike the Bee Sipper buzzing around the Food and Wine Festival too (find him over at the Refreshment Outpost!), although Honey-Peach Freeze drink he came with back in March has flown away in exchange for a frozen Coke or Minute Maid slushy.

Read our full review of Citrus Blossom here!

Seafood Fisherman’s Pie at Wine and Dine Featuring Festival Favorites 

If you fancy some seafood, you’ll want to head over to Wine and Dine Studio! This food booth is serving up some hits from Food and Wine festivals of yesteryear like this Seafood Fisherman’s Pie for $6.50 that Ireland’s food booth used to serve.

Seafood Fisherman’s Pie

We wouldn’t recommend it unless you really, REALLY love you some seafood though since it’s very fish-forward. Tucked under that golden pile of mashed potatoes are shrimp (ours had two large ones), chunks of lobster, and delicious scallops. We’ll be dropping by to get this one again soon.

Check out our full Wine and Dine Featuring Festival Classics review here!

Piri Piri Skewered Shrimp at Africa

One look at this dish had our mouths watering. After all, Africa is a booth KNOWN for bringing the flavor. The Piri Piri Skewered Shrimp was NO EXCEPTION. This dish was a perfect blend of spices with a surprising and delicious flavor profile to boot.

Piri Piri Skewered Shrimp with Citrus-scented Couscous

You can try the Shrimp Skewers for $6.75 and trust us, you’re gonna want to give it a shot. Plus, with a portion size this HUGE, it just might be the ONLY thing you’d need to eat at the festival — or you can share it!

Click here for our FULL REVIEW of the Africa Booth!

Beef Kefta Pocket from Morocco

Speaking of flavor, this pick is a BIG WINNER for us. The Beef Kefta Pocket from Morocco for $9 was honestly the BOMB. When you snag this festival favorite, get ready for another SUPER filling portion and a flavor explosion.

Beef Kefta Pocket

We couldn’t stop eating this. It had a lot more flavor than we’ve come to expect from most festival items with a little bit of heat and a whole lot of spice. We will note that ours was just the tiniest bit dry, so your mileage may vary. Still, those flavors made it WORTH IT.

Click here for our FULL REVIEW of the Morocco booth!

Additional Locations

Street Corn Funnel Cake at Funnel Cakes

Listen, we NEVER would have thought to throw corn, cheese, cilantro, and crema on a funnel cake — but we are SO GLAD someone did! The Street Corn Funnel Cake from the Funnel Cake stand was almost immediately crowned one of our Best of the Fest contenders seconds after taking a bite, and we stand by that decision.

Street Corn Funnel Cake

The flavors of this dish melded in a way that was totally unexpected and the texture of the funnel cake was just the right mix of soft and crisp. Seriously, the first word that comes to mind when we think about this dish is GREAT. You can give it a try for $9!

For our FULL REVIEW of the Street Corn Funnel Cake!

Tropical Breeze from Joffrey’s in The American Adventure Pavilion

This drink costs $11.99 and it’s the perfect palette cleanser after a long day of eating! We first tried it at Flower and Garden (along with the other three specialty cocktails that are scattered throughout the parks at the various Joffrey’s locations)!

Tropical Breeze

The Tropical Breeze was still out top pick, though! This slushy is made with lemon, coconut syrup, and pineapple rum! If you need some refreshment, seek this one out!

Click here to see our review of ALL the Joffrey’s specialty drinks!

BEST Booth of the FEST

We’re going to take things one step further and give you our picks for the BEST of the booths at the fest. If you only have time to swing by a couple of spots, we think they should be THESE!

France 

Not much has changed on the menu at France since this food booth decided to bring back most of its 2020 Flower and Garden Festival offerings for A Taste of EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival. Not that we mind it one bit!

France

France was a close best of the fest runner-up for best food booth back in March behind Japan, and since Japan has switched up its festival offerings a bit, we’re tipping the scales in favor of France. We already have two picks on the Best of the Fest list from this booth, and that was being picky and leaving off other favorites like the La Vie En Rose Slushy! It really has some incredible items that we didn’t realize how much we’d missed them until we got to have them again!

Click here to read our full review of France’s booth!

Runners-Up for Best Booth of the Fest

Hawai’i 

We definitely know why Hawai’i was one of the first food booths Disney told us would be returning this year — it’s a fan favorite and even better this year thanks to the Aulani Sunrise!

2020 Hawai’i Food Booth

But you really can’t go wrong with ANYTHING on the menu here — especially if you make the Kalua Pork Slider a sidekick to whatever else you’re ordering. Oh yea, did we mention they have a delicious Teriyaki-Glazed SPAM Hash, pineapple beer, AND pineapple wine TOO?

Click here to see everything at the Hawai’i Booth

Mexico

And once again, Mexico can do no wrong when it comes to EPCOT festival eats.

Mexico

You can choose from two stellar margs and two delicious taco and tostada options along with a delightful sangria and Mexican beer. From its beautiful drinks to its packed-with-flavor eats, we often start and end our trek around the World Showcase at Mexico.

Click here to see why we love the Mexico Booth!

Mac and Cheese, Hosted by Boursin

It would be a little off-brand for us not to give Mac and Cheese some props since this booth was practically MADE for us cheese and carb lovers! There are still a few kinks to work out, but we’ll never turn our noses up at a menu that consists of nothing but mac and CHEESE!

ALL the Mac and Cheese

They also have a few beverages that didn’t let us down either. So between mac and cheese and wine, we’ve got all our basic food groups covered with this new food booth!

Click here to see all the cheesy goodness happening at the Mac and Cheese Booth!

Best of the Fest for Kids

Liquid Nitro Chocolate Cake Pops at Desserts and Champagne

Don’t let its rather grown-up sounding name fool you — Desserts and Champagne has one of the most kid-friendly festival offerings we’ve found! Adults will really get a kick out of these Liquid Nitro Chocolate Cake Pops as well!

Liquid Nitro Cake Pops

You can get them with crumbles of Twix Chocolate Bars, M&Ms, or just plain for $4 each! Nothing says festival like food on a STICK! Plus, mom and dad can sip some bubbly in between stealing bites of their kids’ treats! 🙂

Check out our full review of the Desserts and Champagne food booth here!

Instagram Winner

Bleu Spectrum at Wine and Dine Featuring Festival Favorites

Last but not least, you’ll need to know which item to post on social! The Blue Spectrum first debuted at Light Lab and now it’s BACK!

Bleu Spectrum

Flavor-wise, you’ll find this drink just tastes like champagne with some boba pearls mixed in, but once it’s poured you can watch the beads float around in the Blanc de Bleu Cuvée Mousseux! It’s a beautiful show for $9!

2020 Taste of EPCOT Food and Wine Festival

Find this blue stunner over at the Wine and Dine Festival Favorites Booth in World Showplace!

Click here for our review of the Festival Favorites Booth!

Phew! It just might be time for a food-fueled nap! We love us an EPCOT festival and, despite the modifications, A Taste of EPCOT Food & Wine Festival did not let us down! The best part? This festival is sticking around for a few more months so we’ll have plenty of chances to grab seconds (and thirds!) of all our favorites. Grab your free DFB printable of all the booths and get munching!

Click here for ALL of the UPDATED details on Taste of EPCOT International Food & Wine Fest!

What would you most like to try at the 2020 Taste of EPCOT Food & Wine Festival? Let us know in the comments!



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