Dining at Disney: Food and Wine Festival 2012 – Opening Weekend

I just returned from a great weekend at my favorite time of year at WDW: Food & Wine Festival 2012. Among the great food and drink I also met up with Nancy, Kelly and Shannan from The Affordable Mouse. It was so much fun meeting the people you share a passion for Disney with, but also for The Affordable Mouse like I do.

It is really hard to narrow down my favorite – there was so much my son & I shared in just two short days. I am proud to report we did visit 16 out of the 30 kiosks, so in spite of me being slightly under the weather for the 1st day, I would say we had a respectable sampling trip. I’m focusing on food this month – more next month on the different beers and wine.

I would have to say the “best-for-the-price” that we tried was the Seared Filet of Beef with Smashed Sweet Potatoes and Braai Sauce. This filet was not only extremely tender, but was also a very generous serving! For only $5, I felt this was very affordable. Because of the size of the filet and the sweet potatoes, we had more than enough for two people to sample. The picture above shows just how nice this looked. I was worried about trying to cut a filet in a snack type cardboard plate and also doing it with a plastic knife, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the tenderness and flavor. While I couldn’t cut it with my fork, the “butter” type plastic knife cut it with ease.

In case you’re asking yourself exactly what Braai sauce is, I looked it up and it is a type of South African BBQ sauce with tomatoes, garlic, onions, sweet pepper, vinegar, oil, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, cayenne sauce, French mustard and fruit chutney. It was different from our BBQ in the states, but was very flavorful and not overly spicy hot. This sauce, while I wouldn’t have thought would go with the sweet potatoes, did actually taste amazing with the filet and the sweet potatoes.

Another favorite of ours was the Mongolian Beef in a steamed bun from China. The steamed bun was completely different from what either of us pictured – it was more like a steamed dumpling with shredded Mongolian beef in it, similar to a Chinese taco. The sauce was very good and again, very tender meat. I can see myself trying this recipe at home.

My son, who tends to be a food snob, was amazed at the amount food prepared daily for a 45 day festival and how the food was both appealing, consistent in flavor and served at the right temperatures. This in itself says a lot about Disney – always striving to be the best and to give every guest a unique experience not only in their visit in the parks, but also the festivals and food.

I’ll have more on the beers and wine from around the World next month – Stay tuned!

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Debbie and her husband live in Collegedale, TN where her youngest son is going to college. She is a huge Disney fan who dreams of someday retiring and working as a tour guide at Walt Disney World. She has enjoyed many trips to WDW with children, grandchildren and sometimes adults only. It is her ultimate goal to make sure everyone who visits WDW has the same magical time that she enjoys every time she visits.