At Epcot: A Dinner in Four Part Harmony

by Gaylin On my recent trip to Walt Disney World, I decided to have dinner ‘around the world’ at Epcot. And what does any good dinner start with . . . dessert! I started at the France Pavilion at the L’Artisan des Glaces. This is a fairly new ice cream shop and is worth the stop. They have 16 flavours of ice cream or gelato and they are all made in house. I found the cast members to be really friendly and when I asked for my Cafe Glacé with only a little whipped cream – they tried to talk me into having lots. Nope, a little was good for me. This is an iced coffee drink with a scoop of ice cream in it, I chose Caramel Fleur de Sel (Salted Caramel) and loved it. There are not a lot of tables in this area but people have a tendency to eat and run so getting a table was pretty easy. I did end up sharing it with a nice family since I was on my own. One of the cool things about traveling alone is how many people I get to talk to. Ice cream as an appetizer works for me!
I meandered around the showcase for awhile until I found the Florida Fresh booth. I had done my research before I went on the trip and knew which of the kiosks would have food that was safe for me to eat, allergies are a pain. My choice at Florida Fresh was Shrimp and Grits. Creamy, perfectly cooked grits, with a bit of spiced oil on top, andouille sausage bits, sweet corn and cillantro. And of course on top, 3 wonderfully spiced shrimp. This was a marvellous choice. I ate slowly to savour every bite.
After some more wandering, I ended up at the Mexico pavilion and their kiosk Jardin de Fiestas to try their Tacos al Pastor. Another great choice! This was a pork taco with achiote and pineapple. The serving was a bit small but so very tasty. I would have liked more pineapple pieces, they were lightly roasted and a slightly sticky sweet counterpoint to the spicy pork. There was no place to sit so I ended up finding a place in the shade to drop my daypack so I could eat with my hands. Yum.
And finally for dessert, I stopped at the Pineapple Promenade and had a Pineapple Soft Serve. Everyone said it was just Dole Whip but I didn’t find it as sweet as the Dole Whip from the Magic Kingdom or maybe it was because I had just had 2 spicy entrees, it didn’t seem as sweet. I did appreciate that it wasn’t a huge serving, starting with ice cream and ending with soft serve . . . enough sweet for me!
And to prove that I did something at Epcot that day, other than eating, here is a photo of the panda topiary at the China pavilion! ]]>