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Petrus and the AA guide

Andy Lynes
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Kikujiro

Kikujiro

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Cabrales,

Are you serious? :shock:

It was a couple of years ago :blink: and frankly I'm not sure anywhere I ate really merits much recollection. Because of timing, most meals were taken in the resorts themeslves. Having said this, I did try some of the allegedly better places, and it's easy to jog my memory using the web. Maybe Andy could chip in with more recent experiences ...

Um. As I remember them.

A Wolfgang Puck Café in Downtown Disney, much like the others: massive martinis; decent-ish, predictable food (tuna tataki?); a waiter who was writing a self-help slash cookery book.

My one ever visit to a Rainforest Café, by the Animal Kingdom: annoying use of language pre-seating ('your journey is about to begin'); ridiculous decor; unconvincing thunderstorms; substandard gargantuan chicken salads which no human could finish.

The California Grill at the Contemporary Resort (high modernist and now sweetly old-fashioned looking cold war concrete A-frame building) in Disney World -- Disney gets ambitious (current chef's name based on a quick Google Search is Clifford Pleau) -- I remember a pretty salad of a variety of unusual tomatoes that were presumably flown in specially (although that's no longer on the more recent but possibly now outdated menu I found here) and some edible but hardly exciting sushi.

Restaurant Marrakesh (menu) at the Moroccan pavilion at Epcot, one of the better meals I had actually inside a theme park (as opposed to the outside-park but inside-resort Puck and CG) but this is a definitively relative statement. Also a drab smorgasbord for lunch in the Norway pavillion.

Some or other fast food joint in (I think) Disney-MGM Studios, notable only for being the slowest service I have ever received in an over-the-counter fast food restaurant.

Mythos Restaurant at Universal Islands of Adventure (where Andy rode the Hulk): I think this was okay, despite ridiculous theme overload (I believe my server was called Atlas); I remember OTT set design and odd custom glass tableware and nothing about the food, although it seems to be approved of by these people.

There my memory ends. In Orlando itself, I remember a well-reviewed but fairly bad Chinese restaurant but have no idea what it was called, and some good shrimp po' boys in some bar somewhere.

Are you going that way yourself?

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peterpumkino

peterpumkino

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I used to live in Clearwater Florida and have a (now) 15 year old daughter so I have Disney overload, having said that I have visited EPCOT many, many times (actually I was there on the opening day - a disaster as Disney had no idea how popular the restaurants would be and didn't take reservations, result: REAL chaos!).

Just to confirm how EPCOT works. There are different 'countries' throughout the park (and here's where WDW get clever) and they employ the staff on a special 3 month visa from the actual country represented so, for example, instead of 'fake' Italians (i.e. from New Jersey) they have the real thing and, another good point they have only been away from their mother country for a maximum of 3 months. What this does is create a certain amount of authenticity in the cuisine and the atmosphere. I.E. the Italian restaurant has waiters that have just come from Italy and they shout to each other (just as in Italy) and swear amongst themselves and it's naturally pretty authentic. My observations:

MEXICO; My own favourite, believe it or not, where they have a simulated outdoor restaurant complete with water and an erupting volanao (I know, I know) but the food is quite good. The restaurant is called the San Angel Inn and one brother (according to legend) runs the EPCOT one with a greatly reduced menu while the other runs the legendary original in Mexico CIty. Yes, they DO serve Mole Poblano (with a choclate sauce, remember chocolate has actually a bitter taste) which is difficult to get outsde of Mexico. One night, fuelled by the Margheritas, I ate in MEXICO and announced I was going to Mexico City the next day and eat at the original San Angel Inn, which I did and it was truly excellent athough the EPCOT version was good too.

ITALY: Not bad at all, pasta was al dente, menu limited but OK. Negroni was fabulous (my favourite tipple which I have very occassionally as it's very strong).

MORROCCO: Marrakesh is the easiest to get into and is really quite authentic with Bistilla (pigeon pie) as a first course. Nice decor and music.

GERMANY: Typical bier keller atmosphere, food awful but that's authentic isn't it?

FRANCE: There are actually two restaurants plus a great pastry shop and a nice wine shop for tasting right next to the wonderful film on France. Food quite good but not historic although pastry dishes are good.

CHINA: Very large restaurant - not bad.

JAPAN: Good food as it cooked with good ingredients and fresh (Disney's buying power again) pretty area too.

Bear in mind two things: one is that these restaurants are set in a cultural desert for food (Central Florida) so by the time you reach them you really appreciate the food, and two, they are set in a Disneyfied idea of what country your supposed to be in. But this works mainly due to Disney's penchant for getting staff on a short term contract direct from that country.

The other thing is that it is really a mess getting a res. Things have improved but it's still a problem. Best thing is to go as early as pos. and book a table at the main hospitality center near the EPCOT 'ball'. And I mean early! Accept out of the norm times (i.e. lunch at 4.oopm) or dinner at Mexico at about 8.30pm, this means you miss the laser show at 9.00pm - or you can always leave your table, see the end of the laster show (there's a good view just outside of MEXICO), and run quickly back!

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Andy Lynes

Andy Lynes

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Orlando.  I think the Incredible Hulk rollercoaster must have scrambled by brain.

Isn't it fantastic? Hope you caught the Spider-Man ride as well. Astonishing technical achievement.

Did Spiderman twice, very impressed. The Hulk was really amazing, but once a holiday was enough.

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Andy Lynes

Andy Lynes

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Andy,

Welcome back! I sent an email to you requesting info on the sight. Did you get it? Are you the right person to address this to?

Thanks

Peter (mrpeterrobertson@aol.com)

Yes I did and yes I am and will reply this evening. In the meantime the help page on this site may be of use to you, its the Icon on the top right of the screen.

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cabrales

cabrales

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Are you going that way yourself?

Kikujiro -- I may go to Orlando within the next year or so, as a weekend trip. If I went to Florida, I would try to swim with dolphins (it's available somewhere) and eat at Les Chefs de France, just for the sake of having tried it. :hmmm:

Today's Wall Street Journal contains an article on how attendance is down at various Disney theme parks.

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Andy Lynes

Andy Lynes

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You can swin with dolphins at Discovery Cove for $199.00.

I'm afraid we didn't do any of the fancy Orlando restaurants, but did have some great food in the chain restaurants like Sonnys Real Pit BBQ and also a nice dinner at the Market Street Diner in Celebration. I cooked quite a bit as well after a trip to the Winter Park farmers market where I picked up some great fruit, veg and cheese and olive bread.

Wal Mart had a quite incredible array of meat available including pigs trotters, ears and "stomach" (the spleen maybe?). I got some short ribs and cooked Batali's recipe for them with pumpkin orzo (fantastic range of pastas at Wal Mart as well, Orzo was 87 cents a pack. It's nearly impossible to get in this country), some beef shank which I made into a stew with red wine and some veal shoulder chops which I pan fried in lots of butter and finished with lemon juice and ate with creamed leeks and baked Idaho potatos which are quite lovely.

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