Don't Squeeze Me I've Had A Cocktail - Day 19

[truesdpr]

Day Nineteen - Thursday 8th April 2010

Cast Members:

Me (Pam) - Trip co-ordinator and frustrated travel agent, Non-rider, people-watcher and official cocktail consumer

DH (Bill) - Captain of the GB snoring team, laid back enough to go along with all holiday arrangements made by me and big ride partner of

DD (Olivia) - Our very own yakking yeti, Dibb celebrity, soft toy collector, trainee stalker and all round great company

Another morning at Universal for the park commandos today so we were up early again and I dropped them as before at the bottom of the escalators. They were intending to hit Universal Studios today and they wanted to ride Rip Ride Rockit too. I left them to it and decided on another McDonalds muffin for breakfast since the last one was so good so I called in at Championsgate and had my breakfast. I went on to Publix to pick up a few more supplies that we were running low on and then had a relaxing morning back at the house. Did a bit of surfing and had a nice long shower and hair wash before sitting on the balcony.

At the appointed hour I was summoned to pick them up as before from the Portofino Bay so I set off to the meeting point. They had really enjoyed their morning in the studios and had been on Rip Ride Rockit twice. Once with no queue and the second time late in the day with about a 40min queue which they said was worth it. Livi had chosen The Devil Went Down to Georgia as her music - she had decided that before we had left the UK! They had some pizza for lunch again which they enjoyed and were happy that they had done everything they had wanted to. Bill had taken just a few pics.








I'm told she's on this!







We headed back to the house and the pool for the afternoon and when we got back in the afternoon we all got ready to got to Epcot. We were all looking forward to our meal in Bistro de Paris. We decided we’d go over to Epcot a bit early for our ADR and have a walk round. MY SD card in my camera had decided to misbehave so I’d lost a few photos from our last Epcot visit and I wanted to replace them.

We arrived and parked and went into the park. It was a lovely evening with the sun just getting low and the light was really beautiful. I had taken a picture of Livi by one of the golden trumpet trees on our last visit which was only on Saturday and they were striking and in full bloom so we went to get another shot but a lot of the blossom had already fallen from the trees so they were not quite so striking. We had never seen these before and wondered if we had missed them in previous years as the flower time is obviously short and maybe the colder winter had made them flower later.









We walked round to the right this evening via Canada and I took some photos as we went. We enjoyed our stroll and it was nice not to be trying to get on to rides or get fastpasses! We noticed when we came in that the queue times for Soarin’ and Test Track were pretty long.















We spent a bit of time in the French pavilion looking at the shops and enjoying the atmosphere and when we could wait no longer we went to check in slightly early for our ADR which was for 7:45pm. We gave our name and waited in the foyer to be shown upstairs to our table.





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She made me take this


And this






Flowers in the foyer


Look at the state of that!


That's a better face!

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[truesdpr]

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Have to say that the young boy who came to get us did seem to take himself rather seriously - being French I suppose and wasn’t too keen in engaging in any conversation and looked a little shocked that we would even try! He showed us to a lovely table in the window and told us our server would be with us in a moment. Now we all thought he said ‘Ann Marie' so we were a little surprised when a waiter showed up with the name of Amaury! He was really lovely and very friendly and chatty so we felt we were sure to have a good experience.


The view from our table


The restaurant


The painted nail from yesterday

We started with a little amuse bouche of a sort of vol-au-vent filled with celeriac and mayonnaise which was very fresh and refreshing. Freshly baked mini baguettes were also served.





For starters Bill ordered the Smoked Salmon - with argula and mache salad with tarragon, buckwheat blinis, horseradish and caviar cream.



Livi ordered the Warm Goat Cheese - with basil and sundried tomatoes in a crispy shell, baby mixed greens, balsamic vinaigrette. She raved about this one and said it was really good.



I couldn’t decide between the goats cheese and the soup. Amaury recommended the soup and it was definitely the right choice so I had the Butternut Squash Soup - with chestnuts and cheese puff gougeres. It was absolutely gorgeous and you wouldn’t believe soup could taste so good!







For main course Livi & I both chose the Grilled Beef Tenderlon - beef parmentier, asparagus, peppercorn sauce.



We really enjoyed this and the potatoes were really tasty almost like a corned beef hash. The sauce was lovely and light too.



Bill ordered the Pork Tenderloin - stuffed with mushrooms, pasta gratin with truffles, forestiere sauce. Bill was very impressed with this dish and really enjoyed it.



We had a bottle of red wine - apologies as I can’t remember which one and I’ve managed to lose the receipt and some mineral water, Bill had Badoit which I had and Livi and I had Perrier.

For desserts Amaury suggested (while Livi was visiting the restroom!) that she may like the crepes Suzette which he would make tableside. Now Livi isn’t a great dessert girl but Bill said he would order the crepes.

I ordered the Creme Brulee - caramelized rice pudding, upside down caramel cake, creme brulee ice cream.



Bill ordered the Crepe Duo - one Suzette, the other like a purse with warm apples.






She did try some!

IllumiNations started between our main course and dessert and it was lovely looking out onto the lagoon and watching the show. It’s worth mentioning that the music wasn’t piped in here in case that is important to you. It would have been nice to be able to hear it clearly but we’ve seen it so many times it wasn’t an issue for us. The restaurant service continued as normal through the fireworks so not like California Grill where things stop for them - the French again - food is much more important than fireworks!

My dessert was absolutely gorgeous. The portions of each were small and not as large as they look in my photo - honest! The flavours were beautiful and the ice-cream was to die for. Bill really enjoyed the crepes too and Livi had a taste after watching Amaury expertly set fire to the Grand Marnier!

After desserts we had some coffee and petit fours and chatted to Amaury for a while. He was coming to the end of his year in the USA and would be leaving soon to do some travelling before heading back to France. He was hoping his experience may lead to a job with Paul Bocuse back in France. We wished him luck and said our goodbyes and waddled downstairs.

We were feeling pleasantly full but not ready to burst thankfully and we started to walk round towards the exit and needless to say we had to stop in the Japan shop and Livi had to look at the pick a pearl and I HAD to buy her one!.


Looking at the pearls

I know I know - big softie but I was in a good mood, full of some of the best food known to man and she loves picking a pearl so I told her she could have one when I saw her looking wistfully at the other people picking theirs. The look on her face and the huge hug and thank you kisses I got were worth it alone! Pearl duly picked and safely put in my bag we carried on around the park.



It was evening EMH so it was nice to walk back round with things still open well after the fireworks and we enjoyed our stroll back to the front of the park. Livi and I wound Bill up by going through Mouse Gear but he declined to join us and waited for us at the exit!

We had a couple of photopass pics taken as we made our way out and got back to the car and drove back to the house after a thoroughly enjoyable evening. It was our most expensive meal this trip but it was a really good experience and the food and service were exceptional.



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[Clare]

A fabulous day Pam and a fabulous evening - the Bistro looks amazing, i really wish I'd made it this trip, but as you might have heard, I fell in love with Flying Fish and went there 3 times lol

Bistro is now on my must do list next time

[truesdpr]

It was impeccable Clare - typically French and so leisurely. We could have lingered much longer! I've got Flying Fish on my list for next time! Have booked California Grill for our anniversary in November but seriously considering changing to Bistro de Paris.

Pam.

[Clare]

Originally Posted by truesdpr

It was impeccable Clare - typically French and so leisurely. We could have lingered much longer! I've got Flying Fish on my list for next time! Have booked California Grill for our anniversary in November but seriously considering changing to Bistro de Paris.

Pam.

See more...

Thanks Pam, you've sold me on it

[Guest]

Wow! Bistro de France looks amazing - thinking about how we can fit it in in AUgust

[Guest]

What a fantastic day and evening, your meal looked very very tasty looking forward to more

[WDWKaren]

Great trip report and what a cute waiter you had

[summersun]

a great report and food looked lush