First we eat, then we do everything else! 19 nights DDP/UNI -COMPLETE!

[Goldia]

Why is it that I am always drawn to the cocktails? Hmm...

Anyway, I loved the look of your martini The food looked lovely too

[Jaspercat10]

Yes that martini has gone on my list too, can't wait to try Toothsome 😁

[disjunkie]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Why is it that I am always drawn to the cocktails? Hmm...

Anyway, I loved the look of your martini The food looked lovely too

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Ha ha, I’m the same!

Originally Posted by Jaspercat10

Yes that martini has gone on my list too, can't wait to try Toothsome 😁

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It was really good, probably The best chocolate cocktail I’ve had. Toothsome is a great addition to city walk. Hope you like it when you visit.

[disjunkie]

Breakfast was at the club lounge again (this will be a bit of a repeating theme for this week of the trip!) I had a bagel with cream cheese this time.

After a morning at Islands of Adventure we decided to have lunch at Cowfish, and again were sat immediately at around 12:30. One of the things I prefer at universal is how you can just decide on the day where to eat and have no worries about getting a table.

The place was reasonably busy but we were given a nice 4 top table. I thought our server here was just ok, I felt a bit rushed to order at the beginning but then we waited quite a while for food to arrive.

On previous visits I always got milkshakes here as they were good and reasonable value at $6. This year they put the price up to $12 and no way are they worth that so had the Hoikkado nights cocktail -vodka, lemongrass syrup, basil mint and cucumber. I really liked this and it was very refreshing on a super hot day.

Neil had a spiked shake orange dreamsicle shake. I thought this was a cute presentation but I don’t think it was worth $14.

To eat I had the Jammin the blues burger. This was really good, the burger itself was juicy and the blue cheese topping was lovely. I swapped out regular for sweet potato fries which were amazing as they always are here.

Neil normally gets sushi here but decided to get something a bit different from the Burgushi section, the ‘what’s shakin’ tuna bacon sandwich’, but without the bacon. This was rare tuna, lettuce, jalapeños, salsa, slaw served on spring roll wrapper ‘buns’ filled with sushi rice. Although it was a bit strange to use rice in place of a bread bun, he really enjoyed this and tuna was very fresh.

Overall this was another good meal at cowfish for us and it remains a must do when we visit universal.

We had dinner at the lounge again tonight. Neil had cheese and crackers, the green cheese was quite unique but I liked it.

The hot dishes tonight were rice & peas, jerk chicken and tostones (fried plantain slices). The chicken was really good and the rice had tons of flavour too.

When I told Neil the rice was good he had his own plate with prawn salad.

We missed desserts tonight as we went to see IT (great film!) at Citywalk.

[disjunkie]

Today we were back at Epcot for our second visit to the f&w festival. We had our usual lounge breakfast

Then we caught an Uber to Epcot and used up a couple of fast passes in future world. Around 11am we headed to the food booths. It wasn’t too crowded but it was extremely hot, probably the hottest day I can remember experiencing at WDW so not an ideal day for F&W really.

We started with Canada where I got the soup. This was lovely as always but the temperatures outside weren’t exactly conducive to eating hot soup so I ended up not finishing it.

Next we stopped at the Cheese studio for a Savoury Caramelised Onion Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs Cheese Tart with Cold Arugula Salad and Aged Balsamic. The CMs took ages preparing this so I was expecting it to be warm but it was actually served cold so not 100% sure what they were doing to it. However it was good and a large portion so easy to share.

We then went to Africa for a spinach and paneer pocket with raita. This was really good with a delicious spinach filling but a little too spicy for me.

Then Spain where we shared a Sweet Olive oil cake with lemon curd. The lemon curd was really tasty and worked well with the cake, although I think the actual cake would have been pretty bland without it.

Next we were back at Hops & Barley for another cold brew beer. I still thought this was strange but Neil loved it

Then Japan so I could try the Salmon BLT sushi roll. I really liked this the salmon was fresh and although having lettuce and tomatoes inside the sushi roll was a little strange it definitely worked.

Out final stop was at France for a creme brûlée and passion fruit slush to cool us down. This time they had the proper martini glasses which was better.

The heat had now got the best of us we called an uber from the Beach club and headed back to Portofino. We stopped by the lounge for a drink and a snack.

That evening we went back to the lounge for drinks and appetisers. Tonight they offered make your own tacos. This was my favourite of the 5 evening offerings, and was especially nice as you could have a beef or vegetable taco so Neil could have some too.

As well as complimentary beer and wine you can buy spirits for $7. Neil decided to go for a Jack Daniels tonight and got a very generous pour!

Desserts tonight were apple tart and chocolate sponge cake, both were good

[Goldia]

Your breakfast and dinner at the lounge looks tasty. We loved Cowfish for lunch, I totally agree it's quite nice to be able to just turn up at a restaurant at universal we didn't have any trouble at lunch and didn't really have to wait too long for a table in the evening either.

[SKYYLA2003]

Loving your report, it is making me very hungry!

[disjunkie]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Your breakfast and dinner at the lounge looks tasty. We loved Cowfish for lunch, I totally agree it's quite nice to be able to just turn up at a restaurant at universal we didn't have any trouble at lunch and didn't really have to wait too long for a table in the evening either.

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Cowfish is a must do for us, never had a bad burger there. Yeah as much as I love Disney and don’t mind the advance planning it is nice to have at least part of the holiday to be more relaxed and spontaneous.

Originally Posted by SKYYLA2003

Loving your report, it is making me very hungry!

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Thank you. Will get an update done today.

[disjunkie]

We had the usual lounge breakfast again today.

After spending the morning at IOA we went to NBC Grill for lunch. We were sat immediately at a nice window table which was great for people watching.

To drink I ordered Mama Lings lemonade (which was nice but I had better cocktails on the holiday) and Neil had a beer

There were a few dishes I fancied here but eventually chose the half rack of ribs. This was good but it was a lot of food. The ribs were tasty and the meat fell off the bone, they were served with loads of fries and a cornbread muffin. I thought this was good value for $18.

Neil had a Grouper sandwich served with tater tots. He wasn’t overly impressed with this, he said the fish was nicely cooked but the sauce didn’t have much flavour. The tots were good though!

As usual we had tea in lounge which was Shepards pie tonight served with broccoli.

We also made it back for dessert again tonight, chocolate pana cotta and vanilla sponge tonight.

[disjunkie]

Surprise, surprise another breakfast in the lounge to start the day!

We were at universal again this morning then went to Bubba grumps for lunch as I had a landrys birthday reward to use.

We were sat quickly and our server here was excellent, efficient but really outgoing and friendly too. It was another really hot day so I didn't fancy a cocktail so had a non-alcoholic Strawberry speckled lemonade to drink while Neil tried some sort of IPA.

For my main I chose the Shrimp po boy. This was an absolutely massive sandwich and was really good. I didn’t finish it all as I had my eye on a warm cookie sundae for dessert.

Neil had the I’m stuffed shrimp. He said it was good, the filling was very rich so he was pretty full by the time he finished the dish.

We then split the Cookie sundae. This was nice but I thought the cookie would be gooier and more like cookie dough but was a bit dry. Like my main it was a massive dessert and even though it was me who wanted it in the first place, Neil ended up having to eat most of it.

We briefly stopped by the lounge tonight for a quick bite to eat before heading out to HHN.

Although it was a Friday night it was quiet at HHN for the first few hours and we knocked out 6 houses very quickly. We knew we had a pretty full on night at HHN the next day so left around 8:30 and just made it back to Portofino before the lounge shut. As we were back in time we thought it would be rude not to sample that nights desserts!