21 Days in WDW + DxDDP= Loads of food pics!

[disjunkie]

Today we had an 11:30 reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern. We were seated pretty much as soon as they began seating parties by our waitress, who was very friendly and chatty.

We'd eaten here before a few years ago, and I remembered the portions being quite big so we decided just to share an appetiser of Tavern Fried Cheese. This was nice, and actually wasn't as big a portion as we received in 2005. It was mozerella sticks and the little pieces are some other type of cheese (I can't remember what exactly). It was served with marinara sauce to dip the cheese in, which was also nice. You can't really go wrong with breaded, deep fried cheese!


For an entree our waitress reccommended a new dish that would be going on the menu from the following week: Steamed fish with pilaf rice and lemon sauce. I decided to give it a try, and although it was alright, I kinda wished I'd stuck with my original choice of the chicken salad. It was served in the bag it was steamed in, the fish was well cooked but it was quite bland. The lemon sauce was too thin and and didn't have enough flavour to bring the fish to life really. There were vegetables underneath the fish which were nicely cooked, but again didn't have a lot of flavour. I did however really like the rice, this was slightly sticky and had a good, strong, slightly spicy flavour.


DH was going to go with the vegetarian noodle bowl but our waitress said she really didn't recommend it, and it was actually being replaced on the menu with another vegetarian dish the following week. Therefore he chose the Colony salad minus the chicken. He's not normally a huge fan of salads but said this was really good. The dressing was tasty, there was plenty of cheese and the apple pieces and pecans added sweetness. It was a big portion though and he struggled to finish it.


For dessert I chose the Ooey Gooey toffee cake. This didn't disappoint and was definitely my favourite part of the meal. The cake was very rich, dense and very sweet. It was drizzled with caramel sauce and pieces of toffee, and I think chopped nuts. It needed the vanilla icecream to cut through the richness, as without it I think it would have been too sweet, even for me. I really liked this dessert and would definitely recommend.


DH went for the caramel apple pie. He really loved this pudding and actually liked this better than my dessert. The pastry was thick and soft, and the apple filling consisted of whole apple slices, rather than apple mush, like you sometimes get in pies. It was served with caramel sauce, which sweetened the dish and cinnamon icecream which just had a nice hint of cinnamon flavour.


To sum up we had a really enjoyable lunch here, the service was very good, the food was good and the desserts were fantastic.

[disjunkie]

That night we were eating dinner at Spoodles. It was pretty busy when we checked in at 7:30, but we were seated after about 5 minutes.

Our waitress greeted us straightaway and was very friendly, chatting to us about England and phrases she'd learnt from serving other English families.

For drinks we got the pitcher of sangria, which was a bargain really at $18, as we got over 4 glasses from it. She also let us know that bottled water was included on the DDP so we also had a bottle of Evian.
The sangria was good, not too strong and a nice fruity taste. Not as good as sangria I've had in spain as there wasn't nearly as much red wine in it, but it was nice.


For my appetiser I chose the hummus with pita bread. I love hummus and this one was really nice, with a good garlic kick and olive oil drizzled on top. It was served with loads of pita bread and even with DH's help I didn't manage to eat it all.


DH had a few veggie appetisers to choose from but went for the Tomato and Buffalo Mozzarella Panzanella. He really enjoyed this and said it had loads of flavour and a tangy/zesty taste. It was toasted foccacia topped with ripe tomato and good buffalo mozzarella. There was also pesto drizzled on top which added another flavour into to mix.


For my main I went with the special, Lobster Ravioli. Our waitress said this was a light dish and she was right, it was around 7 pieces of ravioli so I wouldn't reccommend this if you're hungry. The pasta was very soft and well cooked, the filling had a good lobster flavour which wasn't overpowered by the lemon sauce, it also had some prawns in the middle which were tasty. I was thrilled as this was the first main course I actually managed to finish!


DH had the White Bean Moussaka which was a huge portion compared to my dish. It was served piping hot and it had quite a bit of spice to it. Again he said this was really tasty and had lots of flavour. The aubergines were layered with a thick white bean puree, which was very,very good, then covered with a spicy tomato sauce. This was another hit for DH, although he couldn't quite finish it, he made sure he ate all the white bean puree.


For dessert I went for the Amaretto flan. This was a bit different to what I expected, as I thought it would be like a wobbly custard. Instead it actually had a very firm texture, but it did have a good amaretto flavour. Overall, I thought this was just alright and probably should have chose a different dessert.


DH chose the Mascarpone Cheesecake which came with strawberries and balsamic reduction. This was a really nice cheesecake, and the walnut crust was good. I liked the classic combination of strawberries and balsamic vinegar, but it was no where a near as good as Narcoosees cheesecake we'd tried the previous night.


Overall we had an enjoyable meal here and it's still a really good 1TS credit restaurant. I was really disappointed to hear Spoodles is closing, but hopefully it's replacement will be just as good.

[col2501]

Am really enjoying your reports...thanks for sharing!

[disjunkie]

Originally Posted by col2501

Am really enjoying your reports...thanks for sharing!

See more...

Thank you very much.

[disjunkie]

For breakfast today we split a Cherry Turnover we'd picked up yesterday afternoon as we were leaving Magic Kingdom. This was very good with sweet, crisp pastry, a crunchy sugar topping and a sweet cherry filling, but plenty of whole cherries adding a slight tartness.


We played mini golf this morning at Fantasia Gardens, then walked over to Epcot for our 1pm reservation at Rose and Crown. We had eaten here once before, and being from England anyway it's not normally somewhere we must eat at. However this was what I loved about the deluxe plan, I could try these places for lunch, that I may be wouldn't have wanted to spend a TS credit on, on the normal DDP.

We arrived a bit early but we were seated straightaway (they were also taking walkups for immediate seating). We asked to sit inside, as I don't like eating outside and it was pretty quiet with only a few tables occupied.

Our waiter greeted us and offered drinks. I chose the Welsh dragon which was Peach Snhapps, Midori, Pineapple and Orange juice. I really liked this cocktail as it was neither too strong or too sweet, just right!
DH had a Black and Tan which can also be seen in the pic below.

I also snapped a quick pic of the drink menu in case anyone was interested.


As we'd only shared a pastry for breakfast we both decided to order an appetiser. I went with the cup of pea soup, which was garnished with bacon bits and cream. This was ok, but needed a bit more seasoning, the best mouthfuls were those where you got a bit of bacon too, as that was quite salty.


DH chose the cheese plate. This was a stilton pastry which was flaky pastry topped with melted stilton (very good), cheddar which DH said was ok and a blue cheese which was very good with the red onion marmalade.
As well as the pot of onion marmelade, the cheese was also accompianed by grapes and crostini. He said this was an ok cheese plate, but none of the cheeses were particularly exotic.


As an entree I went with the fish and chips. As unheathly as they are, we do occaisionally go to the chippy back home, so I was interested to see how Epcot's version compared. This was a big portion, with two pieces of fish and a fair few chips. The fish was actually really good with the batter being very hot and crispy. The chips were ok, where they were different from chip shops in the uk is they were very dry. Chips from our local chippy tend to be a little greasy, and although greasy food normally isn't a good thing, I like my chips with a little grease as it makes them slightly soggy.
This was served with tomato and tartar sauce, which were good to dip the chips and fish in.


The vegetarian option was a vegetable curry. DH said this wasn't at all spicy, but it had loads of vegtables in a nice creamy sauce. It was served with bread which seemed to be a cross between a Naan bread and Pita and he thought the grain was quinoa. Overall he enjoyed this dish, again it was quite a big portion but I think he managed to eat the lot.


I was pretty full by this point from the fish and chips, but DH wanted dessert so I ordered the Baileys trifle. This was very nice and you could taste both Baileys and coffee in it. The Baileys/coffee flavoured custard was layered with chocolate sponge, then topped with whipped cream and chocolate flakes. I think I ate about half, and if I hadn't been so full I would have ate the lot.


Now DH's favourite dessert in the world is Sticky toffee pudding and he get's it at every restaurant it's served at back home. Therefore of course that's what he ordered here. He said that this was actually a good attempt at a Sticky toffee pudding, which was sweet with a good dense sponge. His only criticism is that it wasn't served with enough custard but he managed to finish every last bite!


We both enjoyed our lunch here. The decor is actually really good, and it was a quiet, tasty lunch. Our waiter wasn't the best (it was more akin to service we receive in the UK, rather than the US so I guess it was authentic! ) but he was friendly and got the job done. We'd go back here for lunch on a return trip.

[disjunkie]

Aside from V&A California Grill is probably my favourite WDW restaurant. I could only get a late reservation (9:20pm) but took it anyway as I couldn't spend 3 weeks in WDW and not eat here.

The plan was to watch Wishes beforehand from the entrance to MK then walk to the Contemporary to check in. This was the only time we had poor bus service at AKL, we got to bus stop at 8 and it wasn't until 8:45 that a MK bus showed up. By the time we pulled into MK, Wishes had already started so we just walked along to the Contemporary watching what we could while walking.

We actually arrived bang on our reservation time and were taken to the 15th floor. The place was still a mad house, very loud and loads of parties waiting to be seated. We eventually got a seat in the bar, but it wasn't until 9:55 that we were actually seated. Between 10 and 10:30 the restaurant started to clear out and it became a much quieter, more pleasant atmosphere.

Our server was very friendly and greeted us straight away. The only criticism I have is she took ages to bring our bottle of wine and we were already partway through our apps before it arrived. We ordered a Grenache which was really, really good. I'd never heard of the winery before but I'll be looking them up to see if I can get another bottle.


I chose the Sauteed Lobster and Shrimp cakes for an appetiser. Normally I have sushi for an appetiser here, but I felt it was too late at night to eat a really big appetiser. The cakes were very good, with big pieces of both lobster and shrimp with no filler at all. They had a bit of a kick to them, and tasted very thai, with a strong lemongrass flavour.


DH had his second cheese plate of the day and this one was the winner out of the two. This had a good selection of cheeses, with the Spanish Goats cheese being the winner. The only one he wasn't keen on was the Fleur de Maquis, which was encrusted with fennel seeds, supposedly to enhance the flavours. We both thought the fennel totally overpowered the cheese, and that was all we could really taste.
It was served with crostini and the accompaniments were really good with honey, raisins and nuts all working well with the cheese.



As I didn't have sushi as an appetiser, I decided to order Yoshi's Deluxe Sushi Platter as an entree. This was absolutely fantastic, but it was really big and I hated that I couldn't finish it all. All of the fish was of good quality and incredibly fresh. I can't remember exactly what it included but the california crab roll was good, the tempura shrimp roll was excellent. There was tuna and salmon maki and nigri, all were good but the tuna maki contained to much wasabi for my taste. There was a few other pieces as well, I tried every bit (even if I didn't know exactly what it was) and enjoyed them all. This was definitely some of the best sushi I've ever had.


DH had the Whole Wheat Pasta, stuffed with wild mushrooms, spinach and black truffles. He said the mushroom and black truffle filling was lovely, and you not only had some very strong mushroom flavours, there was also plenty of truffle included which tasted fantastic. The only thing he wasn't keen on was the Wholewheat pasta, which he said was too thick and had a rough texture. He felt the sauce would have gone better with white pasta.


For dessert I was disappointed to see the Banana's Butterscotch Buzz had been removed from the menu. I absolutely loved it last year, so decided to go for The Original which I thought may have similar flavours. This is a butterscotch creme brulee with a duo of banana cakes, and caramelized bananas.

The creme brulee was very good, but I thought it had a stronger banana flavour than butterscotch. The caramalised bananas were on top of the creme brulee and were good and sweet. The cakes were good, with a light soft texture, and a chocolatey banana flavour. I liked this dessert, but it wasn't as good as last years.


DH chose the Cashew Nut Dacquoise Cake with Roasted Stone Fruits, Blackberries, Lychee Cream, and Ginger Caramel Ice Cream. He enjoyed this and said both the cake and lychee cream were very flavouful and good. I don't think he was as keen on the roasted peaches, but I tried one and it was really nice.


In summary we had another really good meal here, both food and service were good and although it was a late meal, I did prefer the atmosphere in the restaurant after the majority of people had cleared out and it quietened down.

[Tinkers]

Really enjoying your report, we are going to try California Grill for the first time in August and can't wait.

Thanks again

[Guest]

I'm really enjoying reading your foodie reports. Thanks for taking the time to share them with us.

[col2501]

Oooh am hoping to get an ADR for Cali grill too - food looks fab!

[Sue]

Thanks for you continuing reports - I had the same dessert as your DH at Cali Grill and absolutely loved it