Food Report! 11 nights of amazing food! Mainly offsite - Feb / March 2016

[abiknox]

Well hello fellow food lovers and welcome to another food report filled with yumminess!

Everything shown here contributed to an 8lb weight gain so it's a good job it was worth it


Birthday Cake

I had to get this one in as we ate a lot of it on our pre travel day! It was Aaron's birthday whilst we were away so a family meal was had the night before we left for Manchester giving us less than 24 hours to eat this beast of a chocolate cake! It was a cross between Rocky Road and Kinder Bueno as his mom couldn't pick which option to go with and it was amazing. Nutella in the butter icing! Droool.




Premier Inn Meal deal

This is the first time we have eaten at the Premier Inn (we weren't left with much choice after being evacuated from the Trafford centre) but over all we were quite impressed. Very good value and the food was pretty nice even if it was very basic. Aaron described it as ###### food done very well which pretty much sums it up perfectly.

We grabbed a couple of drinks in the bar before we ate. I had a Recorderlig cider and Aaron had a Stella. At the table I had the free wine (not great) and Aaron had the free beer which was Carling.

For starters, I went for the duck parcels which seem to be omitted from my photos and Aaron had the wings. For some reason the cabbage on the salad was bright blue! Both were pretty tasty.





I then had the mixed grill and Aaron had the rarebit topped sirloin. We also added the 3 for £2.99 sides and went for corn on the cob, onion rings and salad after confirming that the cabbage would be purple







The portions were good & the food was pretty tasty. We would use the meal deal again if we were stuck but our preference would still be a meal elsewhere. The restaurant lacked atmosphere and the speed the food came out at didn't allow for a relaxing evening.


Premier Inn Breakfast

This was great as usual, we were the first people in the restaurant so had full access to all the fresh food. New additions have been added since we last had one so we were impressed to find pancakes, flapjacks and bagels! 3 of my faves! There was also bubble & squeak on the hot counter. Yum.

We started with pancakes, fruit, toast & pastries and then hit the hot offerings. We ordered poached eggs from the kitchen which were cooked really well.






Olive Garden - Idrive

And now we arrive at the real part of the food report now we have landed in the USA!

To drink, I had a strawberry lemonade and Aaron had a 2 20oz Bud Lights.



For dinner, we started with their amazingly tasty breadsticks and salad, so salty but sooo good! We got through 2 baskets of the bread and 2 bowls of the salad!





For my main, I went for the garlic rosemary chicken which was lovely. The sauce was more like a glaze and the mashed potatoes were delicious too.



Aaron had the chicken parm which he really enjoyed. I tasted a bit of the chicken and it was good, really cheesy and crispy!



We had a voucher for a free dessert. I was too full to contemplate one and also annoyed that the white chocolate, raspberry cheesecake had been taken off the menu so I let Aaron pick. He chose a lemon cream cake which he liked. I tasted a bit and thought it was very artificial tasting



Overall the meal was great!


Panda Express - City Walk

Well we had almost been in America for 24 hours, a Panda Express could not be left uneaten much longer!

We had a plate each which is one side and two entrée., I had boiled rice, orange chicken and Aberdeen Angus steak. Aaron had a mix of boiled rice & noodles, firecracker chicken and broccoli beef.





I loved mine as usual but Aaron thought the meat portions were stingy and that the food wasn't hot enough.


Menchies Frozen Yoghurt - City Walk

After our Panda we headed here for dessert as we had done last year. We adore fro-yo and this place has it all! Loads of flavours and so many toppings and sauces it boggles your mind!

I can’t remember exactly what I had but I’m guessing it was Nutella yoghurt and some kind of cake batter / cookie flavour, I then topped it with gummy bears, jelly worms, cookie dough bites, brownie, M&Ms, hot marshmallow topping and caramel sauce! Oooh boy it was amazing. Aaron always has similar but puts fresh fruit on his and hot fudge sauce. If you haven't tried this place, do it soon! We ate them in the sun just watching the world go by, such a great feeling.








Millers Ale House - Idrive

Yep, sorry guys. We returned to Millers no less than 3 times on this trip so it might get slightly repetitive in points, we just cannot help ourselves!

Aaron had a 2 23oz Miller Lites, I had 2 Cosmo's.

Food wise, we had a free voucher for a flatbread so opted for the Zinger one. We swapped the blue cheese out for cheddar. It was lovely. Not too big either so it didn't fill us up which was nice.



For my main I had the big red burger, basically an enormous fried chicken breast, smothered in buffalo sauce and topped with cheese in a burger bun & served with fries, which I upgraded to the loaded option. It was incredible. Simple food but sooo good! The chicken breast was so big I gave Aaron half & what I had left was still too big for my bun.







Aaron had his long time favourite, the Cajun chicken pasta with the added tossed salad. Their balsamic dressing is to die for!






Buffalo Wild Wings - Lake Buena Vista

We returned here after a great meal last year. I had a diet Coke, Aaron had a Miller Lite.

We had a voucher for a free snack size wings (6 wings) so Aaron had them alongside a burger. He swapped his fries out for cheese curds which saved us money as I wanted to order these as a starter. I then had a small portion of wings (10 I think) with fries.







The food was really good again and the cheese curds were to die for! Aaron's burger was really nice to, plain and simple but it had great flavour. I had the spicy garlic sauce on my wings which was pretty hot. I can't recall what sauce Aaron had on his. It was definitely a milder one and also very nice.

[abiknox]

Bahama Breeze - Idrive

We almost stayed in the room tonight as we were both still pretty full form lunch and I had started to come down with a cold. It was so tempting to stay put but we eventually reasoned that at any other time of the year we would kill to eat out on Idrive so we got ourselves ready & head over to Bahama Breeze.

I had the Bahamarita to drink which was amazing, it was basically a fruit pastilles lolly in alcoholic drink form! Yum.



Aaron had the Margarita Flight which came looking so pretty! The flavours were key lime, hibiscus & pineapple. All yummy but the key lime was eye poppingly sour. in a good way!



I had the light portion of the Chipotle beef bowl & Aaron had the West Indies curry. Both were delicious and just the right size for what we were after. Im so glad we made the effort to go.






Panera Bread - Crystal River

This was a new one for us but I had read good things. It’s an order at the counter place and they have pretty good menu with lots of combo options. I had an apple juice to drink & Aaron had a water.

I went for the 1/2 turkey and kale sandwich with French onion soup.





Aaron had the sesame chicken salad & the won ton soup.





We also picked up a sticky pecan bum for 99c but we were too full to eat it and in the end it got binned.



It was all really delicious and fresh. We would definitely eat here again.


Bahama Breeze - Idrive

Just a couple of drinks here this time. We both had an ultimate pina colada to start and then I had a Bahamarita while Aaron had a Zombie & a Bahama Mama. All lovely again & great value for money at only 7 dollars each.








Millers Ale House - Idrive

Cuba Libre was actually on the plan tonight but that idea went down the drain when we realised they had a corporate buy out on Oh well, back to our favourite!

Normal drinks of a Cosmo & large Miller Lite.



I then had the combo fajitas & Aaron had the zinger mountain melt. Really, really good as usual. We also added the salad again.

[abiknox]

Cracker Barrel

This was our first visit here after reading good things. We were a bit confused by the menu as everything seemed to come with grits and I was sure I had seen plenty of meals in trip reports that had no grits on the plate. We asked the waitress and she basically told us to let her know what we wanted on our plates and she would work out which menu item to charge for. This is what we ended up with.















Yep, we still got grits!

The food was good but as there isn't one in Idrive we probably won’t rush back.


Kilwins Ice Cream - Celebration

Our usual snack as we sit by the lake. I had lemon sorbet, Aaron had 2 scoops, pistachio and praline.





They also had some pretty impressive looking goodies!




Cheeseake Factory - Mall @ Millennia

Back to an old favourite tonight after giving it a miss on ourlast trip. To drink, I had their yummy strawberry lemonade, Aaron had Stella.

The bread was just as divine as ever! We had two lots again .


We then shared a starter as I was craving some greens. We shared the farmers salad which was really good.



I then had the orange chicken & Aaron had the Louisiana chicken pasta. Both lovely and massive portions as usual.





We had to skip cheesecake though! We were just too full!


Wild Florida

We had a free lunch included with our 1/2 day tickets here. It was listed as an entree and two sides but when we went to order fries they told us they were an upgrade and that corn, beans or apple were classed as a side. A bit annoying but nothing major so we paid extra for the fries.

I had the pulled pork sandwich, Aaron had the burger. They were pretty tasty.






Wetzels Pretzles - Downtown Disne

Pretzel Bitz with beer cheese sauce! A great little snack




Cookes of Dublin Bar - Downtown Disney

Just a couple of drinks again. A Magners cider & a Miller Lite.



House of Blues - Downtown Disney

We had the Restaurant.com voucher for here again. It makes the food really good value for money but you do need to order a lot to make the minimum spend.

Whilst we waited for a table we propped up the bar. I ordered a hurricane & Aaron had a sangria.



Once we were at the table, I had cosmo, Aaron had another sangria, followed by an old fashioned.

Food started off with the spinach & artichoke dip. It was amazing, so creamy and a massive portion! We fought our way through it though!



For mains, I had the strip steak. Very nice and cooked how I wanted it. Aaron had the BBQ burger which he enjoyed.





To make up the bill we had to get a couple off desserts to go, we went for the bread pudding & the key lime pie. Half got eaten later in the evening but the rest got wasted Such a shame!






Clarion Inn - Lake Buena Vista

We had free breakfast this morning at our hotel so we made our way down. The offerings were pretty good but the queues and number of screaming kids/rude parents made the experience not much fun.

The waffle maker was great though, I made us each a Micky head.








Maple Bacon Cupcake - SeaWorld

OMG this cupcake! It was like a chocolate muffin with maple frosting & it had loads of crispy little bacon nuggets embedded in the icing! Very nice and surprisingly light, although we did leave some of he frosting.




Turkey Leg – Seaworld

This is something I had wanted to try for ages and finally gave in! I won’t be having it again. It was a bit dry and waaay too big! Aaron doesn’t eat leg meat so I was on my own. Massive fail.




Millers Ale House - Lake Buena Vista

Last visit I promise

Our plan tonight was for Applebees but the recent reviews of the one near us were appalling so we used it as an excuse for one last Millers visit.

It was Saturday night so the place was heaving but we only had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. I had a diet coke & Aaron had a couple of Millers.

Aaron had Cajun chicken pasta again and I had the Zinger salad. There was a bit of a lost in translation moment which resulted in my zingers being smothered in a garlic butter instead of the garlic zinger sauce but it was easily fixed with a bit of scraping and the request of some hot sauce. The food was great and cheap as usual.








Starbucks - Universal Studios

An OJ for me & a latte and croissant for Aaron




Lard Lad Donuts - Universal Studios

A regular size pink donut & a chocolate milk for me! So yummy and fresh!






Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream - Universal Studios

A two scoop tub for Aaron. Strawberry & peanut butter & chilli chocolate.




Royal Pacific Resort - Pool side

We were conscious not to ruin our evening meal here so decided to go halves on a sandwich, The Hawaiian chicken was our choice. It was served in coconut bread and it was really, really tasty! They put it onto two plates for us and gave each of us a full potion of fires. Such great service.





We also had a couple of cocktails each. Mai tais and a kraken. Very strong!

[abiknox]

Margaritaville - City Walk

Drinks first, we both went for 5 o'clock somewhere. One of our faves.



For starters, we shared the pretzel breads, really fresh and yummy! So filling though!



I had the BBQ burger & Aaron had the fish & chips. His was especially nice so I bagged a deal where we went halves





As this was Aarons bday meal, we did consider ordering a dessert but he was too full and wasn't having any of my suggestion to order the $16 brownie sharer that the waitress said would feed 4 or 5 people! Boo! Our meal here was excellent which we were so pleased about.

Cold Stone Creamery - City Walk

A medium size cake batter ice cream with gummy bears! So yummy and great to see them mix it! They also gave Aaron an epic rendition of happy birthday which was much appreciated!



Royal Pacific Resort - Breakfast area

A lovely relaxing breakfast was had here before we hit the parks, I had a bagel & Aaron had the ham & cheese croissant.





NBC Grill - City Walk

This was a new one for us! The setting is pretty cool and the service was great too. I had the cheese curds and Aaron had the chicken sandwich, we shared both.







I also had a diet coke & Aaron had a couple of Millers.


Menchies Frozen Yoghurt - City Walk

Another quick visit here, we shared this time so had a complete mix of everything, It was so tasty!




Lone Palm – City Walk

A quick stop at the outdoor Margaritaville bar for Aaron to have a Margarita




Yard House - Idrive

This was a fave of ours from last year so it was always on the plans for a second visit. I had a diet coke, Aaron had a Bud Lite.

I then had the Maui pineapple chicken which was huge, while Aaron had the orange chicken with some added steamed veg. It was all really lovely again and remains a favourite.










La Quina inn - Idrive

Another free hotel breakfast this morning. There was only continental offering but that was fine by us. We managed to make another waffle, shared a bagel, ate some yoghurt and fruit and also took a couple of muffins for the road. Ideal!








Pretzel Dog - Busch Gardens

We actually headed into the pretzel place for the bacon pretzel but they looked overcooked and dry so we opted for the dog option instead. It came with crisps and we shared a water.

Aaron wasn't too keen on the hot dog part so just ate the pretzel bread. It filled a hole but in hindsight we wished we had gone to the Dragon Fire Grill for their Chinese offerings!




Bongos Beach Bar - St Petes Beach

Our evening meal tonight was at our hotel beach bar. I had read good reviews from other Dibbers so was looking forward to it.

As we were waiting for a table, we ordered a couple of Mai Tais, at first we thought they were really weak and over priced but after a few minutes it was obvious they were packed with alcohol! We ordered another couple each with our dinner!



Food wise, we shared the boneless wings with buffalo sauce and ranch dressing.



I then had the chicken cheddar sandwich while Aaron had the California burger.





The meals were a good size and the fries were lovely and crunchy!


IHOP - St Petes

A standard US breakfast was in order this morning so we head over to the local IHOP.

We both had an OJ and then I went for the sirloin tips & eggs and Aaron had the ultimate combo.







Mine was amazing Aaron was pretty happy with his too! The pancakes are always a nice finish!


Level 11 Bar - Grand Plaza Hotel

A few drinks to start. A raspberry chocolate souffle for me & a blood orange margarita for Aaron.



He then followed up with a blueberry and passionfruit margarita.



For a snack, we had the sky sliders. Pulled pork, bacon and mac & cheese piled onto mini pretzel rolls! OMG there were incredible!




Bongos Beach Bar - St Petes Beach

A second visit here as it was such lovely setting.

I had a diet coke while Aaron had a Mai Tai.

We shared the boned wings this time, buffalo sauce & ranch dip again.



I then had the chicken, spinach and artichoke flat bread & Aaron had the fish tacos. Mine was ok but a bit bland. Aaron's tacos were lovely!






Larrys Ice Cream - St Petes

This place was rated number 1 on trip advisor so we made the 25 minute walk to it for dessert! It was worth it. They had an unbelievable selection of goodies! Gelato, ice cream, fro-yo, cakes, sundaes, waffles... you name the flavour and it was there!

I had a 2 scoop with pistachio gelato and cookie dough ice cream.



Aaron had banana praline caramel gelato and chocolate raspberry ice cream. Both in waffle cones. Yum, Yum YUM!




Teaks Neighbourhood Grill - Nr Universal

This place has been on my must do list for the past 4 years! This time we finally made it.

Aaron had a 20oz Miller while I stuck to Diet Coke.



We decided to go halves on two burgers. The glazed donut and the pig!

Oooh boy, what can I say. both burgers were amazing! The donut one did come out on top for both of us but the pig was also amazing. We had one side of sweet potato tots and one of garlic fries. The latter were so good!







As it was our last meal of the holiday (or so we thought) we decided to push the boat out and have dessert.

The brownie creation was our choice. It was amazing, so big and covered in caramel sauce, chocolate sauce and a delicious vanilla ice cream. The brownie as usual in the US was more like chocolate sponge cake but it was hot, moist and sticky! Om nom nom!




Panda Express - MCO

Ok, so we were still full from teaks but the chance of a last plate of heaven was too much for us.

We went for boiled rice, orange chicken and broccoli beef! So, so good!




Plane food - Virgin Atlantic

As you may well know, we don't normally touch the plane food so you can imagine my surprise when I saw Aaron being handed a tray! He had seen Siracha chicken on the menu and was intrigued. It soon came to bite him in the but through as I saw him spitting his first mouthful back out into his napkin. Apparently the chicken had a very strong fishy taste Ewwww! He did eat the cheesecake though!



And so we come to the end of another epic food report! Overall the food & service we had on this trip was outstanding. We have some new favourites.. Teaks being a definite highlight and some of our regular places remain high on our must do list!

Now back to healthy eating, I have to lose some weight before I book another trip right!

[MissFortune]

Yaay a new food report from you!

Only got as far as the Birthday Cake and am drooling. It looks amazing!

[abiknox]

Originally Posted by MissFortune

Yaay a new food report from you!

Only got as far as the Birthday Cake and am drooling. It looks amazing!

See more...

Hold fire! Its all gone Pete Tong with Photobucket & I seem to have random wedding photos in the mix! Lol

[k4ti3-x]

Wow it all looks amazing! Good to know theres a panda express at MCO as we are flying to that airport instead of Sanford this time

[Minnie4Mickey]

Oh my god, that burger from Teak looks amazing and the brownie! I'm going to try and convince the group to go here in October.

[Redrach1903]

Haha I noticed the random photos, so thought I'd come back later

Ace report Abi and my tummy is now growling like mad!

Loving the look of that donut burger! One day I will try that bad boy!

Thanks for sharing so quickly! Can't wait for the actual TR! xxx

[MissFortune]

Originally Posted by abiknox

Hold fire! Its all gone Pete Tong with Photobucket & I seem to have random wedding photos in the mix! Lol

See more...

I did see those and thought but they were lovely wedding photos! And a cute dog.

Love the look of the buffalo chicken burger from Millers and Yard House looks amazing as always.

Thanks for sharing.