14 days DDP dining report Sept 2011

[sha9]

This is my last one for this evening! Day 5 was a non-Disney day which we spent at IOA.
Breakfast was a bagel for me and a danish pastry for Marie from Goods to Go. No photos.
We both got a butterbeer mid-morning from WWOHP which was really refreshing in that heat.



We'd done everything we wanted by lunchtime and decided to go shopping in the afternoon so had lunch in the food court at Premium Outlets. I've no recollection of what I had!

We were exhausted by dinner time so went to Goods to Go on the way home and got a take away. I got the burger again and Marie got chicken nuggets. I'm a big fan of Disney burgers and really enjoyed this. The chicken nuggets were also nice. Dessert was carrot cake for both of us which I think I actually ate this time! It's nice enough if you eat it that day but as I said before it dries out if you don't.

Chicken nuggets


Burger


Dessert

[Ycryan]

Great report, looking forward to reading some more.

[happy bunny]

Good report

I look forward to reading the next installment

[Andi]

Great report, look forward to reading more.

[Connies Mummy]

Yum, loving your report looking forward to the rest!

[sha9]

Thanks for all the positive comments! I'm supposed to be writing my dissertation but I thought I'd sneak in another day!

Day 6 was another non-Disney day as we went to Seaworld. Breakfast was a muffin at Goods to Go - no pics. Lunch was at Seaworld (remind me to never do that again!). I had pasta with (I think) an alfredo sauce and Marie had chicken caeser salad. We shared a portion of fries and had chocolate pudding for dessert. It was just awful. The fries were ok but the pasta was bland. I think Maries caesar salad was ok. The pudding was pretty bad too. We normally do Seaworld in a morning, get the free 2nd day and go back and do what we missed so we're not normally there for lunch and probably won't be again. I don't remember it being this bad before! The day however was fab as that was the day we had the penguin encounter which I highly recommend!



Dinner was at Cookes of Dublin. I'd really fancied trying this place for a wee change and I was really looking forward to having a "chippy" for tea. Unfortinately it was nothing at all like our fish suppers at home. Marie had the "Irish" sausage which having tasted real Irish sausage many times (my brother lives there) was nothing like the real thing. It also didn't seem to be batter that was coating it. I'm not sure what it was! The fish was just ok and the chips weren't great either. This was one of the places we hadn't been before and I was really disappointed. We didn't fancy any of the desserts so got a cookie again.

Fish & chips


Sausage & chips


I know it sounds mad considering we were on DDP but we bought an Oreo Cookies & Cream pie from Walmart and had that for dessert a couple of nights. I discovered this many years ago when Denny's did it for a while and then found it in the supermarket!

[sha9]

Ok so I should be studying but I decided it was my moral duty to do day 7 as a warning to other diners!

Breakfast was fab. This was our "day off" so we had a long lie and went to Wolfgang Pucks Express for breakfast. We both had the Belgian waffle although I had wanted the cornflake French toast which was sold out. The waffle as always was great but I could've used more cream!



Lunch was back at DTD and this is where the warning comes in. Have you ever seen the episode of Friends where Phoebe on tasting "mocklate" says "This is what evil must taste like"? Well Phoebe clearly hadn't eaten at Pollo Campero. We hadn't seen any reviews on here so we thought we'd give it a try. It's fairly confusing when you go in. There are three serving stations but only one seemed to be open which was serving fried chicken. We had actually wanted a burger but couldn't see any and no-one was serving there. We were starved so decided to go for it (oh how I wish we'd just suffered the hunger and made it to WPE!). I had the signature fried chicken and Marie had the chicken strips both with fries. There was also a salsa bar and they gave you small tortilla wraps for this. Dessert was from the Babycakes shop inside so I got a carrot cake cupcake and Marie got chocolate.
Firstly the chicken. The coating was greasy and didn't even come close to KFC. The chicken was just chicken so no major complaints there. The chips were fine.
The tortilla wraps were one of the worst things I've ever tasted so we didn't bother with the salsa bar.
The cupcakes were so bad that my reflex was to spit it out. Honestly I've never experienced that before! I really had to concentrate on being polite and swallowing it! I think maybe they were made from mocklate!

Fried chicken


Chicken strips


Cupcakes


Dinner thankfully more than made up for lunch! We had a reservation at Chef de France which was another new one for us. I decided to be boring and go for the filet steak and was so glad I did. It came with a pepper sauce and a potato gratin. Cooked exactly how I wanted and just lovely. Marie is a mac & cheese fan so decided on the gratin de macaroni which was made with Gruyere cheese. Unfortunately she found it a bit bland and other than the cheese grilled on the top it just wasn't "cheesy" enough. She regretted not going for the filet and we both wished we'd booked this one twice. Dessert for both of us was the crepe as we were full and wanted something light. It was gorgeous!

lovely French bread!


filet steak


gratin de macaroni


crepe


Ok really need to get back to this essay!

[Guest]

I’m so pleased you’ve got round to posting your pics.

Good to see a favourable report on Nine Dragons. We’ve had some lovely meals there in the past. The portions shrunk quite a bit when they changed the menu, but from your photos it looks like they’ve increased them again. I wish they’d put a couple of decent veggie dishes on the menu - we’d be back in a flash!

I’ve never been to Cookes of Dublin. It’s usually on my list, but I never get round to it for some reason. Shame your food didn’t live up to expectations. It actually looks really nice in your pics.

Liberty Tree Tavern has been calling my name recently. I haven’t eaten there in ages but I’ve been reading quite a few good reports like yours of late. Time to go back maybe?

Your meal at Chefs looks rather delicious too! Hungry now!

[sha9]

Originally Posted by mcsue

I’m so pleased you’ve got round to posting your pics.

Good to see a favourable report on Nine Dragons. We’ve had some lovely meals there in the past. The portions shrunk quite a bit when they changed the menu, but from your photos it looks like they’ve increased them again. I wish they’d put a couple of decent veggie dishes on the menu - we’d be back in a flash!

I’ve never been to Cookes of Dublin. It’s usually on my list, but I never get round to it for some reason. Shame your food didn’t live up to expectations. It actually looks really nice in your pics.

Liberty Tree Tavern has been calling my name recently. I haven’t eaten there in ages but I’ve been reading quite a few good reports like yours of late. Time to go back maybe?

Your meal at Chefs looks rather delicious too! Hungry now!

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I suppose the thing about a food report is it's subjective. The food at Cookes wasn't bad as such, just not to our taste.

One of the things I love about LTT is it's location. We've been there a few times now prior to MVMCP/MNSSHP and you're in the centre of it when you come out. I'm not sure what they do for veggies though with the dinner being mainly meat. I'm sure being Disney they'd offer something?

[sha9]

Not getting anywhere with this essay but I've got to stop for lunch haven't I?

Day 8 started out at US and ended at DHS. Believe it or not we forgot to stop at Goods on the way out for brekkie so went to the San Fransisco Pastry Co in US for a snack. I had the choc chip muffin and Marie another Danish pastry. They were nice enough and filled a hole.



Lunch was also in US at Mel's Diner. We both had the burger which was just alright. I did what I always do and bought onion rings that I didn't have room for however I put a couple on the burger to liven it up.



This was our Fantasmic night so we'd booked the package at Hollywood & Vine (before they decided to have it on every night). I know it gets slated but I like H&V. The food was good as usual. My only criticism would be that our server seemed to be juggling too many tables. I've included photos although as I said before sometimes buffet photos don't look too appetising! The bottom one is desserts!