Review: Australia Epcot Food and Wine Festival

We continue from Shimmering Sips.

Australia returns to its rightful position as the first kiosk you’ll see on the left of the Promenade on the way towards Canada. It had been replaced by the Generic Citrus Lobby for the last several Festivals, offering some pretty lackluster offerings for Flower and Garden in particular, when I don’t even think we saw a food item on the menu. But just about everybody was running on about half a cylinder back in January and February. I might have even tried that Florida Vineyards Blueberry Wine it was such a strange time. I’m not entirely sure how islands work, other than I think we could agree to jettison the Harmonious barges somewhere out into the ocean and reel in some shrimp instead.

Food:

• Grilled Sweet-and-Spicy Bush Berry Shrimp with Pineapple, Pepper, Onion and Snap Peas  – $6
• Roasted Lamb Chop with Sweet Potato Purée, Bush Berry Pea Salad, and Pistachio-Pomegranate Gremolata – $8.25
• Deconstructed Pavlova with Pastry Cream, Citrus-macerated Berries, and Lemon Myrtle Meringue – $4

Beverages:

• Coopers Brewery Original Pale Ale – $5 for six ounces or $9 for twelve ounces
• Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Blanc Semillon – $6
• Robert Oatley Chardonnay – $6
• Château Tanunda Grand Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon  – $6
• Wine Flight: – $6.50

Or as a very blurry menu:

Each of the three food items return from last year with only the Lamb increasing in price by 50 cents. It’s basically highway robbery. Or whatever they do to Australia. I sort of imagine it being like Canada, only mostly dessert and with a million deadly creatures roaming about. That’s not unlike Florida, only we aren’t very nice and if you’re looking for the desert, you’d have to wait on Western River Expedition. It might be a while.

Grilled Sweet and Spicy Bush Berry Shrimp served with Pineapple, Pepper, Onion and Snap Peas – $6

The shrimp get smaller every year and it was a little more fun when they arrived on a skewer, but Australia’s Bush Berry Shrimp are a relatively “safe” offering  with some spiciness from the onions and peppers contrasting nicely against the sweet tropical pineapple. I actually prefer the pea pods to the shrimp because they enjoy a robust earthy flavor and a nice, crisp bite to them. Overall, it might be worth picking up if you’re in line for something else, but I’m not sure I would go out of my way. At least it’s not a casserole, although it wouldn’t surprise me if a year’s worth of ‘Ohana’s new Shrimp Casserole were frozen and defrosted next year. Hopefully, on behalf of my two Australian readers, they’ll give that one to New Zealand.

Taste: 5/10

Value: 4/10

Roasted Lamb Chop with Sweet Potato Purée, Bush Berry Pea Salad and Pistachio-Pomegranate Gremolata – $8.25

This isn’t the first time you had me at Gremolata. The Lamb Chop has long been a Festival favorite. Three years ago, Disney changed things up and went to a Lamb T-Bone that was not particularly well received, before moving back to the grilled version with mint pesto and potato crunchies. This year, we have a return of the 2019 take, this time roasted. I was impressed by the quality of the Lamb Chop – the past couple of years, it’s been on the chintzier side of things with just a little bit of tough meat clinging to the bone for dear life alongside a thick layer of fat.

Here, the Lamb was roasted perfectly, tender and pink with flavors of rosemary and garlic. The Pistachio-Pomegranate Gremolata is interesting – typically, it would be made with garlic and lemon, but the tartness of the Pomegranate used here helps to brighten the flavors of the Lamb even more, thanks to the caramelized sugar, while the Pistachio brings a fresh nutty, earthy flavor and a little crunch. I’m not sure where they’re going with The Bush Berry Pea Salad out front – it may just be a reference to the couple of pomegranate arils in the garnish. Finally, the Sweet Potato Puree adds a silky quality and helps sweeten things up even more with a little bit of earthiness. $8.25 is more than I like to pay for Food and Wine Festival dishes, but Lamb is on the expensive side and our dish was executed incredibly well. I was impressed and we both know you’re getting one.

Here’s the popular version served with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies. I always thought it was a soggy, oily, fatty mess. Which is exactly what it looks like.

The year before, it might have looked even more unattractive.

I hope your luck is as good as mine.

Taste: 9/10

Value: 6/10

Deconstructed Pavlova with Pastry Cream, Citrus-macerated Berries and Lemon Myrtle Meringue – $4

It may or may not be a coincidence that Australia is housed inside of the same building that Disney uses for the “Deconstructed Dish” during the Festival of the Arts. During the January/February Festival, we see a number of “deconstructed items,” whether it be cheesecake or a corned beef sandwich. For this year’s fall Festival, Australia brings us a Deconstructed Pavlova. Don’t worry. It’s not a kit from Ikea where you have to assemble it yourself.

This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen a Pavlova in Australia. The picture above is from a couple of years ago with berries and vanilla cream on top of a meringue.

On to the task at hand, this is a delicious blend of sweet, fresh, fruity flavors. There’s a luscious layer of vanilla cream underneath an assortment of ripe, juicy berries and several pieces of meringue, each of which is crispy around the edges with a softer, chewier inside that isn’t far off from a marshmallow. It’s an absolute steal at four dollars and worth adding to any order. You might also appreciate it more alongside a glass of sparkly from Simmering Sips.

Taste: 8/10

Value: 10/10

Coopers Brewery Original Pale Ale -$4.50

Coopers Brewery Limited is Australia’s largest and only wholly-owned brewery, dating all the way back to 1862. They are also the world’s largest producer of home brewing equipment. This 4.5% Pale Ale is balanced and smooth with a sweet grassy taste with just a little bit of a hop presence. It’s not stellar, but it’s worth trying on draft here should you have interest. I hadn’t tried it before picking up a cup a couple of years ago at the Festival when it debuted. It’s always fun to try something new.

Wine Flight – $6.50

• Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Blanc Semillon – $6
• Robert Oatley Chardonnay – $6
• Château Tanunda Grand Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon  – $6

This is a solid flight with three Australian wines that taste like wine. At about $17 a bottle each, it’s worth trying some grapes from down under, appropriately fermented. I’d add one to a kiosk with three solid dishes. You could spend some time here while angrily tweeting about those World Showcase barges. The tweets will only get better/worse as the night descends.

This is the first year that I think I’ve been able to rave about the Lamb Chop. The Deconstructed Pavlova should also be a sleeper hit at the Festival, providing a lot of fresh, sweet deliciousness at a relatively low price. The beer and wine are solid too.