The Masterpiece Kitchen Food and Drinks Review at the Epcot Arts Festival 2017

The Masterpiece Kitchen is located across from the Canada Pavilion on the United Kingdom side. That’s Rose & Crown in the distance.

This is the most expensive of the Marketplaces with the average unique food price coming in at $8.56. The most expensive food item at last year’s Food and Wine Festival was $7.75 if memory serves. But we do find a couple of my favorite options here as well, so perhaps there is some additional value in spending a couple of extra dollars.

The $12 Smoked Salmon Tartare, Caviar, Crisp Lavash and Traditional Accompaniments included a lot more of the latter than the former.

The impressive tower of accompaniments is far too much to go along with just a couple of bites of the tartare and I’m not sure anybody necessarily wants to just take bites of a red onion and egg mixture, but the salmon was mixed with a nice assortment of spices and was appropriately raw. Those looking for some crunch could spoon some of the salmon and accompaniments on the thin, crispy lavash. Just a dollop of caviar is included and it’s unlikely to be the good stuff, but it does offer a slight burst of salty sea. Overall, it ended up being about $5 more than I wanted to pay, but smoked salmon and caviar aren’t necessarily cheap. But in this reviewer’s opinion, it didn’t do anything unique enough to demand a purchase. Quite good if you ignore the price though.

You know that feeling when you first take a bite of something and instinctively your eyes start bulging out of your head as you wave your fork and point down at the dish with a big smile? That’s what happens with the $9 Wild Mushroom Risotto, Aged Parmesan, Truffle Shavings and Zinfandel Reduction. The dish is out-of-this-world good. The risotto is cooked to a perfect al dente and the creaminess of the rice and broth will warm even the coldest of hearts. It’s a really nice shaved parmesan on top though the truffle shavings probably add more to the price of the dish than the flavor profile. We are decidedly not in Burgundy territory here.

Overall, nine bucks is a tough price to swallow for a small cup, but like I’ve mentioned before, I rate these sorts of things generally on how mad I am after consuming the entire experience. And I wasn’t mad at all at this risotto, even as I stood outside in the rain eating it. It’s that good.

As I mentioned previously, each of the 14 pieces that go into the $14 Charcuterie Palette with Artisan Cured Meats, Nueske’s Smoked Duck Breast and Cheese is plated inside the Marketplace from fresh-off-the-block ingredients.

And it’s served on what I think can only be described as a darling platter. Despite the high quality of the ingredients, this was sort of “take it or leave it” for us as you could put something similar together by rummaging through the meat and cheese selection at your local grocery store, but it was fun to share a little of this and a little of that at Epcot and the size and variety of what’s served makes it a decent value overall. It sort of “is what it is.” I thought the cheeses were of nicer quality than the meat, for whatever that’s worth.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooh boy are we in business with the $9.25 Triple Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate Crunch, Dark Chocolate Sauce and Gold Leaf from Disney’s Master Pastry Chef.

This is so creamy, so chocolate-y, so indulgent that it’s almost unbelievable. There’s some nuance in the three varieties stacked on top of each other under a crunchy chocolate base. The edible gold leaf adds a touch of metallic glimmering class to the dish as it’s delicately sprinkled over the top and then off to the side as a bit of a garnish. It’s my favorite dessert at the Festival.

The good times continue with the $9.25 Classic Sidecar with a Chocolate Twist, which was one of the better cocktails served at the Festival. Instead of being dispensed from a jug or other container, cast were actively shaking the drinks, which are a blend of Courvoisier/Cointreau/Lemon Juice fresh inside the Marketplace. The “chocolate twist” is literally a white chocolate twist and is a fun accompaniment. Anyone that enjoys a stiff drink will enjoy this and the only opportunity to do better is the Pomegranate Mule inside the Odyssey building.

I’m not sure what year Disney is serving, but Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque is a $140 bottle, which makes the $12/glass price an absolute steal if it’s what it purports to be. You’d have to be very confused to opt for the $9 Cloudem over this.

The novelty of the Meeker wine is perhaps in the painting of the exterior of the bottle, which seems to fit in with the overall theme of the Festival. But if you are in the market for a red wine to enjoy with your charcuterie, risotto, or other item, then this would certainly do the job and it’s a better value than the majority of the wines that are usually offered at Epcot by the glass.

Overall, The Masterpiece Kitchen lives up to its name with several of our favorites being found here. You will spend a bit more for the opportunity, but I think it’s worth it. I really want another of those risottos.