So for quite a while we’ve been talking about our “list”. This is no ‘ordinary’ list, oh no, this is a list of the most important things in Orlando…FOOD and DRINKS! It’s also a list of places we want to visit and resorts and restaurants we want to eat or drink at.
We have been compiling the list for quite a while now, and the trouble is its getting longer with each blog/vlog we read and watch. Talk about making things hard for yourself. This will be in no particular order, I’ll be suggesting some I want to try and Tracey will be weighing in with her ‘must haves’. This is going to be an eclectic mix of food, snacks and drinks, so pull up a chair, open a bottle and join us.
First off I’m gonna mention a few places we’ve been to before. One of the main surprise/best meals was at Top Golf at Icon Park. We popped here for Ashley’s birthday last time we were in Orlando and we had a meal before playing golf, and it was delightful! I had the chicken and waffles with maple syrup and it was so good… perfectly cooked chicken breast with crispy waffles as the ‘buns’. Add to this some ranch dip and syrup for pouring over and you have a winning combination. As Brits we never really do the ‘sweet/savoury’ thing on the same plate but the Yanks do it SO well… gonna say I’m a fan of the Waffle/Chicken combo now. Tracey had the surprise meal of the holiday with her cauliflower base pizza with grilled vegetables. She absolutely loved it! I’ve never seen her finish a whole pizza before! Or since! Top Golf was a massive hit and we cannot recommend it enough for anyone that wants a fun night out and great meal too boot. It’s on our list!
The next suprise/sleeper hit last visit was The Shake Shake at the Mall at Millenia. Tiff & Ash introduced us to this place. I’m going out on a limb here but it was ‘’possibly” the best burger/fast food we’ve had. From super crispy fries to perfectly cooked burgers it was smash. The food here is served quick, and we mean quick! The mushroom/veggie option for Tracey was 2 portobello mushrooms, onions and cheese. Winning. Absolutely winning. You always know how good food is when we all just sat there munching away, not talking, just nodding at each other trying not to eat it quick… this will be a definite re visit. Maybe twice. It’s on the list.
One last flashback and then we will get onto the “list” proper, we cannot mention food without mentioning the mighty Cracker Barrel!! This is THE go-to place for us for breakfast, it’s like slipping on an old comfy pair of slippers, from the smell as you walk in the door to the staff greeting you with a massive smile. Our ‘go to’ breakfast meals are, for me, Pecan pancakes with a side of bacon and a small bottle of maple syrup. (Hold on I’m having a little moment….) and for Tracey its the Egg Sandwich with Hash Browns (she has to avoid the delightful has brown casserole as it has bacon grease in it YUM!) This delightful sandwich is toasted Sourdough bread with mayonnaise, scrambled eggs with cheese and beefsteak tomato slices and hash browns. Dear lord… this meal is possibly the best way to start a day. Any day. It’s on the list!
Now…to the “list” proper…we have been adding to this for years, we are gonna need about 4 months to try and work our way through it. So here we go. My first stop will be in Disney Springs and the Morimoto Asia for the Morimoto Spare ribs – 3 ribs, with a hoisin, sweet chilli glaze and coriander. Or maybe the half rack??? Oh my days. Every time we see these on a vlog I start to dream about sitting on the terrace with a cold beer watching the world go by. It’s on the list!
Disney Springs has completely raised the bar with the food available. Chef Art Smiths homecoming, Paddlefish and Blaze pizza (and we love all of those) and now two other ‘game changers” have landed. 1st off is Gideons bakehouse, a small local bakery creating big things. The queues for the Bakehouse have been mental. And we mean mental…you queue to put your name on a list for the virtual queue then they text you with and arrival window… some of these have been 5 and 6 hours wait. For a cookie…. but its not like any other cookie you’ve seen before, this bad boy weighs in at half a pound. Yep, half a pound. You are gonna need a lot of coffee to go with that. They also do double iced cakes. They ice a layer of frosting onto the cake, chill it in a freezer then add another layer. I mean..cmon!!! We watched Chris from Ear to Ear Magic tackle a slice of this, he was saying it was a 3 day job to finish it. It’s most definitely on the list!
If you think huge cookies are nice, how about some huge doughnuts over at the new doughnut shop called Everglazed Donuts and Cold Brew. “Glazing happiness daily” is the motto and we believe it. Some of the flavour combinations are genuinely brilliant – Cinnamon toast crunch, Maple double bacon, Peanut butter explosion… you can get flavoured milks to match these as well. It’s like drinking the milk after you’ve eaten the cereal! They also do hot sandwiches and burgers, but the one I’m keen to try is the grilled cheeeeeeese, lots of cheese on a grilled ‘doughnut’ bun. Sold. Wrap those bad boys up and get me a pint of coffee. It’s on the list!
We keep seeing the food trucks over at the ‘Springs and we are desperate to try them. There are several, a hot dog truck, a waffle truck and the edible cookie dough truck. As you can imagine there are gonna be some unusual flavour combinations again here, but its the actual ambience around the trucks, music and people watching we’re looking forward too. (The Hot Diggety Dog truck has been on quite a few vlogs lately, they did a special “Tik Tok” Hot Dog that was called the King Dog..there was a pass word to order it, and it was a rather weird combo of flavours an all Beef Hot Dog with a french toast battered bun, spicy peanut butter spread, banana honey mustard chipotle berry preserve and billionares bacon. We did warn you… oh but they also do mac and cheese dogs and the classic chilli cheese etc. It’s on the the list!
We have so many places we actually want to eat and drink its gonna be like one of those game shows where folks have to run round and complete as much as possible in the time to get things done! If we write a paragraph about each of them this will be the longest blog ever! So…in no particular order – lets get “listing’!!
Hollywood Studios – Hollywood Scoops for the Caramel Apple Crisp, Tots (potato barrels) at Woody’s Lunch box , a Ronto wrap at Ronto Roasters (for Rob!) and to top it off a couple of Fuzzy Taun Tauns over at Oga’s Cantina. That’s a good way to spend a day.
Magic Kingdom – Cinnamon Bun with extra frosting from Gastons Tavern, this is big enough to feed two. (Or one, whatever floats ya boat eh!), Spring Rolls from the cart over in Adventureland (hot dog ones for me!). Tracey is looking forward to trying the Pretzel Vegan dog over at the Friars nook and the Plant based “lobster” roll over at Tomorrowland Terrace (where it is currently – it may have moved back to Columbia Harbour House of course).
Epcot – Oh dear oh dear Epcot! ALL the snacks in the France Pavilion.. well the Croque Monsieur is a definite. As is the Pain Au Chocolate and the Brie aux Pommes for Tracey, then we make our way to the Crepes des France, Crepes with Sugar, chocolate, and soft serve ice Cream. Yikes. Gonna need a dentist! Tracey will have her usual glass of Champagne here too – why wouldn’t’ the she – when in France.
For another sweet treat a must visit is the Karamel Kutch sweet shop. Home to all things toffee/caramel flavoured treats. The popcorn here is the very best treat you can buy. And it’s a decent sized bag to boot, at only $5 or $6 its a bargain.
Top of our list at Epcot is the Regal Eagle Smokehouse. (I’m sat here with a napkin drooling at the My Disney Experience app looking at the menu…) from dry rub Ribs to BBQ Burgers and my ‘must do” Sliced Texas Beef Brisket Sandwich, served in between slices of garlic Bread. Oh. My. Days. Tracey is excited for the BBQ jackfruit burger served on Garlic toast and plant based Mayonnaise and lettuce. And not forgetting the Beer Battered onion Rings and seasoned fries… they will have to roll us out of here!
We also HAVE to visit the Rose and Crown in the U.K. pavilion and sample the Fish and Chips. Call ya self English if you don’t pop in here??
Animal Kingdom – high on our list over at the Nomad Lounge is the “Impossible” Sliders paired with a beer for me and one of the rather gorgeous looking cocktails that are on offer for Tracey. What more could you ask for than a seat on the outside terrace, sipping a cool drink watching a waterborne cavalcade go by… winning at life that’s classed as. We MUST also re-visit Mr Kamal’s for the seasoned fries and hummus dips, and served with Curried Honey mustard or Korean Chilli ketchup. These were an absolute game changer on our last trip. We ate them so slow because we didn’t want to finish them, you MUST visit Mr Kamal’s. Also Cheeseburger Pods!! No more needs to be said about those. ON THE LIST!
Do not forget it is actual State law in Orlando that you MUST have at least one Churro whilst visiting. You cannot argue with this. And the best place for them is either in any of the parks (WDW and Universal) or the Churro stand over in Disney Springs, and they have a few fancy flavours there – the normal cinnamon ones, along with sugar as well as coated ones. They also sell dips for the adventurous ones among us!
Let’s now pop over to City Walk and Universal, for there are a ton of “list” items to be found. Always near the top of our list is Cinnabon, my oh my… the smell as you walk into this store is as near to heaven as you can imagine. The trays of Cinnamon Rolls, large, small, huge ones all laid out in neat rows….*stops to wipe mouth*. On the last visit me and Ash had Cinnabon and a large Flat White from Starbucks across the way. Tracey said it was the quietest she had ever seen us…. lol. Sitting there with a brew and a sticky bun, in City Walk. Bliss. Sheer bliss. It’s definitely on the list!
We then thought we would try another “top tier” item, the famous Voodoo Doughnuts, and as the box says “happiness does come in pink boxes”. We wondered why the queue was out the door and then we say the rotating display with ALL the doughnuts.. we think someone should have the full time job of cleaning the glass and removing the drool. (Kidding)! We didn’t literally drool on the display! It’s a funny thing still after all these years we were quite surprised at the size of the doughnuts. They were large, and we mean large! I had the fried Apple fritter doughnut, and Tracey had the peanut butter and jelly one, they were absolutely delicious. We had to eat them in 2 sittings. Happy happy days. A re-visit to Voodoo Doughnuts is on the list!
You will never be short of stuff to snack on in any of the Universal parks or on City Walk. CityWalk is home to Doctor Toothsome Chocolate Emporium – try typing that quickly 3 times!). We wandered into here not really knowing what to expect, it’s quite “steampunk” in its actual decor but its sweet treats are next to none. We had a strip of chocolate covered bacon and an assortment of chocolates in a box. Well, they called it bacon, it was like a strip of gammon, dipped in chocolate and a sprinkle of sea salt. Wowsers. The staff here a hoot, full on immersed in the character of “Toothsome’s” and a joy to chat with, if you have spare time please visit and have a snack and a meal, they also do some cracking food there!
Inside Universal Studios we are keen to try the Today Cafe – looks like a lot of fantastic sandwiches and sweet treats in here. Also the New York Crepe stand – they do a couple of seasonal variations and basically a couple of sweet ones and a couple of savoury ones, including a veggie option for Tracey. Of course we have to go to Fortescue’s Ice Cream shop in Diagon Alley – I’ll be in here for ages trying to decide what flavour to get and what combination.
Over at Islands of Adventure there are a vast array of snacks and restaurants to try. We have yet to try The Three Broomsticks so we would definitely like to add that to the list. There’s also a lot Harry Potter based snacks and instagramable (is that a word) themed things to try – way too numerous to mention.
Basically – I need to wrap this up cos the list and the blog could be endless. I haven’t mentioned any of the water parks and the treats and snacks you can get there, maybe that’s another blog. Haven’t really mentioned the Cheesecake Factory at the Mall at Millenia, which is always on our list, and we do mention it very regularly. So I’m thinking we’ll leave it there at this stage. Probably enough food and drink options for a blog each week of the year.
Tracey here – quick takeover to mention that although the list is something we have compiled together and there are lots of things we both want to try mentioned in the paragraphs above, I have a few more “must dos” that I specifically need to mention. I absolutely MUST go to the Grand Floridian for either afternoon tea, or a themed snack, and I MUST go for a cocktail at The Riviera Resort at their rooftop bar. Both resorts are beautiful. I have been to The Grand Floridian numerous times and it is always a treat. Neither Rob nor I have been to The Riviera Resort yet so that will be a first for us both. The Contemporary Resort is another must do for me, there’s a nice peanut butter treat at the Contempo Cafe I would like to try, and we are hoping to get a reservation at California Grill too as the food here looks fantastic and we have never eaten here before. The Character Breakfast at The Garden Grill is very definitely on the list, as is a tasty sweet treat (don’t care what it is) at the Bakery on the Boardwalk. Over at Universal I am keen to get Murph to make me a Shark Attack cocktail, mostly for the sheer entertainment of it.
Just for a tiny bit of balance – want to know a couple of things that everyone tries when they go to the Orlando theme parks that are NOT on our list – 1. Butter beer – any kind, hot, cold, slushy – whatever, we’ve tried it and it’s a no from us, how weird are we?? 2. Classic Dole Whip. I know – call ourselves Disney fans and not keen on Dole Whip. We think we might try one of the other flavours, lime maybe or coconut – we’ll have to see, we may well be too full of churros and cupcakes and cinnamon buns anyway.
So the diet continues in anticipation of all this food – actually if we try and fit all of this food and snacking and drinking in there’ll be hardly any time left to ride attractions, see shows, whizz down water slides, wave at Mickey, shop and fly high in the sky on the Star Flyer. I am sure we will manage though – it’s just a matter of planning.
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