The 2013 Epcot Food and Wine Festival is still going strong at Walt Disney World! And today, we’re back with another delicious marketplace booth review.
This has been a terrific year at the festival for revisiting favorite dishes from the past while enjoying some really delicious new options. And two booths that demonstrate this beautifully are Belgium and Canada!
Let’s take a closer look at what each offers guests in 2013, and talk a little about our favorite dishes!
Belgium
Belgium celebrates its fourth year as part of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival.
In the past few years, the savory offering has been mussels prepared in a variety of ways. (I’m still waiting for them to catch the vision of those amazing frites that Belgium is known for!)
Belgium Booth
This year, the booth departs radically from mussels, and instead has decided to offer a full menu of another Belgian staple: Waffles!
2013 Belgium Menu
This probably makes sense, since the sweet waffle that’s been a staple here has always been popular. But it does make things a bit homogenous over here. Regardless, I was excited to try the savory waffle that was added to the lineup.
The Potato and Leek Waffle with Braised Beef was so impressive (primarily because they douse it with melted butter) when we tasted it that we immediately named it one of our Best of the Fest dishes for 2013.
A fresh waffle — crispy on the outside, tender on the inside — is smothered with a thick, rich beef stew. The braised beef features chunks of beef and carrots in a flavorful sauce that soaks right into that tasty waffle. The whole thing was topped with that aforementioned melted butter. Amazing!
Potato and Leek Waffle with Braised Beef
And what better way to top off a meal of waffle than with more waffle? This year, they’ve introduced another option for the sweet pastry — Belgian Waffle with Warm Chocolate Ganache and Whipped Cream. This was pretty good and the presentation was nice, but I really wanted that chocolate sauce to have a little more body. It didn’t really seem like ganache to me…it was more the consistency of chocolate syrup.
However, when I went back to sample it again a few days later, there was definitely more thickness to the ganache. Just goes to show — even Disney’s festival booths aren’t consistent all the time!
Belgian Waffle with Warm Chocolate Ganache and Whipped Cream
The Belgian Waffle with Berry Compote and Whipped Cream has been a fan favorite in years past, and I think it will continue to be. The tart of the berry compote paired with the slight sweetness of the waffle make a not-too-sweet, light treat. If you’d like to make it at home, have a go at our recipe!
Belgian Waffle with Berry Compote and Whipped Cream
But what about the beverages, you ask? Great news! You have lots of choices.
Beer lovers can choose from Hoegaarden, Stella Artois, and two different versions of Leffe — Blonde or Brune. And this year’s flight includes six-ounce pours all four beers! I love this concept, since it really gives you a chance to taste different things and decide on a favorite.
Leffe
But you can also indulge in a Chilled Coffee featuring Godiva Chocolate Liqueur.
Chilled Coffee featuring Godiva Chocolate Liqueur
It’s a tasty way to get your dose of caffeine. 🙂
Canada
Canada, with your little peaked roofs and stone chimney — you’ve always been one of my favorite booths…and everyone else’s, too! The lines for this one are usually insanely long.
Canada Booth
Why? Mostly ’cause of that Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup — a clear guest favorite.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. A glance at the 2013 menu shows you that there’s one notable absence from last year’s lineup. We’ve heard a few outcries (Oh, wait, is that just me?) about the Chicken Chipotle Sausage with Sweet Corn Polenta not being included this year.
2013 Canada Marketplace Booth Menu - Click for larger image
But on the (very!) bright side, the “Le Cellier” Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle Butter Sauce is back!!!!! I couldn’t pass up the chance to get it again, even though I order it on practically every visit to the restaurant. It’s on the shortlist of my all-time favorite Disney meals, and I think it’s pretty rad that everyone has the chance to taste it at the Food and Wine Festival — even without scoring the difficult-to-get advance dining reservation for Le Cellier.
We love it so much that it also received a Best of the Fest recommendation!
“Le Cellier” Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle Butter Sauce
They were VERY generous with the wild mushrooms on my portion! Now if I could only get them to be just as generous with the truffle butter sauce. You know I always order extra…
“Le Cellier” Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle Butter Sauce Inside
Another Best of the Fest pick is a brand new dish for 2013 — Seared Rainbow Trout with Bacon, Frisee and Maple Minus 8 Vinaigrette. The DFB team loved this one!
Seared Rainbow Trout with Bacon, Frisee and Maple Minus 8 Vinaigrette
And no matter how many times you’ve had it, you simply cannot visit the Canada Booth without having the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup! As I mentioned before — it’s legendary. Note — if you’d rather just make it at home so you can have the whole pot bowl to yourself, here’s a step-by-step recipe!
Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup
And while the favored pairing here is the Filet with the Mission Hill Family Estate Syrah, I personally love La Neige Apple Ice Wine too much to pass it up!
Apple Ice Wine
It’s a refreshing take on ice wine — one of my favorites!
Want More Details About the 2013 Epcot Food and Wine Festival?
We work hard to keep you in the know about everything Food and Wine Festival related! Be sure to join our Disney Food Blog Newsletter for the latest information and details. And keep an eye on our 2013 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Page for updates.
2013 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Index
2013 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Menus and FOOD PHOTOS
2013 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Special Events
2013 Epcot Food & Wine Festival Low-Cost/Free Seminars and Activities
2013 Eat to the Beat Concert Schedule: Full List Now Available
Epcot Food and Wine Festival Fans Facebook Page
2013 Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend Events
2013 Tower of Terror 10-miler Events
2013 Swan and Dolphin Food and Wine Classic: Menus, Booking Info available!
2012 Epcot Food & Wine Festival Marketplace Booth/Kiosk MENUS and FOOD PHOTOS
2012 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Reviews, and 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Reviews
2012 Epcot Food and Wine Festival’s Gluten Free Items
News! The DFB Guide to the 2013 Epcot Food & Wine Festival e-Book is now available!
This 190+-page e-Book has everything you need to know — including full-color photos and expert tips — for making your visit to the 2013 Epcot Food and Wine Festival the best Disney trip, yet! We’ve compiled all of our best advice so that you save money, save time, and have a blast.
Use code CHEFS at check-out for a $3 discount!
Which dishes are you excited to try at the Belgium and Canada Booths? Tell us in comments below!
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I am Belgian and I have never heard of patato and leek waffle…nor a potato leek dish…:)) But it looks delish!
Would love to see the Canada booth offer some more craft beers… Moosehead is a perfectly lovely lager but we’ve got a pretty awesome variety of suds up here!
My waffle did not have that many carrots on it (or any that I can remember) which is fine with me since I am not a carrot fan. Enjoyed the waffles, but my favorite was probably the berry one.
Trout and Soup were very good from Canada. Filet was also good, but did not live up to the hype for me. Didn’t blow me away at all. I would rank it 3rd of those 3.
Our biggest disappointment this year was the Beef Filet at the Canada booth. They were giving out pieces of meat that were the size and shape of one poker chip. A couple of other guests near us were shocked, too when they saw theirs. That was one expensive teensy, dry, overcooked bite. Sad.
Jenn, Unibroue is being served at the Canada popcorn chart during the festival.
We hated the trout, I’m sorry. We both took one bite and threw the rest of it out. And while the filet was good, we were disappointed in how small it was. We were on the dining plan and used a snack credit to pay for it, and I would have been even more upset had I actually paid out of pocket for it.
That’s interesting on the chocolate waffle. I was there a few weeks back and my chocolate was thick and rich and reminded me of a yummy melted candy bar…the picture here looks like Hershey’s syrup. Glad you gave it another try 🙂
Last year the fillet was amazing. It was big and perfectly cooked. It practically melted in your mouth. I will definitely try it again when I’m there in November.
I’ve never tried the cheese soup since it’s always so hot while I’m down there. The last thing I want on a hot day is a hot cheesy soup!
I’m Canadian and have had the privilege of visiting the festival for the last 3 years. Let me tell you, NONE of the food on the Canadian menu is at all CANADIAN!!! It frustrates me to no end that my country is portrayed as a lie! We do not eat these things nor are they considered “Canadian” Ice wine is the ONLY thing on the menu that IS Canadian!!! You want Canadian food? Remove the trou and replace with smoked salmon. Use the maple syrup on pancakes or as they are sometimes called in Canada, flapjacks. Put poutine on the menu!!! Highly popular Canadian dish that my american husband adores! Truffles are also NOT Canadian! Cheese soup? Again, not really a thing that is popular enough to be considered a representation of Canadian cuisine. Nanimo bars, are a big Canadian dessert, invented in and named after the city of Nanimo on Vancouver Island British Columbia Canada, they were on the menu 4 years ago I hear, put them back on the menu as they are an accurate representation of Canadian cuisine. Or why not try bannock? It is a popular food brought to us by the Canadian First Nations peoples that girl guides often make while camping that is a tasty sweet bread with raisins. Or for another dessert, butter tarts! Another one that is hugely popular and commonly found in Canada, so much so you can even get them in corner stores, but the are a delight for everyone, don’t let the fact you can get them everywhere in Canada be a deterrence as to how good they really are! Theses are a few ACTUAL Canadian dishes you can use to get you started on accurately portraying my country’s cuisine. Please, if you’re going to include a country in the food and wine festival, make sure you are accurately portraying their cuisine, and if you can’t or their foods are popular enough, then don’t just throw things on the menu and say they are a representation of that country when they aren’t, because quite frankly that’s lying. Please do your research, and I hope to see the Canadian menu changed next year to an accurate representation of Canada, versus what it is currently.
Loved this event! The Belgium booth reminded me of my time in Antwerp. I love the food and beer it sold.