It’s out with the old and in with the new over at the India booth at EPCOT’s Food and Wine Festival this year!

Yep, EPCOT’s 2022 International Food & Wine Festival is officially underway and we’ve wasted no time in trying out everything the festival has to offer! There is SO much food to try, music to enjoy, and even an updated cheese crawl! Right now, we’re headed over to the India booth to check out ALL of the new items, as well as some returning favorites. So, come along to see if this booth is worth it!

Menu

You can find the India booth over between the China pavilion and Refreshment Outpost (find our map right here!). Here, you’ll find a bunch of new as well as some returning items! All of the food items are new, and all of the drinks are returning, so we’re excited to try everything out.

Now that we’ve taken a look at the menu, let’s dive into the food itself!

Eats

There’s a BUNCH of new stuff to try out over here, and it all looks very delish, so let’s get started!

ALL of the food items are new at the India booth this year! First up, we have the Crispy Paneer with mango-curry ketchup for $5. If you don’t know, Paneer is a type of Indian cheese. This item is also a part of Emile’s Fromage Montage (the cheese crawl!).

This was SO GOOD! The breading was almost like the kind you would find on the outside of a chicken nugget, and the cheese inside had a texture like tofu but with a cheese flavor. It’s not a melty cheese, it’s very dense and hearty.

The sauce was also awesome — it had chunks of mango in it and the curry flavor was super prominent. It was very well spiced, but not spicy (so it had flavor spice, not heat spice!). This is a real winner!

Next, we got the new Potato and Pea Samosa with coriander-lime cream for $5.25. This is a plant-based item, for any of you plant-based eaters out there!

You get two samosas with this item and it’s a BIG portion! But, because they’re so big, they got a little soggy. The edges stay crispy, but the middle was more on the soggy side for us.

The filling wasn’t the most flavorful thing at first, but as we continued eating it, it got VERY spicy! If you can’t handle spice we would not recommend these. Even some of our reporters who like spicy food said it was too much. But our other reporter said the spice improved the samosas because it added a lot more flavor. Overall, this dish was just okay for us, and we probably wouldn’t go out of our way to get it again.

Finally, we tried the new Chicken Tikka Masala with fennel-spiced yogurt and naan bread for $6.

This is a classic chicken tikka masala. The chicken itself was very tender and cooked well. The sauce was super flavorful and you get a good portion of food with this dish, so it’s great if you want something filling!

We usually are skeptical about how well the rice is cooked at these festivals, but this rice was great! The naan, however, didn’t taste very fresh and it was really crispy as opposed to a soft naan you might find in other places. Now, for the drinks!

Drinks

ALL of the drinks at the India booth are returning from previous years. First up, we have the Mango Lassi — this comes in a non-alcoholic version for $5 and a version with Sōmrus Chai Cream Liqueur for $11. We got the non-alcoholic version to try! This has been a favorite of ours in the past, but how does it stack up this year?

This drink has a LOT of mango flavor and it’s a pretty milky consistency. It’s kind of heavy with all of the dairy, especially on a really hot day. It sort of reminded us of a milkshake, but a little bit lighter than a normal, rich milkshake would be.

We’ve had the alcoholic version with the chai liqueur in the past, and if you like the flavor of chai and drink alcohol, we’d definitely recommend getting that version — it takes on a lot of those flavors and makes it a mostly chai drink.

Other drinks at this booth include a beer and two wines. The beer is a Taj Mahal Premium Lager, which is $5 for a 6 oz. pour and $9 for a 12 oz. pour. For wine, you can get the Sula Brut Tropicale Sparkling Wine for $7 or the Sula Chenin Blanc for $5.

Last year, we tried the Sula Brut Tropicale Sparkling Wine, which we found to be really fun and refreshing! It was sweet but not sugary and it had a very subtle fruitiness to it. It’s perfect for eating some spicy food on a hot day!

OVERALL

Overall, this is a super flavorful booth with some great options! You definitely should be ready for some bold flavors — this is not for people trying to eat something mild. We think a lot of people will like that Crispy Paneer (how can you go wrong with fried cheese?!), including the kids! If you can’t handle spicy food, we wouldn’t get the samosas, but if you want something hearty, the Chicken Tikka Masala is a good option!

If you’re heading to the 2022 Food and Wine Festival and need some help planning, we’re here to help! We have the FULL menus for all of the food booths this year, a list of all of the NEW items at the Festival, and a look at the full lineup of entertainment.

But, if you want to become a Food and Wine expert, make sure to read our insider tips for the 2022 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival, our budgeting tips, and the DFB Guide to the Food and Wine Festival!

We’ll be sharing FULL reviews of all of the booths at the Festival and all of the other information you need to know, so check back with us for all the latest Food & Wine Festival news!

Click here to see our reviews for EVERY single EPCOT Food and Wine Festival booth!

Will you be visiting the India booth at Food and Wine? Tell us in the comments!