The 5 BEST Things We Tried at the Swan & Dolphin Food & Wine Classic in Disney World

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You might be familiar with the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival, but do you know about Disney World’s OTHER food and wine festival that doesn’t even require a park ticket?

It’s the Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic held at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin. For this festival, you buy a ticket and that gets you unlimited access to all the food booths at the festival, meaning ALL the food you can eat and drink. Well, we’ve tried everything and we’re giving you our opinion on the BEST things to try at the festival.

This year’s festival included over 100 booths, so going through ALL the food was a daunting task — but you know we’re up for the challenge! The food booths include offerings from restaurants at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin, as well as the Swan Reserve Resort. Well, out of ALL that food, we’re going to tell you about our favorites!

Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Food and Wine Classic media event

Shaved Asparagus Salad from Todd English’s bluezoo

The Shaved Asparagus Salad has Carved Cured Yellowfin Tuna, Miso Egg Yolk, Yuzu Kewpie, and Sliced Raw Shallot. This salad had lovely fresh crispness, as well as a wonderfully balanced flavor.

Shaved Asparagus Salad

It’s sweet, it’s spicy, it’s bright and vinegary with nice sharp flavors.

Burnt Ends & Pimento Melt from The Fountain

The Burnt Ends & Pimento Melt is made with Turkey “Burnt Ends,” Hand-crafted Pimento Cheese, Pickled Red Onions, and Jalepeno-Cheddar Toast. We weren’t sure about this because it’s turkey, so we were skeptical, but y’all…it was super juicy and SO flavorful.

Burnt Ends and Pimento Melt

If you had told us this was pork, we might have believed it. But we were also sold by the pimento cheese slathered on the bun, too. Because, you know…cheese.

Red Wine Braised Beef Short Rib from Il Mulino

The Red Wine Braised Beef Short Rib is served with Browned Butter Potato Gnocchi, Porcini Mushroom Puree, Pecorino Romano, Fennel, and Parsley Salad. This was DIVINE. It’s rich, savory, and salty, and just delicious. Taking a bite of the meat with the gnocchi was like HEAVEN.

Red Wine Braised Beef Short Rib

This is another dish we would highly recommend. SO good.

Butter Poached Bay Scallops at For The Love of Florida

The Butter Poached Bay Scallops come with Florida Corn Puree, Charred Scallion Vinaigrette, Radish Threads, and Shallot Butter. These just made us so happy because these scallops were fresh and super tender, buttery, and yummy.

Butter Poached Bay Scallops

We also really loved the sauce that went with it, which cut right through the rich buttery flavor. It was hard not to eat 10 plates of these, y’all.

Chocolate Blackberry Choux Puff

Okay, so this is a dessert that EVERYONE was raving about at the festival. So we had to try it out, and you know what? It lived up to the hype. It’s a chocolate choux, but the filling is blackberry and that tartness just really complements the chocolate flavor of the choux.

Chocolate Blackberry Choux Puff

It WAS a little messy, but we’d still eat it again.

This was just a small sampling of everything we ate, but these are the items that left a big impression on us. We’re sure you might find some more favorites if you visit the festival next year. Trust us, it’s worth it! The festival ran from November 15th through 16th and ticket prices were $195 per person ($208.13 with service fees) for unlimited food and beverage tastings on the Causeway on Friday or Saturday night. A two-night event bundle ticket was also available for $330 per person ($353.94 with service fees).

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Will you be attending the Food and Wine Classic this year? Let us know in the comments what you’re looking forward to trying.

The post The 5 BEST Things We Tried at the Swan & Dolphin Food & Wine Classic in Disney World first appeared on the disney food blog.

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