Best of the Fest - Epcot International Festival of the Arts 2025
It’s time again for our favorite festival of the year, Festival of the Arts! This year had some pretty big menu changes at the food booths, and we have some new favorites to add to some returning favorites from past years festivals. So lets get into all the great food we tried!
One of the new items introduced this year that made our best of the fest list is the Avocado-Coconut Custard Tart from Tangerine Cafe in the Morocco pavilion. I will admit, I didn’t have high hopes for this one, it just didn’t sound all that appealing, so I was blown away when I actually tasted it! It has a mild sweetness with the coconut custard and the pomegranate, but is not overly sweet which I prefer. The avocado flavor is also super mild, we got just hints of avocado, but overall the flavors melded together perfectly for a great treat!
The next item on our best of the fest list is another one I was a bit hesitant to try, the Soft Shell Crab Slider from Opening Eats. I wasn’t thrilled about trying something that looked like it could get up off the plate and walk away, but I am so glad I tried it! This was so good, had a nice crunch, wasn’t fishy at all, and the toppings were delicious.
An item that is returning to our best of the fest list, which we all loved so much we had to get it multiple times, is the Tomato Soup with Pimento Cheese, Bacon, and Fried Green Tomato Grilled cheese at Pop Eats. This makes it to the top of our list every year, and this year was no different. It is the perfect comfort food, and the additions of the pimento cheese, bacon and fried green tomato really elevate it from just a standard grilled cheese.
The next item that made the list is the Wild Mushroom Risotto from Gourmet Landscapes. In previous years we’ve tried this it used real cheese, but this most recent iteration uses plant based cheese, so we weren’t sure what to expect. I’m happy to say that even with this change it was just as good as we remember it! It does have a super strong mushroom flavor though, so if you’re not a big fan of mushrooms this probably isn’t going to be for you.
Another returning item from past years festivals, and returning to our best of list, is the Red Wine-braised Beef Short Rib from Pastoral Palate. This has been consistently good over the years, the short rib is so tender we didn’t even need a knife! The parsnip puree was a nice addition, giving a slightly earthy umami flavor and the balsamic glaze gave it just a hint of sweetness.
Another returning favorite to this years festival was the General Tso’s Chicken Shumai at the Painted Panda. These are chicken dumplings with General Tso’s sauce and are just so amazingly flavorful. We love how light this dish is as well, so many of the food at this festival tends to be on the heavier side, so this dish really stands out when looking for something a bit lighter and fresher than others at this festival.
If we were to give a food booth a gold medal for best of the fest, this year that would be awarded to El Artista Hambriento. We loved everything here, although of the three food items the Croqueta with chipotle chicken and chorizo was our favorite, but all three food items received high marks. In addition to the Croqueta, this booth also offered a Carne Asada, and a Natilla de Maiz for food, and for drinks it had a Mexican craft beer, the Floridita, and the Strawberry Fields Margarita. I preferred the Floridita for the drink, it was more like a traditional margarita, while my dining partner preferred the Strawberry Fields Margarita since it didn’t seem as strong and was on the sweeter side.
Continuing with drinks, one of our favorites this year was the Frozen French Martini. I’m not huge on overly sweet things, and often time mixed drinks are just far too sweet, so we were thrilled this drink just had a touch of sweetness, perfect for our palates!
Another drink, or drinks, that made our list of best of the fest is the Play on Rose Flight at Pastoral Palate. This flight has a rose hard cider, a rose blond ale, and a frozen rose. All three of these are delicious, and all three tend to be on the dryer side and not very sweet, which is how we prefer rose.
Overall this festival has some solid food and drink choices and we’re so happy that new ones were added to keep the festival fresh! We cannot wait to see what is in store for the Flower and Garden Festival now!
