Welcome to a food studio review for the Epcot International Festival of the Arts, taking place in the park all week long from January 12^th to February 19^th, 2018. This review will cover the “Pop Eats!” Food Studio

This is the only booth that has the festival’s souvenir cup, available only with the sparkling wine.

Pop Eats!

Sous Vide Poulet Rouge Chicken Roulade with Apples and Sage served with Warm Brie Fondue, Blueberry and Beet Gel and garnished with Apple and Beet Chips – $6.50

We felt the portion for the price didn’t quite match here, with the piece of chicken being very small. The brie cheese doesn’t match the other flavors present in the dish either, but the blueberry jelly is pretty good. Mix it up with your few bites of chicken if you chose to get this dish, we’re on the fence about the $6.50.

Shrimp Ceviche with Lime Mint Foam – $6.00

While a little on the strange side, the shrimp ceviche with lime mint foam was pretty good. The foam flavor doesn’t overpower anything in the dish and the shrimp tasted fresh. Not the best shrimp dish I’ve ever had, but not the worst either.

Almond Frangipane Cake layered with Raspberry Jam and Chocolate (V) – $4.25

This dessert is brilliant in its simplicity. The chocolate icing, exquisitely moist cake, and raspberry jam mix for one of the best festival treats I have ever had. I know it probably sounds dumb to enjoy a fairly regular cake item at an event with rarer dining delicacies, but it was just made so perfectly. Plus it’ll look great on your Instagram hashtag ArtfulEpcot

Pop’t Art: Modern-design Sugar Cookie with Strawberry Filling (V) – $4.25

It’s a pop-tart and cookie hybrid, this year with a strawberry filling. You may remember last year’s had a hazelnut filling and we felt it was a sugar rush, well this year isn’t much a change. Again, you can get some really cool pictures and every piece is unique, but it’s not unique enough to warrant a purchase especially at the price tag.

Cloudem Sparkling Wine – $9.00

Pictured on the right in the souvenir glass. This wine has an extremely low ABV and it only readily available in the UK, making it difficult to find on this continent. You’re either going to get the gold, blue, or red version. Fortunately they all taste the same and that taste rings very close to grape soda. It’s not a mature wine, but it certainly does look cool. Bottles in the UK run under 10USD, but it is extremely difficult to find so go ahead and enjoy this unique beverage.

Popping Bubbles Cocktail – $10.00

Whoever thought boba should be included in champagne should be shunned, because it just doesn’t work. It’s a fun drink, but you quickly learn that it’s difficult to A) sip and enjoy before being left with random boba, or if you B) get a straw and learn the hard way that champagne can’t be sipped through a straw without it bubbling everywhere. It’s a fun cocktail and the passion-fruit boba work well with the champagne. They’re using a FairyTale Celebration Cuvée, which is also enticing in itself.

Topher Wallace