Welcome to an Outdoor Kitchen review for the 2018 International Flower & Garden Festival at Epcot. This review will focus on Hanami outdoor kitchen. Hanami is located outside of the Japan pavilion.

 

Hanami

Food

• Frushi: Fresh Pineapple, Strawberry and Melon rolled with Coconut Rice, sprinkled with Toasted Coconut and Whipped Cream with Raspberry Sauce on the side (V) $5.95
• Ginger Beef Yaki Udon: Thin-sliced Beef, Onions and Noodles tossed on the grill with Soy and Ginger $6.50
  
• Teriyaki Salmon with Furikake Seasoned Brown Rice (GF) $6.75
  

Beverages

• Pineapple Momo Sake Cocktail $6.50
• Karatamba “Dry Wave” Sake $8.00
  
• Sapporo Draft Beer $4.25
  

 

Frushi: Fresh Pineapple, Strawberry and Melon rolled with Coconut Rice, sprinkled with Toasted Coconut and Whipped Cream with Raspberry Sauce on the side (V) – $5.95

The popular Frushi returns with a dish that’s just as pleasant as previous years. Mentioned as ‘melon’ in the description, we found cantaloupe inside the roll we received. Not only does Frushi taste great, but it looks good too. The sweet coconut rice wrapped around the different fruit made for a crisp and refreshing snack.

Ginger Beef Yaki Udon: Thin-sliced Beef, Onions and Noodles tossed on the grill with Soy and Ginger – $6.50

This wasn’t a favorite of our group, but the advertised thinly sliced beef was just in fact that. The meat and noodles were both relatively slimy making for a difficult fork-full. There’s some good flavors going on with the onions and ginger, but overall the dish just isn’t attractive enough to warrant a purchase. With the price tag being so high, we recommend spending the extra quarter and going with the salmon instead, or waiting til La Isla Fresca where there’s a better beef dish.

Teriyaki Salmon with Furikake Seasoned Brown Rice (GF) – $6.75

We rated this as #7 top new item of the 2018 Flower & Garden. While Festival of the Arts had roughly 300 salmon dishes available, there’s a solo flyer at Flower & Garden. Expect a straightforward piece of salmon with a tangy soy glaze presented on top of a scoop of perfectly cooked rice. Though it’s a basic offering, it was a really solid dish.

Pineapple Momo Sake Cocktail – $6.50

A very boozey cocktail that has a straightforward flavor of pineapple. We questioned the alcohol content of the drink while sipping but quickly learned there’s quite a bit of sake hiding in the mixture. $6.50 is a bargain for a cocktail at Disney, let alone a festival booth. This one is light, refreshing and worth your time.

Topher Wallace