The Lunar New Year Festival 2019 is in full swing at Disney California Adventure. The celebration runs from January 25 – February 17, 2019 in the Paradise Gardens area of Disney California Adventure. In addition to special merchandise, characters, and activities, there are some special food booths offering Asian-inspired cuisine. The Spice Traders booth had two of our favorite savory dishes, a macaron, and a non-alcoholic raspberry lychee chia tea.
Full offerings from Spice Traders.
Firecracker Three Cup Chicken – $7.25
This little cup of chicken and rice packs a punch. By far one of the better savory dishes this is full of spicy flavor.
The portion is a bit small for the price, but this spicy bowl of fun will give you a kick, if that’s what you’re looking for. I don’t normally like dark meat chicken, but I ate this without any problems. The rice and chicken were perfectly cooked. The sauce was slightly sweet to offset the spice from the chili pepper.
This was garnished nicely. Most hungry guests would enjoy this.
Steamed Short Rib Shumai – $7.75
The short rib shumai was my favorite savory dish of the booths. It comes with a spicy Korean sauce, Sriracha mayonnaise, and cucumber salad.
These two little shumai were great. The dough was light. The short rib was tender and flaked apart.
The sauce was spicy, so heads up. If you don’t want it spicy, ask for the sauce on the side. I was impressed with the depth of flavor in the beef. The cucumbers gave this some much-needed freshness.
These looked elegant and provided flavor. The price seems a tad steep for two shumai that aren’t more than a bite or two, but worth it for the flavor.
Purple Yam Macaron with Creme Fraiche – $5.50
This macaron is not quite as much fun as the Birthday Hat Macaron from Cozy Cone happening for Get Your Ears On Celebration, but it is still good. And not the sugar bomb that the birthday hat is.
Like all the Lunar New Year food offerings, this is simple and beautiful. The shell cracked apart in a satisfying way.
The purple filling was an interesting color against the red shell and if I didn’t know it was yam, I likely wouldn’t have guessed.
This was a simple dessert that could easily be shared with several guests.
Sadly, no hidden sprinkles, but just more creamy goodness.
This dessert rounded out this booth nicely to cool down your palate after some spice.
Raspberry Lychee Chia Tea – $6.00
This non alcoholic drink is garnished with chia seeds, a raspberry, and a mint sprig.
As with all the drinks, this was pretty and delicious. It was the sweetest of all the drinks, but that wasn’t a bad thing; especially when paired with the spicy dishes.
I’d suggest stirring this as soon as you get it so the syrup doesn’t settle on the bottom. The taste was light and fruity with a touch of sugary syrup. The chia seeds add some texture.
This tea was great on a hot day and paired well with the spicy chicken and shumai. It is nice to have a light non-alcoholic option. I couldn’t taste the raspberry, but the flavors balanced so well that it didn’t matter.
This was probably my favorite booth of the four since all four offerings here were good. Check back with us as we continue to cover all the new things happening at Disneyland Resort including Valentine’s Month and Get Your Ears On Celebration.