EPCOT's Flower & Garden Festival 2023

Spring is finally in the air! And with that, EPCOT's Flower & Garden Festival has returned for yet another year. 

Image source: Brittany DiCologero / Twitter

For those who are not in the know, Disney's EPCOT hosts an array of festivals throughout the year and the beginning of Spring has been marked by the F&G Festival every year since 1994, with the exception of a few years during the COVID-19 pandemic of course. This festival does exactly what it says on the tin and uses flowers and foliage to create works of art and Disney-esque topiaries for all park-goers to enjoy.

As awe-inspiring as the artistic flower works are, we're here to discuss the accompanying food and beverage offerings that can be found around the park throughout the event season! Here we will break down our favourite food booths for the event and our top five picks for the best food and drink options. Let's get right into it!

5. Spicy Hot Dog topped with Pineapple Chutney and Plantain Chips

Image source: WDW Prep School

This dish, available from the Pineapple Promenade booth, costs $8.00 and is simple but delicious. The spicy sausage is not overly hot so can be enjoyed by those with lower spice-tolerances too. The star of the show is the pineapple chutney without a doubt. The chutney brings a nice balance to the dish and the plantain chips were good for adding that crunchy texture, but do not have much flavour to them alone.

4. Joffrey's Cold Brew Cocktail

Image source: WDW News Today

This cocktail, available from the Brunchcot booth, costs $10.50 and is a respectable price when you consider this is a cocktail from a theme park. Containing Kahlúa rum, coffee liqueur, and vanilla vodka, this cocktail is so well balanced and perfect for tackling the heat from the Orlando sun. It goes without saying this option is only available to those over the age of 21 so remember your ID and drink responsibly, but enjoy!

3. Chocolate Cake served with Berry Compote and Chocolate Ice Cream

Image source: WDW News Today

I hope you've got a sweet tooth because this delicious (and plant-based!) dessert, available from the Trowel and Trellis booth, costs only $5.00 and is everything you need and want from a sweet-treat. The cake itself is a sizeable portion and is decorated with a black currant ganache and is very rich, but the compote and ice-cream combined with this balance out the flavours so perfectly. This dessert is fantastic for enjoying on a slow-paced day where you can enjoy the heat and explore the festival and all it has to offer.

2. Orange Sesame Tempura Shrimp served with an Orange Chilli Sauce

Image source: WDW Prep School

What's this? A new offering for 2023? And we are glad it is! The tempura shrimp dish, available from the Citrus Blossom food booth, costs a respectable $7.00 and is a fantastic edition to the 2023 F&G Festival food menus. This dish is not overly fishy, so if you're not a massive seafood fan please do not be discouraged from trying it. The orange chilli sauce is sweet and tangy with a hint of spice that complements the crunchy tempura batter of the shrimp perfectly. We cannot sing this dishes praises enough, but there is only ONE dish we think can top this one. Are you ready for it?

1. Boneless 'IMPOSSIBLE' Korean Short Rib served with cilantro-lime rice

Image source: WDW Magazine

Really? A vegan alternative to a Korean short rib topped the list? Absolutely! Words cannot do this dish justice, and neither can the pictures so we can only recommend you get to EPCOT and try this dish for yourselves. Available from the Trowel and Trellis booth, and costing $6.75, this is a returning dish from last year's festival. However, the recipe has been changed and is a massive improvement from the previous attempt. The dish is served with a zesty and fresh cilantro-lime rice, danmuji slaw, and a kimchi mayonnaise (all plant-based and 100% vegetarian). We were shocked by how good this dish was and we hope you are too if you have the opportunity and pleasure to try it. Our ONLY complaint is the portion size is a little small to be overly filling so we do recommend purchasing a second portion or an accompanying dessert (the chocolate cake!).

Our favourite booth?

So, which booth is our favourite for this year's festival? It goes without saying the Trowel and Trellis booth blew it out of the water and delivered two stellar food options and the fact they are fully plant-based is fantastic too. Although, the Brunchcot booth does follow as a close runner-up and all of their snack offerings are top notch too. So, if you do plan on visiting the F&G Festival this year then those two booths are our top recommendations.

EPCOT's F&G Festival runs between March 1st and July 5th 2023 and we hope you get to experience the magic for yourselves.

Do you agree with our list?

Leave a comment down below which offering looks the best to you, or if you've tried another food offering we didn't include in our list but would be a top 5 pick for you. Thank you for reading and we will see you in our next post.