PHOTOS: Colorful Hits & Misses at This 2024 Festival of the Arts Booth
How exciting — it’s the first day of the 2024 EPCOT Festival of the Arts!
As always, MickeyBlog is LIVE on the scene, sharing all the first looks at the arts, the entertainment, the food, and more… and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have you along.
Right now on this epic exploration of creativity, we’re over in the World Showcase, about to try some tasty oriental fare at a fan-favorite returning booth.
Come join us, and let’s see what’s cooking!
The Painted Panda
Located in the China pavilion, this charming booth is known for serving up unique yet enticing Asian-inspired flavors.
This year, they’ve got three savory dishes and four delicious drinks available for guests to order.
Menu
Starting with the food menu, the first option is General Tso’s Chicken Shumai, costing $10.75. Our MickeyBloggers sampled this dish at last year’s festival, and we’re thrilled to see it return once more!
However, unbelievably, this offering had already sold out by the time MickeyBlog reached the booth. That’s ok though, as there was plenty more to try!
The first thing we ordered was this divine-looking Char Siu Pork Bun. It cost $8.50.
According to our reporters, this vibrant option was certainly enjoyable.
The flavor was tasty, and the delicious texture of the well-cooked meat worked beautifully with the soft, fluffy bun.
Despite that hot shade of red coming off the meat, we should note that this offering wasn’t spicy at all. In fact, there were few overpowering flavors to report, but overall it was a tasty option we’d definitely try again at this booth!
Moving on now to the second dish we ordered, which was this plate of Sesame Balls with Red Bean Paste.
This dish cost $7.25, and looked just as vivid and artsy as the bun did!
Unfortunately, however, these were not a hit amongst our reporters today. It sounds strange, but the gummy texture of the ball and sweet flavor caught us off guard a little bit… but not in a way we’d be keen on trying again.
Of course, that’s just our personal opinion, and we’d urge you to try them yourselves to see if you agree!
Drinks
Moving on to the beverage menu at The Painted Panda, where the first option is a fun, quirky, non-alcoholic drink guests are sure to go crazy over!
It’s a Black and White Bubble Tea, fusing black tea with milk, chocolate, and black and white boba pearls for $8.75.
If alcoholic drinks are what you fancy, The Painted Panda are also serving up a Lucky Foo Pale Ale, and two specialty cocktails.
The first is the Silk River Hard Lemonade, blending vodka and lemonade with a lavender-coconut syrup. The second is sweetly named the Butterfly Blue, which is a butterfly pea flower-infused drink with vodka, light rum, lychee syrup, and magic boba pearls.
These four drinks all sound so different from each other, giving so much variety in just one booth!
If any of these sips or eats sound appealing to you, be sure to visit The Painted Panda on your next visit to the 2024 EPCOT Festival of the Arts.
You can also stay tuned to MickeyBlog for even more booth reviews and photos, as we help you make this year’s festival the tastiest one yet! Enjoy!