Shanghai Holiday Kitchen Misses at 2024 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays
It’s the first day of the 2024 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays, and we hope you’re feeling hungry!
Always the most deliciously merry of all the park’s annual events, the EPCOT Festival of the Holidays is the absolute epitome of culinary celebrations, with a whole host of marketplace kitchens serving up international dishes inspired by the holiday season.
Right now, our MickeyBlog reporters are over by Shanghai Holiday Kitchen, ready to try some tasty Chinese treats to warm up our winter.
Come with us, and let’s see what’s new for this year!
Shanghai Holiday Kitchen
This fun booth is located in the China pavilion of the EPCOT World Showcase, and serves quite a large range of drinks and eats to suit all kinds of tastes.
Let’s take a closer look at this menu, shall we?
Food Menu
There are three dishes on this booth’s food menu, including Vegetable Spring Rolls, served with citrus sauce. While we didn’t order this today, we know how much Disney fans love a good spring roll, so we’re sure this will be a popular choice! They cost $6.
What we did order, howeve,r was this: a Beef Noodle Soup Bowl! Why? Well, only an hour after opening, the Vegetable Spring Rolls were already sold out!
Consisting of slow-braised beef shank, green onion, and house-made chili oil, we thought this sounded hot and tasty for $9.50.
However, we were really disappointed by this offering!
Our reporting team told us that the meat in this bowl was bland and unseasoned, and the whole dish seemed to be a bit stale in both appearance and taste. In fact, we found that the chili sauce and broth were all sitting at the bottom of the bowl, meaning we needed to give it a good mix ourselves to get any of the flavor!
Unfortunately, we’re going to recommend you give this option a miss this year!
The third item is actually new for 2024, and that’s the XO Fried Rice. Let’s try this one, and see if it’s any better!
This rice dish combines Chinese sausage with onion, green onion, mushroom, egg, and a house-made Hong Kong XO chili sauce.
Sounds good, right? It costs $9.75.
Ok, so this wasn’t our favorite from the festival, but the rice is definitely an improvement on the noodles! We loved the generous amount of Chinese sausage and onions in this rice, which gave a great flavor.
Yes, the rice was a little gummy for our liking, and there was a sweetness to it which might not be to everyone’s tastes, but it wasn’t too bad of a dish!
To Drink
Now for the beverages! Let me tell you, there’s quite a range here!
If you’re a beer drinker, you’ll want to try the Year of the Dragon: Dragon Fruit Lager from Brew Hub.
Or, if it’s cocktails you’re fancying, there’s three enticing options available here!
- We’ve got the Butterfly Lantern, which blends butterfly pea blossom gin with vodka, prickly pear, lychee syrup, soda water, and white boba.
- The Lychee Martini, a new drink for 2024 which combines vodka with lychee syrup and vermouth.
- And the Peach of Longetivity, also new for 2024, which includes Peach Schnapps, citrus vodka, pina colada mix, and orange juice.
Which would you go for?
However, today we decided to order the booth’s non-alcoholic option, which is the Taro Bubble Milk Tea. New for 2024, this is a green tea and boba combination, and it sure sounds fun!
Doesn’t it look cute? It cost $8.75.
If you’re a boba fan, our reporters reckon you’ll definitely love this drink! There are so many of those tapioca pearls to chew on, with a subtle green tea flavor that goes beautifully with the power of the taro. It’s sweet, it’s fun, and it’s a great addition to the Shanghai Holiday Kitchen booth!
So, will you be stopping by Shanghai Holiday Kitchen on your next visit to the 2024 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays?
Don’t forget to stay tuned to MickeyBlog today, as our reporting team will be providing all your festival coverage LIVE from the parks. That includes your first looks at all the event merchandise, entertainment experience and more, as well as all the food reviews you’ll need to ensure the most delicious trip yet.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
