Is everyone excited? The 2022 EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival has officially started, and we’re checking out all of the food booths!

We’ve been bringing you all the news from this year’s festival, like which booths would be available, as well as menus for the booths, and which menu items are brand new this year! With the festival underway, we’re bringing you our thoughts and full reviews from each booth! Let’s head to Flavors from Fire to see what’s worth it and what you should skip.

Menu

Flavors from Fire has three food items, two of which are brand new! The Smoked Corned Beef is a returning item and all four drinks are returning, as well.

Now that we’ve taken a look at the menu, let’s dive into the food itself!

Eats

First up, we tried the Banh Mi Bao with char-grilled Asian skirt steak, chicken liver aïoli, pickled vegetables, and cilantro. You can grab this bao for $5.75.

The meat on this bun was cooked really well — it came out incredibly tender. The bao bun itself was a tad on the dry side, and pretty thick, which actually took away from the flavor of the meat. The ratio of bao to other ingredients was a little off, but we still enjoyed it and we liked the blending of flavors from the various elements. It may not be our top eat of the day, but we’d order it again!

Next was the Rocky Road Chocolate Cake with marshmallows, spiced almonds, and chocolate ganache. This cake is $4.25. And to be honest, it was a lot smaller than we were expecting!

It’s really delicious, but it turned out to be kind of a one-note flavor. Chocolate…and then MORE chocolate. The nuts added a nice crunchy texture, but the flavor of the nuts and marshmallows was kind of lost in the sea of chocolate. Not bad at all, but definitely made specifically for chocolate lovers and those who enjoy rich desserts!

And returning this year is the Smoked Corned Beef with crispy potatoes, cheese curds, pickled onions, and beer-cheese fondue. In past years, this was called the Corned Beef Corner Route (as the booth was hosted by ESPN), and it’s back this year with a different name, but same ingredients. This item is a part of Emile’s Fromage Montage, which is the festival’s cheese crawl.

In past festivals, we’ve really enjoyed this, and this time was no different! The salty beef pairs with the creamy cheese, and the pickled onion just pulls it all together. We think the cheese is definitely the best part of it, but we’re suckers for cheese, so who’s surprised? It’s made it onto our Best of the Fest list in years past, and it will probably be a contender this year, as well. The chips were nice and crispy and that beef flavor was subtle, but a great match with the other ingredients. You can grab it for $5.50.

As an added bonus, this booth is home to the Remy Spork! The cute little blue spork is a great festival accessory if you don’t want to keep picking up plasticware around at the booths.

We got ours at Flavors from Fire, but it’s available at various booths around the festival for $2.50.

Click Here to Get All the Remy Spork Details!

Drinks

All of the drinks at this booth are returning from previous years. The first one is the Swine Brine featuring Jim Beam Bourbon. We know it sounds bizarre, but it won us over a few years ago and we highly recommend giving it a shot! You can try the Swine Brine for $11.

New to the festival last year and returning this year is the Saugatuck Brewing Company Bonfire Beer. When we tried this last year, we thought it would taste smoky (bonfire IS in the name, after all), but it didn’t! It’s kind of heavy for a hot day, but overall, it’s a pretty good dark beer. You can try this for $5 for an 8oz size and $9 for a larger cup of 12 ounces.

And if you don’t like beer and don’t want to try the Swine Brine, there is a wine on this list, the returning Four Virtues Bourbon Barrel Zinfandel. You can grab a glass for $6. 

OVERALL

Overall, as we did in years past, we liked this booth! We’re fans of the returning items and happy to see some new choices here, as well. The Smoked Corn Beef was the clear winner of the food items, and we’re willing to say that it’s a can’t-miss item at the fest! The bao bun was also pretty delicious, and if you’re planning to stop by, we recommend trying it out.

If you’re heading to the Food and Wine Festival this year, there are a few things you should do before you go. Click here to check out the menus for the booths this year, and to see who’s performing in the Eat to the Beat Concert Series during your visit, click here.

To navigate the festival like a pro, click here to check out our insider tips! We’ll be reviewing all of the food booths at this year’s festival, so make sure to stay tuned to DFB to hear all of our thoughts!

Click here to see our reviews for EVERY single EPCOT Food and Wine Festival booth!

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What items from this booth would you most want to try? Tell us in the comments!

The post This EPCOT Food & Wine Festival Booth Proves That Newer Isn’t Always Better first appeared on the disney food blog.