How did we miss this on previous trips? Even this reservation was a second choice after Iron Chef Cat Cora cancelled her chef’s dinner. Bistro is inside the France pavilion in Epcot but does not accept the dining plan offered by Disney and holds a stricter dress code than other theme park restaurants. All the cast members our part of an exchange program with Euro Disney and the heavy French accents confirm this. (btw, it’s impossible to tell someone they can’t eat here without a reservation with a heavy French accent and not sound super snotty!!)
We overdressed, especially for walking through Epcot, but the atmosphere, price and service demand it. Plus, Jake doesn’t believe there is such a thing as overdressed; underdressed, sure. He wants to burn all the juicy sweat pants, pj bottoms and uggs he sees.
We could smell butter and lard as we approached; im sure if it was quieter we would have heard arteries hardening…Anyway, we checked in and were escorted to the second floor dining room overlooking the World Showcase lagoon. The menu options are limited and we decided to select our own courses and wine rather than go with the fixed menu (this would have been $180 with wine plus tax; our bill ended up $211 with a full bottle rather than tastings and larger portions).
We were presented with an Amuse Bouche of what I believe was Parmesan cheese soup with a baguette. The down side of an all French staff is difficulty understanding the food descriptions. My description is: awesome!!
First course was raw tuna and cous cous with greens and lime vinegarette for me, savory bacon cake for Jake. Perfect tuna, melting in you mouth with a citrus flavor to brighten the greens. Just outstanding. Jake’s bacon cake defied the laws of physics, cramming a ridiculous amount of bacon flavor in a golf ball sized cake. He’s tried this at home, even putting bacon grease in corn bread and nothing has tasted like this.
Second course was duck for me and lobster cassoulet for Jake. Again, rich, fatty, intense, heart stoppingly good. Paired with a bordeaux that we picked for price rather than taste, it was still outstanding.
Dessert was lemon souffle with berry sorbet. Again, something supernatural was going on to pack that much berry creaminess into a sorbet scoop!! We asked our waiter to pick a dessert wine for us and he selected a very sweet wine, insisting we taste it before ordering, just to be sure we would like it. It was just right with the lemon and berry flavors.
The meal was slow, the service impeccable, the food rich and well portioned. We find ourselves wishing it wasn’t in Epcot; that it was easier to get to. Of course, the challenge might be part of maintaining its limited set of customers and premium menu.
