Eat This: Australia Booth at Epcot International Food & Wine Festival

The Australia booth at this year’s Food and Wine Festival is located just around the bend on the lagoon side after you turn right from Future World into World Showcase (toward the Canada and United Kingdom pavilions). If you were at Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival last year, the menu won’t be unfamiliar.

Three dishes – two savory, one sweet – and all identical to last year’s offerings. Which isn’t such a bad thing since they’re all pretty tasty.

• Grilled Sweet and Spicy Bush Berry Shrimp with Pineapple, Pepper, Onion, and Snap Peas (gluten free) ($5.50)

This is a pretty safe, tasty little dish. More “Disney spicy” than actually spicy, it has a little kick and the sweetness of the pineapple to balance it out. The shrimp is cooked well and the veggies are nice and crisp. Nothing earth shattering but it was good last year and it’s still good this year.

• Grilled Lamp Chop with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies (gluten free) ($7.75)

I absolutely love this dish. My love affair with mint pesto started when I first ate it last year and I love it just as much now. The lamp is perfect – not fatty or gamey at all. (I have a thing with funny meat textures and this passes with flying colors.) And the potato crunchies – which are basically crushed chips – add an awesome texture. At $7.75 the price tag is a little hard to swallow, but this is still an awesome dish.

• Lamington: Yellow Cake Dipped in Chocolate and Shredded Coconut (vegetarian) ($3.75)

So this is basically a cube of good yellow cake dipped in chocolate and coconut. The cake is moist and the chocolate is more of a coating of chocolate sauce than anything that I’d call “frosting”. If you’re walking around World Showcase and could go for a few bites of cake, get one. It won’t rock your world but it’s done well for what it is.

Until next time, Australia… Check!