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The La Isla Fresca outdoor kitchen at the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival features Caribbean flavors.

La Isla Fresca Review – Epcot Flower & Garden Festival

The La Isla Fresca outdoor kitchen returns to the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival this year.  The kitchen provides Caribbean themed dishes.  As part of our La Isla Fresca review, we’ll talk about the food and if we think it is worth the price.  Of course, we’ll have pictures of everything too.

You’ll find the La Isla Fresca outdoor kitchen on your left as you walk towards the Mexico pavilion from Future World or the Canada pavilion.  If you are coming from the other direction, leaving Mexico towards Future World, it will be on your right.

The La Isla Fresca menu features some of the same dishes as last year, but there is a new item this year.  Gone is the Jamaican braised beef, replaces by a Lamb Curry.  The tropical mouse is mostly the same, other than the presentation in a cup, instead of on a plate.  The full food slate on the La Isla Fresca menu is as follows:

  • Lamb Curry with Sweet Plantains and Rice
  • Sugar Cane Shrimp Skewer with Steamed Rice and Coconut Lime Sauce (KA)
  • Tropical Mousse Cup: Layers of Passion Fruit Cake, Coconut Mousse and a Tropical Fruit Glaze with Fresh Pineapple (KA)

La Isla Fresca has three drinks on the menu.  Two of them have an alcohol component, while one is non-alcoholic.  You can find the drinks on the menu pictured above.  We have a post if you are interested in the outdoor kitchen menus at the Flower & Garden Festival.  We should also mention that we have a Guide to the 2020 Epcot Flower & Garden Festival.

Let’s look at the food you’ll find at La Isla Fresca.

Lamb Curry with Sweet Plantains and Rice — $6.25

We start our La Isla Fresca review with the lamb curry since it is the new kid on the block (menu).  I thought this dish was a tasty surprise.  The lamb was cooked to tender perfection.  I do wish that the curry had some more spice to it, but I guess Disney World is trying to appease the masses.  If you don’t like spicy food, this is likely perfectly fine to eat.  A spicier curry would have been a better contrast to the plantains, too, as they added a lovely bit of sweetness to the dish.  All that said, the flavors of the dish were great, and I would eat this again. 

Anna and Elsa were hesitant to sample this initially because of the lamb.  Once I coaxed them into eating it, they both enjoyed it.  Take that as a sign that the muted curry is for the masses.

The lamb curry presents an excellent value, as the potions of lamb are good.  Combined with the plantains and rice, you’ll find a dish that will provide a substantial (and tasty) dining experience.

Sugar Cane Shrimp Skewer with Steamed Rice and Coconut Lime Sauce (KA) – $7.00

You’ll find anywhere between 3 and four shrimp on your skewer here.  The shrimp sit on a bed of steamed rice and is topped by a coconut lime sauce.  From a flavor perspective, the grilled shrimp pair well with the coconut lime sauce.  There’s ample rice to mix with the left of sauce and give it a bit of needed flavor.

The only issue I had with the shrimp skewer was the mess factor.  You have to go through the gyrations of removing the shrimp from the skewer.  With the sauce on the shrimp, it makes the removal process a bit messy.  Doing it with my kids while they are trying to get the shrimp was especially dangerous.

Anna and Elsa both enjoyed the shrimp skewer, but I would say Elsa liked it more.  Given her love of shrimp, that isn’t overly surprising.

The value of this dish is dependent on how many shrimp you get.  We only had three on our skewer, but we have seen others that had four.  If you get four, we think it is worth it.  Get three, and maybe not so much.

Tropical Mousse Cup: Layers of Passion Fruit Cake, Coconut Mousse and a Tropical Fruit Glaze with Fresh Pineapple (KA) – $4.50

For a dessert at the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival, I thought this was a nice departure from the others you’ll find at the rest of the outdoor kitchens.  It’s a light and refreshing dessert with a fun appearance.  The passion fruit cake was moist and flavorful.  I was glad to see that the layering of the dessert didn’t make the cake mushy.  The pineapple added another great layer of flavor to the dessert, and while I usually don’t like coconut, I thought it was a great compliment to the dessert.

Presenting the dessert in a cup is visually fun, and the girls especially liked it.  However, when it comes to sharing with overeager kids, the fight of the forks that ensues is a bit of a beat down.  Maybe that’s more a statement on our scene control over the kids.

At $4.50, this dessert presents an okay value.  It feels like the serving is smaller in the cup versus last year, but that may be my perception.  In any case, I’d like to get a more substantial portion.

Tropical Freeze (Non-alcoholic) (KA) – $4.50

We had the non-alcoholic version of this drink.  This was something that everyone was a big fan of.  Like the mousse cup, it was light and refreshing.  I thought the mango on top of the drink was a bit much.  It made it a bit harder to get the drink out from underneath.

Golden Road Brewing Tart Mango Cart Wheat Ale, Los Angeles, CA – $4.50

This light and slightly fruity beer was something I greatly enjoyed.  But then again, I enjoy light and fruity type beers when out in the heat, so maybe I am biased.  I didn’t notice much of a tart flavor, so if that’s a worry for you, I think you can still enjoy this beer.

Drinks at La Isla Fresca

We’ve covered almost all the drinks at La Isla Fresca.  The only thing we didn’t get was the alcohol-infused version of the Tropical Freeze.  That version of the drink comes with Parrot Bay Mango Rum.

Wrapping Up Our La Isla Fresca Review

With that, we’ll wrap up our La Isla Fresca Review.  I’ve got to be honest; this booth was a pleasant surprise for us.  Featuring several well put together dishes and drinks that we enjoyed, it’s worth your time to stop by the outdoor kitchen.  It isn’t the best kitchen at the Flower & Garden Festival but is well worth sampling.

If you are interested in more of our Epcot Flower & Garden Festival outdoor kitchen reviews, we’ll link to them down here as we finish them!  We hope you enjoy the food and the reviews!

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