Taste of Disney

Eating solo once again, I wish that I would have thought to request a seat at the counter which overlooks the restaurant’s open kitchen…

But instead I was seated at a two-top table in the circus tent room, which is a smaller room off of the main dining room…

Here is a photo from the Disney Food Blog which gives you a much better idea of what this room is like…

My table was one of the small two-tops in the middle, back of the room. I wasn’t really thrilled that I had been seated here because of a past experience with this room. During a December 2013 DIS meet dinner here, our group of 6 was seated in this area and I remembered it being very loud. But since I didn’t have to worry about having to carry on a conversation with my dining companion, I decided to just go with the flow. On a positive note, I was rewarded for sticking with this table by having the same great server who we had had at that December dinner.

Here is the menu I was presented with that night…

And here is the bread basket that arrived with my drink…

I couldn’t help but chuckle when I looked at the bread…

It appeared to be the same bread that resulted in the most unusual dinner I have ever had, not only at Flying Fish but anywhere. It was a dinner which ended with the entire meal for 6 being comped by the restaurant’s manager. If you don’t recall this DIS meet dinner from my May 2014 trip and wish to refresh your memory, here is the LINK. So anyway, I couldn’t resist immediately posting the above photo on Facebook and tagging my five dining companions from that crazy dinner…Paula (smile4stamps) & her DH, Hunter, Brenda (emmysmommy) & her DH, Michael, and Beth (Couchy). The replies from them were quite amusing.

Now getting back to this meal, starting with my appetizer choice. Just as I had had on my last three visits to Flying Fish, I again had their Signature Appetizer Duo…

Flying Fish Cafe Signature Crab Cake with Vegetable Slaw, Roasted Red Pepper Coulis, and Ancho Chile Remoulade & Caesar Salad with Hearts of Romaine Leaves, Roasted Garlic Dressing, Parmigiana-Montegrappa Frico, and Pesto-Ciabatta Croutons

Here is a photo which better shows the salad that is hiding beneath the large Parmesan crisp…

While the salad is good, it’s pretty ordinary except for that Parmesan crisp, which is delicious. Next time though I might just get the full-size crab cake appetizer, as I really love it. It is one of my favorite Disney World appetizers!

Now for my entree choice. On two of my last three visits to Flying Fish I have shared the Signature Duo of the NY Strip Steak and the Red Snapper, with me eating only the snapper part of the duo. For my very first dinner at Flying Fish back in 2010, I had ordered the steak and didn’t like it. But knowing how much everyone else seems to like this steak, I decided that I should give it another try so I ordered the Signature Entree Duo of…

Char-crusted Angus New York Strip Steak served with Toasted Fregola Sardo Pearl Pasta, Young Rainbow Carrots, Haricot Vert, Zellwood Corn, and Cherry Tomatoes with Fresh Herbs and Classic Sauce Foyot & Idaho Potato-wrapped Red Snapper served over a Rich Leek Fondue with a Veal Glace de Viande and Red Wine-Cassis Butter Reduction

Ok, so I will begin with the better of the two, which was the red snapper. Now normally I love this, but this time the potato crust was overcooked and tasted slightly burned. But even so, it still tasted much better to me than the steak. To me, the one bite that I tried of the steak tasted like a mouthful of ashes. So I quickly discovered that I do not like charred meat. When my server came around to check on me and noticed I wasn’t eating the steak, I admitted to him that I didn’t really like the charred flavor. He was super nice about it and offered to have them cook another steak without charring it. I really didn’t want to wait for another steak to be cooked so I graciously declined his offer. Next though he offered to get me another of the duo-size pieces of the snapper. This time I accepted and within a few minutes, this was brought to me…

Not sure if you can tell it from my pictures, but this piece was actually much better than the first so I’m really glad that I accepted my server’s offer.

I had a FP+ for the Illuminations special viewing area and dinner had already taken a little longer than I expected. So consequently I had to skip dessert, and I apologize but I didn’t even take the time to look at and photograph the dessert menu for my report. If I had had time though, I probably would have ordered the frozen dessert cocktail which I had and loved last time…

Peanut Butter Freeze with Kahlúa, Baileys Irish Cream, Crème de Banana, Dark Crème de Cacao, and Peanut Butter

I asked for my check and was pleasantly surprised to find that my server had charged me for the full-size Red Snapper entree (which was $40) instead of the Signature Duo price of $49. This was unexpected but greatly appreciated.