REVIEW: Hawaii – 2017 Epcot Food and Wine Festival

Hawaii is back again for Epcot Food and Wine 2017 and of course the staples are here with it: Kalua Pork Slider and Grilled Tuna Tataki, but also this year is one of the most intriguing new items of the whole festival: Teriyaki-glazed SPAM Hash.  I can’t wait to try it out so come with me on my Hawaii Review: 2017 Epcot Food and Wine Festival….

Hawaii Booth:

Hawaii has a really beautiful booth as always.  Love the thatch roof!  Really takes you to the islands:

 

Hawaii Menu:

Last year was a down year for Hawaii with only two food items on the menu.  This year they’ve added 2 NEW ones: the Teriyaki-glazed SPAM® Hash and dessert Passion Fruit Cheesecake.  They’ve kept a tuna item on the menu also in the Grilled Tuna Tataki.  Hawaii also had one of the biggest price-jumps with year with both holdovers going up 0.50 cents each.

2016 Menu:

Here is this year’s menu 2017:

Food:

• Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet and Sour DOLE® Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayonnaise – $4.75, DDP Snack Credit
• Grilled Tuna Tataki with Seaweed Salad and Pickled Cucumbers and Wasabi Cream – $5.25, DDP Snack Credit  *Ziggy Recommended
• Teriyaki-glazed SPAM® Hash with Potatoes, Peppers and Onions and Spicy Mayonnaise – $4.00, DDP Snack Credit  *Ziggy Recommended
• Passion Fruit Cheesecake with Toasted Macadamia Nuts – $4.00, DDP Snack Credit

Beverages:

• Maui Brewing Company Bikini Blonde Lager – $4.00
• Florida Orange Groves Sparkling Pineapple Wine -$6.00
• Mai Tai featuring Sammy’s Beach Bar Rum -$9.00

Menu Review:

The Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet and Sour DOLE® Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayonnaise is always a guest favorite.  I mean who doesn’t like a good slider?  This year though I was less impressed than last year, with the pork being on the dry side.  It was good when the pineapple and mayo were with the pork on the same bite, I thought the mix of flavors sweet ad savory was great, but otherwise just the meat alone was dry.  Here’s hoping it was just mine and it’s not the norm.

Finding good fish at a food festival can be a challenge, but that’s exactly what we found in the Grilled Tuna Tataki with Seaweed Salad and Pickled Cucumbers and Wasabi Cream.  Four pieces of fresh, only flash-seared tuna.  The tuna was delicious!  It was a very high-quality tuna and felt like something you would find in an upscale restaurant.  I wasn’t crazy about the sauce, but I don’t like wasabi very much either, it was a bit watery too.  It didn’t matter because the tuna is so good it doesn’t need sauce! Fantastic choice and must-try!

Ok, I’ll admit when I first heard one of Hawaii’s new dishes was based on SPAM, it didn’t make me mark down Hawaii as my first stop at the festival.  No one else I was with was excited to try the Teriyaki-glazed SPAM® Hash with Potatoes, Peppers and Onions and Spicy Mayonnaise either.  I don’t know if I’ve ever made a bigger mistake in judgement in my life because holy crap this stuff is GOOD!!  First the portion is huge and great deal for your $.  The teriyaki flavor is everywhere in the potatoes and SPAM, really tasty.  It’s salty, but not overly, and the potatoes are cooked perfectly, not over or under.  Just everything about this dish was working, and we couldn’t get enough.  There might have been some black-eyes for the last bite or two.

You know after how much I’ve raved about it, it’s for sure going on my list of the Best NEW Items at the Epcot Food and Wine in 2017!  You can’t, I repeat, you CAN’T leave Food and Wine without trying this dish, it will change your life!

Last year Hawaii didn’t have a dessert, so I was excited to see they added the Passion Fruit Cheesecake with Toasted Macadamia Nuts this year.  It’s much lighter than you would expect, not your normal NY-Style cheesecake.  Has a very strong passion fruit taste that I dig, but I would put it somewhere in the middle of the pack for desserts at Food and Wine.

Booth Summary and Grade:

I don’t no if there’s one booth at Food and Wine that made a bigger jump from last year to this year than Hawaii did.  It doubled it’s menu and added one of the very best items at the entire festival, plus a dessert.  The Kalua Pork Slider wasn’t quite as good as last year, but that couldn’t drag the score down.  That SPAM Hash is really special so make sure to get some before you go home or regret it for life!

If you have to get just one thing: Teriyaki-glazed SPAM® Hash

Grade:  8.5

Take a look at all of my 2017 Epcot Food and Wine articles.  I have a 2017 Epcot Food and Wine Info Guide with a complete Index of the Food and Wine Menus, The Top NEW Items for 2017, Top Food and Wine Booths and more…I want you to be able to have the best info on the Festival so you have a great time and don’t waste your time!

Your Thoughts:

I want to know what you think of my Hawaii Review 2017 Epcot Food and Wine Festival.  Which was your favorite item?  Where does it rand on your list of 2017 Food and Wine booths?  Let us know in the comments section below!

If you enjoyed this article, as always I appreciate it if you’d share it with others via social media.  I work hard at making this website into a useful resource for you and your family to plan your visit to Walt Disney World, and I hope it can help you! Thanks 🙂