This past Friday Busch Gardens Williamsburg invited me and a friend to come and check out some of their new offerings at the Food & Wine Festival.
We got our menu and also decided to try the cashless wristbands [1]for the first time. It was kind of fun. Cashiers just scanned our wristband instead of us pulling out our debit cards and it is only one transaction on my account instead of a bunch of little ones. Items in the festival cost on average probably $5 and you would have to scan your card at EVERY booth.
First we went to Scotland and did a scotch tasting. This is a new booth they have never offered before.
They had three different types of scotch to try and (not surprising to anyone who knows me) I thought they were all gross. I didn’t drink so much as smell and get a sense of the taste! However most people really enjoyed the Glenmorangie. They were all 12 year old scotches. We did look the Glenmorangie up online and it runs about $50 a bottle.
The host doing the tastings was very knowledgeable about the three scotch brands and was able to answer all of our questions about how they are made. It was kind of interesting to see all the work that goes into a bottle.
After Scotland we went to the Asia booth to try all the new recipes.
First up were the lettuce wraps. Vegetables & tofu wrapped in tender butter lettuce with toasted almonds and
sweet chili dipping sauce. Unfortunately I couldn’t try them because I can’t have tofu. But I heard lots of yummy noises coming from the people around me and the friend I took offered to eat the extra if there were any.
Next up was this Asian BBQ sandwich. Vietnamese-style sandwich of marinated pork and pickled vegetables on
crispy bread with lime and nuoc mam slaw. It was good but the slaw was kind of plain. I HIGHLY recommend putting the slaw ON the sandwich as it needed the sauce.
Okay these dumplings. Oh these dumplings. Japanese-style steamed chicken dumplings with citrus ponzu sauce. My mouth is watering thinking about these dumplings. The sauce is incredible. Do not miss them!
For dessert there was a Ginger and Lemongrass Custard. Creamy custard infused with fresh ginger and lemongrass. It was refreshing but I was already getting full and didn’t finish it. Everyone else didn’t seem to have that problem.
After we ate we walked around and looked at their booths. They have some fun places where artists use food to create beautiful items. All these sea creatures are made of jelly beans!
These little creatures were made of fondant. By the time the park closed it was quite the little village of people!
Once our food had settled we went to the Scandanavian Booth and got everything. The dessert wasn’t all that amazing but each of the entrees was yummy. They were all available last year and I wanted to have them again.
We also had to go to France so I could get the lemon tart again. It was AMAZING last year and didn’t disappoint this year at all.
Also the shrimp fritters and jerk chicken in the Carribean area are some of the repeats I also wanted. I don’t even like seafood but the fritters are great with the dipping sauce.
We also had the chance to go out on one of the boats for the Wine on the Rhine boatride [2]. It was a great way to see parts of the park you wouldn’t get to see otherwise.
Yes I forgot to bring sunscreen.
The property at Busch Gardens Williamsburg is so beautiful!
We finished out the night in Ireland with a glass of Guinness and a cheese sampler.
Did I enjoy myself? I’m going back before it ends on June 28th. It’s only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the exception of Memorial Day. Although the park opens earlier the food doesn’t begin until 11 a.m. Take your time and enjoy the day- we were there for about 9 hours which is the only reason we could eat so much.
Admission to the festival is included with park admission [3], and individual tastings range in price from $3 – $7.
And be sure to check out the Busch Gardens Williamsburg Coupons [4]!