Taste of Scandinavia

The first kiosk we visited at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival was Scandinavia. We had been walking around the lagoon looking for a line that wasn't insanely long and this was one of the first we found.


There were 3 dishes at the Scandinavian kiosk: a seafood assortment called "Taste of Scandinavia", Swedish meatballs and a rice pudding dessert. We're generally fans of Scandinavian food and were looking forward to trying everything.


First up, the Taste of Scandinavia ($4):

Left side: cured salmon with mustard; right side: other side of the plate - herring and shrimp salad (with cracker)
The salmon was good. We love smoked salmon and this one was nice and tender. Mustard is always the perfect accompaniment. The herring was pretty good, but not on the same level as the herring we had in Amsterdam at Frens Haringhandel. A's favorite part was the shrimp salad, which was nice and creamy. M can't decide if the shrimp salad or salmon was her favorite part. The dish as a whole was a nice sampling of seafood and very light and refreshing for a hot day.

Next, Swedish meatballs with lingonberries ($3.50):

3 meatballs with gravy and lingonberries
If you've ever eaten at Ikea, you may have gotten the Swedish meatballs with lingonberries there. This was similar but better. Unlike Ikea, these meatballs were all juicy and tender. (Sometimes the Ikea ones can get dry.) A didn't think the lingonberries had much flavor and that Ikea's has more sugar. M found these to be more sweet and the Ikea ones to be more tart. Maybe we need a trip to Ikea soon for a good comparison. Anyway, we really liked the meatballs. Although it was a heavier dish than the seafood, it was comfort food.

Last was dessert - rice pudding with strawberries ($2.75):

Think that kid wants some rice pudding too?
This was excellent. Unlike a lot of rice puddings, this wasn't that sweet. You could really taste the rice in the rice pudding. It was light and delicious with a nuanced flavor. We were big fans. The strawberries were also so fresh and good. We were hoping to get another one before leaving, but didn't have a chance. This might have been our favorite dessert at the festival (still trying to figure out our faves). So simple but so good.

There were also some drinks there - Carlsberg beer and 2 Xante (a pear spirit) drinks. We ended up not trying any of them. We were more interested in the food at this kiosk.

Favorite dishes at the Scandinavia kiosk:
A: Rice pudding (followed by shrimp salad)
M: Rice pudding (followed by meatballs)