Day 3 – Illuminate The Possibilities | D.A.D. 2014 | Part 3
Home » Everything Disney »Downtown Disney; Cape May Cafe (Character Breakfast); Kouzzina by Cat Cora (Dinner); Illuminations: Reflections of Earth
Dine Around Disney 2014 Trip Report Index! (And here is the Pre-Trip Report!)
All the photos for this day are on my Flickr. Full Florida 2014 collection of photos here!
August 16th, 2014
…Continued from Part 2…
Our buzzer went off and we were lead to our table. I was excited about visiting this restaurant because of it serving Greek cuisine. I’m half Greek-Cypriot so I was interested to see what was on the menu, and it felt like a really different place to be dining at Disney! I’ll start off by saying we had wonderful service and a really tasty dinner here, we would come again without doubt, but, it is closing at the end of September! Such a shame!
When it comes to the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan and table service restaurants, you are entitled to one appetizer, one entrée, one dessert and one non-alcoholic beverage (usually refillable) for one credit per person.
We were given some bread, olive oil and a few olives to start with. Our waitress did tell us what the olive oils were, but I didn’t make a note I’m afraid. Our waitress was very knowledgeable about the menu and suggested various dishes, which I always found a really nice touch, as we experience this at several signature restaurants too.
Appetizers…
Me: Goat Cheese Sto Fourno – baked goat cheese, pequillo peppers, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, and Greek olive oil ($8.49)
Him: Kouzzina Spreads – chickpea hummus, charred eggplant spread, and tzatziki with warm pita ($9.99)
The Boy: Shrimp with Garlic and Herbs – served over warm spiced hummus and Peppadew relish ($13.99)
There were lots of tasty sounding appetizer options, and what would have been great would have been a meze menu as well as this a la carte one. I don’t know why I went for the goats cheese – quite a simple, almost boring dish compared with some of the others. I must have been so indecisive (which is usually the case when I’m presented with a menu!) Looking back at the menu, I wished I’d tried the Avgolemono (an egg-lemon soup) to see how it compared with mine!
We actually ended up sharing all the appetizers, so it ended up being a bit of a meze starter for us. Steve had picked out the trio of dips – hummus, tzatziki and eggplant, and they were all good. Although, I wasn’t over keen on the hummus, that said, I’m pretty fussy when it comes to that chickpea dip!
I was very impressed with some of the choices Liam made on this trip – he’s definitely got a lot braver with trying new things than last year when all he seemed to do was eat hamburgers! He nommed up the shrimp, and only just about let Steve and I share one of them!
Entrées…
Me: Create-Your-Own Kouzzina Trio – choice of three tasting portions. Choose from char-grilled lamb burger with tzatziki, mini pastitsio, cinnamon stewed chicken, oven-baked gigantes beans, sautéed Brussels sprouts with brown butter vinaigrette, capers and cheese, or Kouzzina garlic-rosemary potatoes. ($23.99)
Him: Slow-Cooked Lamb Shank – served with Kouzzina potatoes. ($29.99)
The Boy: Pastitsio – Greek-style lasagna with pasta, cinnamon-stewed meat sauce and Greek cheese béchamel ($21.99)
I decided on the trio as it was the best way to sample a few different things. The potatoes were really flavourful and the burger too, but my favourite was the pastitsio, and I had wished I’d ordered a full portion of that instead! My reasoning that I didn’t was because I can make it at any time at home – it’s one of my favourite Greek dishes.
Steve chose the lamb shank, which he really enjoyed. It was soft and tender and just fell off the bone. He got loads of potatoes with his dish – I could have picked something else on my trio and just nicked a couple of his!
After I explained to Liam that pastitsio is what the Greeks called my macaroni pie, he decided that would be what he’d have for his dinner. The portion was huge – my photo really doesn’t do the dish that it came in any justice. He couldn’t finish his main meal, but I was more than happy to tuck into it – my dinner was quite small in the sampler compared with my two boys, and I don’t like seeing good food go to waste!
It was creamy, cinnamony, the right amount of pasta to meat ratio, and the creamy topping was perfect too. I was really impressed, and again, I have to say I’m gutted that this restaurant is closing!
Desserts…
Me: Loukoumades – freshly made Greek doughnuts drizzled with warm honey and cinnamon ($7.49)
Him: Galaktoboureko – semolina custard in baked phyllo ($7.99)
The Boy: Chocolate Budino Cake – warm molten chocolate with seasonal sorbet ($8.49)
After the very pleasing main course, my loukoumades were a bit of a let down – not because they were bad, but because I’m so used to a certain flavour and texture of them, that these ones just tasted weird. It may well have been the honey syrup that they poured over them. They were quite dry, and I asked if I could have a little more syrup, but she gave me straight up honey, which wasn’t very pleasant. A shame, I know that loukoumades are awesome!
The portion was really generous, but after eating one or two, I couldn’t manage anymore because of the flavour. The waitress thought I was stuffed and brought me a take-out box – I didn’t have the heart to say that they were a bit rank!
Steve’s Greek dessert was delicious – not quite the same taste as in a Greek cake shop, but damn close. A huge slice, and big enough for two to share.
Liam devoured his chocolate cake which was oozing with dark chocolate. Went really well with the sorbet, which I think was cherry.
Kouzzina by Cat Cora
Bill Total: $146.96 (3 Credits) {Tip: $27.60}
DxDDP Running Totals: Bill: $766.47 | Credits: 21/126 | Tips: $122.59