Les Chefs de France in Walt Disney World’s Epcot Park Makes Some Good French Food
After visiting the Guerlain boutique, we headed to Les Chefs de France in the French Pavilion at Epcot. You foodies who frequent the park already knew about it. Last year, we didn’t have a chance to try it so it was scheduled for this year’s trip to Walt Disney World.
Now, if you have been around for any length of time, it is no secret that I love French food and French cooking. From homemade beef and onions in beer sauce to Coq au Vin, my favorite simmered beef stew to the copper pots I had shipped from the famous cooking store E. Dehillerin in Paris, there is nothing better in culinary life than enjoying a meal that has taken four to six hours to prepare, perfectly marinated, simmered, spiced, and served.
The family and I enjoy the entire process; the food preparation itself is just as wonderful as the final product, especially during autumn and winter, when you can put on music, have the fireplace roaring, and spend time in the kitchen knowing that your home soon will be filled with the sound of loved ones, kids running around, and games. I don’t consider it work at all if my grandmother is visiting to spend an hour making a corn chowder, just so she and I can sit on the upper balcony and watch the water roll through the forest behind my house. If you are going to bake or cook, you might as well reach a level of mastery. Otherwise, what is the point?
That means the bar is often set high. I was not expecting anything great from a theme park when it came to French cooking, especially considering that Les Chefs de France was a one point restaurant on the Disney Dining Plan (one point meals are more casual than two point meals, which are things such as The California Grill). I should have known better, especially since Epcot fills each area of the global pavilion with foreigners from the respective countries, all visiting on a one-year visa. Les Chefs de France is a French restaurant, staffed by French citizens temporarily living in the United States and working for the Walt Disney Company, and cooked by French chefs. To call it a theme park restaurant is unfair. It is a French restaurant that happens to be in a theme park. Obviously, it is not a French equivalent of Victoria & Albert’s, by any means, but it is still so good that I cancelled another lunch reservation a few days from now so we can eat here again.
The French Pavilion is my favorite part of Walt Disney World. If I ever developed a planned master community in my retirement, I would go with this architecture and landscaping style.
I love copper, I love a Mansard roof, I love French style gardens, I love French food, I enjoy French art song from my college music undergraduate days, I adore water fountains, and I like a water view. I was drawn to Les Chefs de France like a moth to the flame. I can’t believe I didn’t eat here last year.
The outside of Les Chefs de France Epcot Walt Disney World.
On to the pictures of food. A majority of our group wanted to eat at the restaurant in the aquarium instead of French cuisine (I know … really, I … I know) so Aaron, my mom, and I broke off until two of my friends from college caught up with us and sat at the adjacent table so in all there were five dining. That is why the pictures are not perfectly consistent – I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of everything they ordered, as well as what came to the little cafe table where I dined.
The fresh baguettes that were served before the meal was the best bread in the park. I didn’t get a picture of it.
My mom ordered the French Onion Soup as an appetizer from Les Chefs de France at the Walt Disney World resort in the French Pavilion of Epcot. Personally, I prefer my French onion soup a bit stronger but it was a big hit with everyone else.
Aaron ordered the Cheese and Bacon Flatbread as an appetizer at Les Chefs de France. This was fantastic!
The Lobster Bisque was my appetizer at Les Chefs De France. It was very good.
The room, off to the side toward the back of the building, was where we had lunch. It had a glass exterior facing the water …
Looking out to my left at the table had a great view of several of the Disney characters meeting children. My mom called my sister and niece to meet up with us so they could get the autographs of Belle, Beast, Marie from Aristocats, Alice, Mary Poppins, and several others.
Both Aaron and my mom ordered the beef short ribs braised in Cabernet with pasta, pearl onions and mushrooms. It takes at least four hours to simmer the beef, to the point that you can move and it falls apart, it is so tender. It was perfection. I am coming back to eat here again and I am ordering this.
I had the Filet de saumon, pommes de terre écrasées au beurre et ciboulette, sur coulis de tomate et poivron rouge (aka the broiled salmon, smashed potatoes with butter and chives, served on a tomato and red pepper sauce). It was perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious.
Armand came over to introduce the chef. He was hilarious and charming. Even his timing and delivery were excellent. He had everyone laughing.
Of course, there is the Disney touch. The chef, when revealed, is none other than Remy, fully animated and interactive. It’s the perfect combination of great food for the adults and a backstory for the kids.
My mom had the cream cake with strawberries and sorbet as her dessert …
Aaron had the three flavors of fresh sorbet – my favorite was the coconut – with fresh fruit.
I had the chocolate mousse with freshly made caramel on the bottom, which burst through as you put a spoon into the dish. It was fantastic. I need this recipe!
Ashly had me try the chocolate sauce on her pastries. It was the best chocolate drizzle I have ever eaten. The aftertaste was rich and complex, not flat. It was closer to milk, rather than dark, chocolate, which I prefer. Actually, this photograph features Evan Henry, who is not yet born, but will be later this year. It is his first appearance on my blog.
After lunch, we waited for the rest of my family and friends to all congregate to proceed through Epcot, after having gone to our respective restaurants. Aaron was walking out of Les Chefs de France and I happened to catch him in this photograph.
If you are at Walt Disney World and feel like a classic French dish, served without a lot of pretense and in a comfortable environment with friendly people, Les Chefs de France is the perfect fit.
Oh! And there was another reason to love the France Pavilion in Epcot. The coffee machines are the same Douwe Egberts model I had installed at the office!
The French pavilion stands have the same Douwe Egbert coffee machine I had installed in my office years ago.
Such a great day thus far. I need to head over to the Italy Pavilion to check out the Acqua di Parma fragrance selection.
