[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, explorers, welcome to episode 322 of the TDR now podcast. We're the first english speaking podcast about the asian theme parks in, well, in Asia and specifically Japan, like Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo Disneysea, Universal Studios Japan, you know, and we. We span across other places in Asia as well. You can find us over on our
[email protected], and all over social media under the same name. I'm one of your hosts, Chris. I'm the one on camera all the time on YouTube, usually stuffing my face and especially during this time of the year. And joining, as always, is the wonderful Patricia.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: Hey, guys. I'm loving Halloween. Of course.
My name is Trish. I work with the city tourism to promote Urayasu, our beautiful city where you can find Tokyo Disney resort. And I like photography and Halloween, and you can find me at dreamsweets. Love on Instagram and threads and oh, my gosh. Chris. I'm excited to talk about today's topic so much.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: Yeah, this is probably one of my favorite things to talk about because there's just, there's a lot of food this year at Tokyo Disney. I am pleasantly surprised because for the last while, I would say since about 2020, you know, a lot of things changed and we didn't have a lot of food.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: We did. It was, like, boring.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: Yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't great.
I feel like they're finally getting their footing back with the food.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: And I cannot complain. I made two videos on it. I did a video for each park, Toki Disneyland and Toki Disney Sea. I wanted to do one video, but when I looked at how much food was available, I thought, get it. There's no way I can do this in one video without it being super overwhelming. And, you know, an hour and a half video of eating food, that's. That's a big ask. That's a lot, you know?
So if you haven't already, go to the YouTube channel and check out the video or videos. We have one on Disneyland and Disneysea with all this food that we're going to be talking about today. It's also up on our website. And also, I just want to remind everybody, too, that through the Tokyo Disney Resort app, you can look at all the food menus for all the restaurants in English. They recently pushed this update out. I think it probably started summer or maybe even a little bit earlier.
This is great because this was not like this before, like last year. Uh uh. It was only in Japanese, so it was quite a pain. If you couldn't read any Japanese to find the english menus, they would put some of them on the website, but it's very sparse. But now both the website and the app have full english menus, which is wonderful, because for years, like, I even want to say decades, the menus in Tokyo Disney are in English anyway.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yes. So, like, the menus in the parks have been in English forever.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: You know, probably before both of us even started visiting the parks that were in English, you know? So it was just very weird that there's this disconnect with the app and also the website, but that's all rectified now. That's the thing of the past. It's all in there, so you can go and find all that food very easily.
And the restaurant menus also lists, like, what drinks they offer, desserts, dietary, or I shouldn't say dietary, allergen menu stuff. They even label when stuff is vegetarian as well.
Not so much vegan. They will say plant based, but just know there's not a ton of plant based stuff.
And specifically, when they talk about plant based, they usually talk about something that, like, a dish that traditionally wouldn't be plant based. Like, if it was a burger, they'd say, this is a plant based burger, right?
[00:04:17] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: Whereas, like, some desserts are naturally vegan, but they're not gonna. They're not gonna say that. Like, they're not gonna say it's plant based at all.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: Why not?
[00:04:30] Speaker A: Sure. I guess Japan.
I guess, like, a good example would be the, uh. That, well, this has nothing to do with Halloween, but the brand new Donald Duck mango ice bar. Did you see that?
[00:04:43] Speaker B: I did. Cute.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: It's so cute. It looks like his bill. And it's mango flavored. And I didn't look at the ingredients list, but a lot of people online were saying it's vegan friendly, so there's a good chance it is. Um, I haven't verified that, though, because it's kind of a pain to have to ask people, um, in the park about it because it turns into a whole thing.
But presumably it's vegan friendly. Don't take my word for it, though. Probably should do your own research. But there's a good chance that I would say it is because it's just mango and in ice. I don't think they're going to slip dashy in that.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: I hope not.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: I hope not.
Anyway, that's not what we're talking about today. We're talking about food, Halloween food at Tokyo Disney. And this stuff should be available until, I believe, November 7. So it's gonna be available a little bit longer this year. It started September 1, all the food.
So it's been around for a little bit. However, the Halloween event did not officially start until October 1.
Very confusing.
[00:05:49] Speaker B: It's so short. It's such a short Halloween.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, and it's like, we know the reason it's been too hot. I know it's too hot to have Halloween start in the September.
And my guess, uh, would be like, well, obviously it's hot. Right? And they can push, like, have the. The parades either later in the day or something like that. Um, my guess is probably something to do with also, like, costumes, because they make these costumes well in advance. Right. So to make alterations, to make them not as hot is probably not an easy feat, um, for something that they would design. Like, I'm guessing the designs for the stuff is done, you know, at least a year or two in advance. Right?
[00:06:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:36] Speaker A: So they kind of had to make a decision, but I don't know that for a fact. I am purely guessing, but anyway, let's talk about the food.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Okay.
I like that they really focused on the visuals because, you know, the flavors are fine. A lot of them are, like, crowd pleasers, of course, as. As usual, but, like, they really up their game. And I'm so happy for, you know, people visiting the park this season, because there's some really adorable stuff.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: Everything is, like, revolves around the color palette of purple and black and orange, and that is perfectly Halloween.
And what's great about Japan in particular is there's a lot of foods that are naturally that color.
So there's a lot of, you know, act like natural foods, I guess, or, like, some stuff is clearly dyed, of course. But there's a lot of food that is just naturally that color, so they don't have to go that, like, they don't have to dye anything, which is really fun.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: And I think, like, in general, of course, like, there's always outliers, but I think, in general, a lot of people here don't like unnatural colors, like, really vivid green or. You know what I mean?
[00:08:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I think, like, you know, do you remember the Kawaii monster cafe? Yeah, that was.
Well, you know, I've never actually asked any of my japanese friends what they thought of it, but I. My. My guess is. Cause it was a very big tourist.
It was a tourist trap. Let's just call it what it was. But it was very vivid in its unnatural colors with everything. All the food was unnatural colors. Right.
[00:08:31] Speaker B: It's shocking pink and, like, it's off putting, right? Yeah, like, ultra. I mean, I'm american, and, you know, we do have a lot of weird, like, really shocking color foods. I'm like, it's fine. I like it. I. But I know a lot of people here that don't. And they're like, why would they make it that color? And I'm like, oh, it's just for fun.
[00:08:57] Speaker A: And a great thing about Japan, too, is food is very seasonal.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah.
[00:09:03] Speaker A: Japan's food culture really leans into, okay, this is out of season now we're going to what's in season. So, of course, like, with winter, we have a lot of root vegetables, a lot of nuts, a lot of, like, hearty kind of things. And we're seeing that in these desserts. Very savory, very nutty.
Even. Some of them even have some spice in it as well, which is really nice.
This first one. This first one's funny. I know. We were just talking about. Things are usually naturally colored. This one, not so much, but it's one of the few outliers in this list. The spicy chicken and popping grunt pumpkin gratin sandwich over at the New York deli.
The bun is purple. Like, it's a light purple. That's obviously unnatural. There's no bun that is purple. But that's the. That's the only thing that seems to be colored in that way.
[00:09:57] Speaker B: But, like, even that, it's like, not, like, vivid. Like, vivid purple. It's like a. Like a. Like a. Almost. Almost like, you know, like, sweet potato ish kind of purple.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: Yeah, it looks like it. It almost looks like it's a natural color.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: Uh huh.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: Like, it looks like that's the natural color of that bread that's kind of.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: Used an ingredient to get that color.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what it looks like. And maybe they did. I don't know. They don't tell you. They don't tell you how they bake it or anything, but this is kind of a. They've had so they had similar sandwiches in the past. They just kind of change it up a little bit.
[00:10:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:37] Speaker A: I'm not mad at it because it is delicious. It's probably one of my favorite things on the menu. It's a spicy chicken. It's just a tandoori chicken, which they kind of share between the different restaurants, which I'm not mad at. It's. It's good. It's spicy. It's good.
It's good. Use what you got. I'm not mad at that. Then they also have a pumpkin gratin in there. And when I. When I say pumpkin, I mean japanese pumpkin, which is kabul cha.
[00:11:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: Different from north american pumpkin.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: It's, like, really flavorful.
[00:11:10] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. The ones here, like, kabucha is, like, green on the outside. It's usually smaller, and the inside is, well, orange. Right.
It's typically used, and, like, it's used in tempura a lot, which is delicious. I love it in tempura.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: The thinly sliced slices of it. And it's using a lot of desserts as well during this season. Like, the fall and winter seasons is kind of when it's used, but, yeah, it comes with a pumpkin gratin, which is, like, potatoes and cheese mixed with the pumpkin and the spiciness. It's just a really good, hearty sandwich.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: It does sound really hard. It sounds, like, really filling. And I think, like, for a lot of people that are worried about, like, I guess, like, some people sometimes complain about the portion sizes. Like, something like this would be incredibly filling. So this might be a good option for those people, I think.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: Yeah, it's pretty filling. And you can also get it with the set meal, if you like, which comes with french fries and a drink, so adds more to it, for sure. That's definitely one of my top picks. And in the whole thing, another one that I'm like, I wasn't a big fan of this, to be quite honest. It was the chestnut tiramisu.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: Because you don't like chestnut?
[00:12:41] Speaker A: I don't like. I don't like chess. I don't like chestnut in Mont Blanc.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:12:47] Speaker A: When it's, like a chestnut Mont blanc, I don't like that.
But, yeah, I guess generally, I don't really care for chestnuts. Never mind. You're right. I was trying to think of something, but, no, you're right. I just don't like chestnuts.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: Do you like tiramisu, though?
I feel like it's a somewhat similar texture.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: I mean, it's different, but I'm not a big fan. Like, if it's on the menu, I'm not gonna pick it. I'm gonna pick something else. I'm gonna go for a cheesecake or. Or a mousse. I'm gonna go for something like that. I'm not gonna go for the tiramisu.
[00:13:20] Speaker B: Yeah. I think it was interesting what they did here, because usually you always see, like, Mont Blanc. Monblanc. Mont blanc everywhere. Right? And I love Montblanc, but it's interesting to see them kind of meld the two together, like Montblanc and tiramisu. I thought that was kind of like. It feels very autumnal, you know?
[00:13:38] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm glad they tried something different with this.
[00:13:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: And you can get a souvenir cup with it if you like, which is really cute this year. This year, both parks have the same souvenir cups, which they usually do anyway. And it's ghost themed, so, like, little Mickey Minnie ghosts on it, which is really cute.
What I liked more was the pumpkin crepe.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Okay. I was looking at that, and I'm like, this has to taste good because it looks kind of sad.
[00:14:12] Speaker A: It tastes good.
In terms of aesthetics, it's the weakest, I would say. It's pretty. It's a. It's a folded up crepe with cream. Like, pumpkin cream in the middle with a little chocolate ghost on top. Like.
[00:14:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:26] Speaker A: It's not that creative in terms of its look like other desserts, but it tastes. I think it tastes great in general.
[00:14:35] Speaker B: Their crepes are really good.
[00:14:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, it's very unassuming in its look.
I'm also a big fan of kabul cha, the japanese pumpkin. Yeah, I do like the, like, nuttiness flavor of the japanese pumpkin. It's, like, absolutely, like, kind of a nutty flavor, but also a little sweet as well, and has, like, a more.
A rougher texture to it. Like a gritty texture. I guess when it's blended up, it's like.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: Yeah, it's got, like, meat.
You can use meat to describe vegetables. Right? Like, the vegetable meat. It's, like, very. It's very dense.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: Yeah, it's nice and dense. It tastes good. It's not. It's not as. It's not sweet like a north american pumpkin.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: North american, no, but north american pumpkin doesn't have a lot of flavor. Right. Like, the sweetness is what's added to it, isn't it?
[00:15:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Because we usually in North America, it's used for, like, pumpkin pie, but then it's mixed with a bunch of other stuff, like cinnamon and all that. So it's kind of. It's never really used on its own. I guess in North America, we mix it with something, whereas here, Kabucha's, you can have it on its own.
[00:15:43] Speaker B: You can. And it's so delicious. I love that. It's, like, perfectly in the middle where you could go either to sweet or savory, and it tastes amazing however you use it. Or if you just, like. Even if you just like.
Like, what do you say? Like, steam. It's still, the flavor is there, and it's delightful.
[00:16:06] Speaker A: Probably my favorite version of Kabul cha is tempura.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: Tempura is amazing. Yes.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: I love getting that with, like, you know, the vegetable tempura set. I love it. It's so good. I wish Disney did something like that. But they don't offer or wait. They might. They might want to sit down.
[00:16:23] Speaker B: Restaurants, I'm guessing at, like, hokusai or at Sakura. They probably have it.
[00:16:30] Speaker A: You're right. They probably do. I never looked there.
Mostly just did snacks in, like, quick service restaurants for this.
Doing the table service and hotel restaurants. That's a whole other. Whole other ballgame.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: And the thing is, they probably don't advertise it as. It's not, like, advertised as Halloween. It would just be, like, part of the autumnal flavors that they have that's seasonal.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: Yeah, that as well. Yeah. It's a little bit more of an elegant experience, I guess.
Anyway, that's what we're talking about.
I. This next one, the Halloween Sunday.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: Which one? Cause there's, like.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: So this one is the purple sweet potato soft serve.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: Okay. I say yes to this one.
[00:17:22] Speaker A: I like it, but I don't like it. So, like, I love the purple sweet potato soft serve in it. So this at Disneysea at Liberty Landing diner, that's the only place you can get it.
The purple.
Purple sweet potato soft serve is vibrantly purple.
[00:17:39] Speaker B: It looks really pretty.
[00:17:42] Speaker A: It's nice and smooth, and it's definitely purple sweet potato.
I think it's delicious. I love it. It does have full on boiled chestnuts in it. Like, candied boiled chestnuts, which is.
I'm okay with it. I'm okay with it.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: It's really dense. That's the thing. It's still hot here. 30 degrees today. And it sounds really great for, like, when it gets, like. But it sounds so dense.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: Yeah. And then there's candied sweet potatoes. So not purple sweet potato, but just.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: Sweet potato, which is really popular. Yeah.
[00:18:20] Speaker A: And they're shaped like Mickey.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: Like Mickey heads.
[00:18:25] Speaker A: I'm not a fan of it. I'm not. It's not that I'm not a fan of sweet potato. I like sweet potato, but this version of it that's candied, I can't really get my head around it because it's more of a texture thing. Oh, so, like.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: Like, you don't like the crisp crispness.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: Like, the outside is, like, sweet because it's covered in sugar.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: Right.
[00:18:49] Speaker A: They, like, bite into it, and it's like a sweet potato. So it's, like, my mind just, like, what is going on with this right now?
However, with that said, I can overlook that, because the purple sweet potato soft serve is fantastic, and that's the only place you can get it. They don't have it anywhere else.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: Oh, man. It looks really good.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: It's really good.
[00:19:15] Speaker B: But I also feel like that would be a meal, like, between the chestnuts and between the candied sweet potato. Like, I feel like it's. It's, like, so filling.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: It is.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: That would be a whole meal. You know, it's.
[00:19:31] Speaker A: It's definitely filling. It's. You. You get a lot with it over at. This is at Cafe Portofino. This is probably one of my favorite meals overall.
[00:19:45] Speaker B: Ooh.
[00:19:47] Speaker A: At any of the either park. And it's a coffee scented roast beef with purple sweet potato and mascarpone.
[00:19:54] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:19:55] Speaker A: So this is not the first time they've done the coffee, like, coffee rub on the roast beef.
[00:20:01] Speaker B: Mm hmm.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: And I think they did it last. It was either last.
I think it was last Halloween as well, maybe, or last Christmas. I don't remember which one it was, but they've done it before, and it's like, the roast beef at Cafe Portofino for our counter service restaurant is really good. The roast beef is good. The roast beef is nothing common in Japan. Like, is that something you can easily.
[00:20:24] Speaker B: Find, like, more for the holidays? It becomes more available.
[00:20:29] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, you'll find, I guess, like, roast beef. Like, roast beef dawn. Like, roast beef on rice. Like, I guess that's kind of popular.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: Like, there are some. There are some, like, meat shops here that have, like, insanely good roast beef, but, like, it's expensive and, like, it's, like, neighborhood shops, you know?
[00:20:53] Speaker A: Yeah. I usually get, like, if I go to a, like, a buffet, like, you.
[00:20:59] Speaker B: Oh, for sure. Yeah. Because during the holidays, it's big.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. But, yeah, it's roasted is something you definitely. I guess, like, you could find it in the summer, roast beef in Japan. But it's usually cold.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:13] Speaker A: Cold roast beef on rice kind of thing.
[00:21:17] Speaker B: Like a special occasion food.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: Yeah. It's not an everyday thing. Roast beef isn't really an everyday thing.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: Well, I guess that's true. That's a good point.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: It's usually. We usually have it during the holidays. Right.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: That's true. Yeah.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: Specifically Christmas.
[00:21:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:34] Speaker A: I think it's Thanksgiving, and Christmas is usually what we have it. Right.
It's considered fancy, I suppose. Like, it's a fancy.
But Cafe portofino is a really good counter service restaurant. So the coffee scented roast beef is superb. I think it's wonderful. And the purple sweet potato with mascarpone, it doesn't look appealing whatsoever.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: No, but it's. It works.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: It's really good.
It's. Yeah, it's. It's. And it's a. It's a little pricey. It's on the pricier side, but roast beef is always pricey, no matter where you go, so it's not surprising.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: And portofino in general is, like, a little bit pricier.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Cause you're getting, like, it's not just burgers and fries. Like, they have. They have the half rotisserie chicken. They have, like, a pasta dish, and then they have the roast beef dish. So you're getting, like, you know, heartier food for what you're paying for.
[00:22:31] Speaker B: Absolutely. And so not only is the food really good, you also have lots of seating, which is, like, on a busy day.
[00:22:39] Speaker A: What I love to do. What I love to do, and I'm sure you've done this, too, is if you get there, I'd say, hour and a half to an hour before the next harbor show. Usually, like, leave sea of dreams. If you get there early enough, you can buy, like, buy your meal and then get a table outside so you can watch the show from your table. The thing is, like, it's not the best view. So if you've seen the show before, you know, sitting there to watch the show, and you don't particularly care about having the best view, it's pretty nice because you're not crowded in with people and.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: No, yeah, it's fantastic. I love it. Great technique. Especially, like you said, especially if you've seen the show, you're familiar with it, and you can just see, you know, what's going on. It's. It's nice. It's like an atmosphere to your meal, you know?
[00:23:30] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, I wouldn't do that in, like, in replacement of getting, like, the DPA for CD, because that. That's vastly better. You're gonna have a fantastic view from those. From those spots. But just like I said, you've seen the show before. You want to have a meal, but you still want to see the show. This is a good alternative to do. It's. It's a well known secret. A lot of people do this, so that's why you kind of have to get there quite early.
Um, so you can get a spot. But also, too, the thing with that as well, like, don't sit there without food.
[00:24:08] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: I don't think anyone will ever say anything to you. Per se, but it's obviously incredibly rude. They might. Yeah, it's also incredibly rude. Right. To take up a spot if you're not eating there.
[00:24:23] Speaker B: So I feel like they might assume you're waiting for someone to bring a, you know, that went out to get food or something. But, like, I feel like, I guess for that restaurant, that wouldn't happen because.
[00:24:34] Speaker A: It'S like a buffeteria type.
[00:24:35] Speaker B: Right.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: Situation.
[00:24:37] Speaker B: Yeah, you. You would probably. Someone would probably say something, I think.
[00:24:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
But also a good way to save money on this too, if you want to. So they don't widely advertise this, actually. So when you get the. The roast beef set, if you want, you can get the special set. And that's kind of what they advertise. And it comes with drink and it comes with, like, rice or bread and, like, a soup usually.
And that's, I think it's over ¥3000 or something like that, which is kind of expensive. Right. It's like on the upper end of like 28, $29.
[00:25:13] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:25:14] Speaker A: If you want, you can just get the roast beef and that's it.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Oh, of course. Yeah, that's right.
[00:25:21] Speaker A: It's still on the more expensive side. It's ¥2400, which is about 17, $18. But if you don't need everything else because, you know, rice and stuff, like, you can just argue that's filler if you don't.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: Then. Then why pay for it? And then get. Then get yourself a drink, of course. So if you want to save some money, that. That is a good way to do it. You can tell them you just want the roast beef and nothing else. And that's perfectly, perfectly acceptable.
There's also some duffy food, so it's not Halloween related, but it's autumn related.
[00:25:58] Speaker B: Okay. That's where I was. I was like, where? I was looking at the list and I'm like, where is this? Because I did not see it on the website.
[00:26:06] Speaker A: Yeah. So this is, um. Yeah, Duffy related food. So there's a pumpkin pudding.
[00:26:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:12] Speaker A: So they kind of, they've been doing this for a couple years now. So the Duffy food used to only be in cape code, but now it's kind of in multiple restaurants.
So it's in Cape Cod cook off, but also at Dockside Diner, which is in the american waterfront. And it's also in Miguel's. What, as well. Yep. Don't get me started on Miguel's, but we'll get there. We'll get there eventually. But there's the. The Duffy food is available at three different restaurants now instead of just Cape Cod.
[00:26:44] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:26:45] Speaker A: This, like, mostly. It's mostly the special desserts and the special, like, meals they'll have at multiple places instead of all. Just one restaurant. But there's this pumpkin pudding, which is not great. Oh, it's.
It's literally just. It's like a milky pumpkin pudding, and I didn't care for it.
[00:27:08] Speaker B: Is it, like, japanese pudding or, like.
[00:27:14] Speaker A: No, it was similar to, you know, the. The pudding that you get at the convenience store. You know, the one that comes in a little, like, flower shaped container. Like, you push a little tab.
[00:27:24] Speaker B: Yeah, kind of.
[00:27:25] Speaker A: Kind of like that. But instead of, like, the.
What is the dark brown syrup that's in it?
[00:27:31] Speaker B: Usually it's like a caramel.
[00:27:33] Speaker A: It's like a bunch of.
[00:27:34] Speaker B: Usually depends. It depends on, like.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: Yeah, like.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: Because sometimes they change it up for other flavors, but usually it's like a caramel. So it's like, more like a flanden.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: So not like a flan. Flan. Like a convenience store. Like the one that's, like, a bit smoother.
[00:27:50] Speaker A: Yeah, it's kind of like that. Yeah.
So this pumpkin pudding is kind of similar to that, but it's just, like pumpkin, and it's very milk. Like, very milk forward as well. I just didn't. I just didn't vibe with it. I didn't care.
[00:28:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Honestly, I know what you're talking about. I'm not super into the milk.
[00:28:11] Speaker A: My husband loves it, but, yeah, milk. Milk flavored stuff is too bland for me.
[00:28:17] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, it's. It's fine, but it's not my preference.
[00:28:24] Speaker A: I think personally, I think for me personally, because I'm just so used to vanilla. So when I think something that's like a baseline.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:33] Speaker A: That's like, you know, very inoffensive in its flavor. It's very quote unquote plain, I think, of vanilla, but vanilla is not really a thing here. It's milk. Things are milk flavor.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: People love milk flavor here. It's so popular.
[00:28:49] Speaker A: It's too mild for my taste buds. Like, I want vanilla.
[00:28:54] Speaker B: Well, I kind of wish, like, when I was reading this, because I didn't. I couldn't find it on the website, and now I'm like, oh, Duffy, of course. I kind of wish they would do with this is make, like, you know, it's kind of, like, popular now. The. The pudding a la mode, where they have, like, the pudding and it has, like, fresh fruits and stuff around it. Like, make it like autumnal fruits, like grapes and things like that. Would be.
[00:29:14] Speaker A: Oh, if they did that, that would be good.
[00:29:16] Speaker B: Yeah, that's.
[00:29:17] Speaker A: Yeah, that's very popular. I like that. I like that. That would probably would have made it better.
[00:29:21] Speaker B: That would be kind of cool. Right? And you got the price too. So Disney. Get on it.
[00:29:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, the pumpkin pudding was just two one note for me, I guess.
Kind of, eh, for sure.
[00:29:35] Speaker B: I can see that.
[00:29:36] Speaker A: The next duffy one was surprising to me. I like the chestnut tart.
[00:29:42] Speaker B: Oh, nice.
[00:29:44] Speaker A: I wasn't expecting to like it. I kind of. I saw it. I'm like, eh, it's a tart, whatever. But it was actually really nice. It was nice and moist. It was the, like, it wasn't like the chestnut. It wasn't like there was a whole chestnut sitting on the top.
[00:30:02] Speaker B: It wasn't like too heavy.
[00:30:03] Speaker A: Yeah, no, it was very light. There was like chopped up chestnuts in it, which was nice. I don't really like biting into a whole chestnut that's been boiled and candied. It's just like. It's a weird texture to me.
[00:30:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: I appreciate it being cut up. It kind of had like other like, fruits mixed in as well. So it was like, it was a. It was a tartan. It was a traditional tart with chestnut. It was actually quite good.
[00:30:28] Speaker B: It sounds yummy.
[00:30:29] Speaker A: The souvenir plate that comes with it.
[00:30:31] Speaker B: It seems like the price, it must be somewhat large. No? Well, 1300 yen.
[00:30:37] Speaker A: That's with the souvenir plate.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: Okay. Okay, I see.
[00:30:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's only five. ¥550 by itself.
[00:30:46] Speaker B: Oh, okay. So it's like a normal. Okay, I see. Okay, so it's the plate.
[00:30:51] Speaker A: Um, the next surprise, um, hit for me was the sparkling jelly drink.
It looked very like. Just reading the description, it just looked kind of like. Oh, okay. Whatever it was. Coke, Coca Cola and strawberry syrup mixed in together.
And it has strawberry. Strawberry jelly in it as well. Um. And it was like a villain's drink.
[00:31:19] Speaker B: Okay. It looks really pretty.
[00:31:21] Speaker A: It was aesthetically pleasing. Like the. The packaging has, like all the different Disney villains on it that are featured this year. And there's. There's two versions of it. And the only difference is what villain chocolate they put on top of it. So Disney. See the one dockside diner has?
I believe it was. It's not Captain Hook. It was Jafar. Jafar was the one at Disneysea, which makes sense. Jafar has the arabian coast. And then at Disneyland, at Captain Hook's galley, it's Captain Hook on the little chocolate.
So, yeah, it was. The sparkling jelly drink was actually quite good.
Strawberry was nice. I think there's also bits of strawberry in it as well. If I remember correctly, there was definitely strawberry jelly in there. And then, of course, there was coke in it.
It was. It was a nice drink. It was. It was. It was a little sweet because, you know, coke is sweet.
[00:32:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:20] Speaker A: Just adding more syrup into it just makes it even sweeter. But it was. It was a nice, refreshing drink for what it was.
[00:32:27] Speaker B: All right.
[00:32:28] Speaker A: I really like it.
[00:32:28] Speaker B: Looks good.
[00:32:31] Speaker A: This next one, I think, is probably one of the best ones they've done in a very long time.
[00:32:35] Speaker B: For real. This is, like, my favorite thing, the.
[00:32:38] Speaker A: Steamed bun, which is at Miguel's at Disneysea, and it's also at boiler room bites at Disneyland. So you can find at both parks. So it's two little steamed buns put together. One looks like a poison apple, and one looks like a pumpkin.
[00:32:56] Speaker B: It's perfect.
[00:32:57] Speaker A: And one is teriyaki chicken filled, and the other one is potato and bacon.
[00:33:02] Speaker B: Sounds so good.
[00:33:04] Speaker A: It sounds good, and it tastes good. And aesthetically, it is perfect. I love that one of them is a poison apple.
[00:33:12] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:33:13] Speaker A: That is so good. So creative with that.
[00:33:17] Speaker B: It looks beautiful.
[00:33:20] Speaker A: And the packaging it comes in as well is very well put together. Like, very, very, very well designed. The artwork on it. So the.
The apple. The poison apple is teriyaki chicken inside. But what's interesting is when I bit into it, I was expecting, like, little chunks of chicken.
It's actually minced chicken, which I guess makes sense for a steamed bun.
[00:33:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:48] Speaker A: So there's not chunks in it. That's easier to chew, I suppose.
[00:33:52] Speaker B: But I can see where you're coming from, because I would also imagine chunks.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I would think, like, when I think teriyaki chicken, that's.
[00:34:00] Speaker B: You imagine, right?
[00:34:01] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, bits of chicken, but no, it was minced chicken with teriyaki sauce.
[00:34:06] Speaker B: Okay. Okay.
[00:34:08] Speaker A: The steamed buns are. They're just steamed buns. Like, there's. There's no flavor to them. They're just fluffy.
[00:34:16] Speaker B: They're cute.
[00:34:17] Speaker A: They're cute. They really don't taste like anything. They're just a vessel, is what they are.
And then the pumpkin is the potato with the bacon in ithemenous, which is also really nice.
[00:34:30] Speaker B: I'm surprised they did not put pumpkin in the pumpkin.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: I know. I was kind of thinking that, too, but I guess keep us on our feet, I suppose.
I just wish the potato and bacon had cheese in it.
[00:34:41] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. That would be perfect.
[00:34:43] Speaker A: I think I would have made it perfect, but it was still really good.
[00:34:47] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:34:48] Speaker A: So good. I love it when they do these seamed buns because they always do a good job. And this year, they didn't bring back the Ursula steamed uki wa bun that they typically do because, well, for those that don't know, in port discovery, there is the traditional Donald duck ukiwa steamed bun that's available year round, usually. And it has shrimp in it. Shrimp and pork, isn't it?
[00:35:18] Speaker B: Or just shrimp? I think. I think you're.
I think it's a shrimp and something. Or just shrimp.
[00:35:24] Speaker A: I think it's shrimp and pork. I think it's both.
[00:35:26] Speaker B: Okay. That's a good combo.
[00:35:29] Speaker A: And ukiwa means, like, lifesaver in Japanese. So it looks like it's white and it has, like, lines on it to look like a lifesaver. And then paired with the packaging, it looks like Donald ducks is going through the middle of the bun, which is really cute.
And then usually they'll have, like, a Halloween version that is black and purple and is themed to Ursula. And it has, like, spicy pork in it.
[00:36:00] Speaker B: It sounds so good, though, they haven't.
[00:36:03] Speaker A: Done in the last few years. So I don't know if it's ever coming back. But I can't really complain because these two new ones are actually really good.
[00:36:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:13] Speaker A: And really, really well thought out. I think they're really good.
[00:36:16] Speaker B: For sure. They look. They look perfect. They're, like, very instagrammable. The flavors look good.
[00:36:24] Speaker A: I love it when something is both aesthetically pleasing and also tastes good.
[00:36:28] Speaker B: For real?
[00:36:29] Speaker A: Yes, because you know the trend. It looks good, but it doesn't taste good.
But it's not the case here, which is really nice for a change.
Speaking of things that don't taste good, that this next one I did not like at all.
[00:36:43] Speaker B: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Which one is it? Louie, look at.
Is this the drink or the food?
[00:36:51] Speaker A: The drink.
[00:36:51] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:36:53] Speaker A: Yeah. So this is also Miguel's. It's. I think this is a lot.
[00:36:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:58] Speaker A: It's a purple sweet potato blended with milk and coffee jelly. It's a drink.
[00:37:06] Speaker B: Oh, I know.
[00:37:08] Speaker A: It was too much.
It was just too much. Like, the milk and the purple sweet potato mixed together was just too much.
I did not like it.
[00:37:19] Speaker B: It wasn't, for me, on its own, that would work.
But with the coffee jelly, it's, like, competing textures and flavors, because purple sweet.
[00:37:34] Speaker A: Potato, when it's blended, is kind of gritty on its own.
[00:37:37] Speaker B: No, it doesn't have to be gritty.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: Well, this one was. It was a little grittier and then the milk in it, and it's just. It's just a lot of textures going on for me.
[00:37:49] Speaker B: It is a lot of texture, and, like, they're really different textures.
[00:37:53] Speaker A: And the flavors were kind of competing with each other, just like, it just wasn't for me.
[00:37:58] Speaker B: Oh, I get it.
So I'm sure this is popular with.
[00:38:02] Speaker A: Someone, but somebody out there probably likes it. Not me. I.
[00:38:06] Speaker B: No, I get it. Yeah.
[00:38:09] Speaker A: Like, the first couple of sips were fine. I'm like, oh, this is nothing too bad. And then as I kept drinking, I'm like, oh, this is too much. It's just. It's too much. Yeah.
[00:38:19] Speaker B: And I also feel like coffee. Jelly is very.
I associate it with, like, summer, like, hot weather and then sweet potato. I associate, like, the heaviness with autumn and coziness, and I feel like that also that image would be competing in my mind as well.
[00:38:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it wasn't for me.
Was not.
[00:38:44] Speaker B: So, like, the next one.
Everything about it sounds really good, but I don't like the picture on the website. Looks really unappealing.
[00:38:54] Speaker A: So this is the gnocchi and pumpkin gratin with nuts and maple sauce.
[00:38:58] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:38:59] Speaker A: It does not look appealing whatsoever, but I will tell you, it is good.
[00:39:03] Speaker B: All the flavors, like, really phenomenal.
[00:39:07] Speaker A: It's really good. I was surprised, like, I. When I saw it in person, I kind of thought, oh, I don't know how this is gonna go. This doesn't look great, but let me tell you, it is good. It is very good, especially with the maple sauce. It's a nice mixture of sweet and savory. I think they did a really good job with that.
[00:39:27] Speaker B: I wish they had worked on the presentation a little bit more.
[00:39:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess gnocchi was in the shape of Mickey. The gnocchi is cute, which I'm like, okay, sure, fine.
That's it.
[00:39:41] Speaker B: Like, these food trucks looks like. Yeah.
[00:39:45] Speaker A: The food trucks here, they put them in this year to go with the Disney Sea food and wine festival. We had in quotation marks, quote, unquote. Yeah. So I guess they're just becoming a permanent fixture.
[00:39:59] Speaker B: Yeah, because.
[00:40:02] Speaker A: Sure, I guess because they're convenient. You know, it's easy enough. I guess.
So this is at the one food truck, which is in front at Disneysea, in front of the tower of terror. Okay. And then the other food truck is all drinks. I didn't try all the drinks because there was four different ones. Yeah, there's two alcoholic and two non alcoholic ones. So the one I got was an iced fruit tea with mixed fruit.
Nothing special. It's just a whole bunch of different fruits in a tea.
That's really. Which you can get, you know, anywhere, really, for ¥900. That's. It's a lot. Yeah, that's a lot for something kind of basic.
[00:40:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I get that.
[00:40:45] Speaker A: In my opinion. Like, there was apples in it. There's strawberries and blueberries. Like, it was good, but I was kind of like, I could get this anywhere. Like, I. It tastes like I can get it anywhere.
[00:40:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:58] Speaker A: If I want. If one. If I want something fun, I want. I want to get something unique at Disney, not something that I can kind of get anywhere.
[00:41:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:08] Speaker A: With that said, I didn't try the other drinks, so I can't speak to them.
The other one, I can. I don't even remember what the other one was. It didn't interest me.
And the other ones were, like, wines, like a white wine and a red wine based fruit drinks, which I'm like, eh.
[00:41:24] Speaker B: The thing is, it's, like wine and, like, the fruit. Like, it's. It has fruit, but it also has syrup in it. And I'm like, it's, like, really sweet.
[00:41:33] Speaker A: Yeah, it's too much.
So, yeah, that's. That's all the stuff I ate at Disneysea.
[00:41:39] Speaker B: Okay. That's a lot of food, Chris.
[00:41:41] Speaker A: I know. Tell me about it.
But over at Disneyland, Disneyland felt like it had less food. Well, agree. Had less unique food. There was a lot of shared food between the two parks, so I think I mentioned which ones are also available at Disneyland as well. So, like, the steamed bun is also there.
Oh, is that it?
Oh, the pumpkin crepe is also over there.
[00:42:12] Speaker B: Yeah, the pumpkin crepe is there as well.
[00:42:15] Speaker A: The sparkling jelly drink is, too, over there. So, yeah, there's. It shares a couple of things, but I felt like there was less offerings over at Disneyland compared to Disneysea, but.
[00:42:27] Speaker B: Yeah, but cute offering. They do have, like, their own unique, cute offerings, though.
[00:42:32] Speaker A: Yeah. So they're doing.
I guess this is, like, their. Their thing now. The great American Waffle company, they do a seasonal, just one seasonal waffle now. Remember the good old days when they.
[00:42:45] Speaker B: Would have, like, all these different kinds of waffles? Yeah.
[00:42:49] Speaker A: With, like, ice cream and syrups and drizzle, all the fixings and they were half the price.
[00:42:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
There was no line. You could just walk up and buy one.
[00:43:03] Speaker A: I don't understand what happened.
It's so weird because it was a, like, you. You, like, there was always a weight, but it was never this bad.
[00:43:13] Speaker B: It's not. It wasn't. Like this. Yeah.
[00:43:15] Speaker A: And they're like, there's only one waffle now to choose from. Like, they only have one before they had four. Yeah, like, three or four, because you could always get, like, just a plain one with nothing and just some syrup. Or you can get ones with, like, all the fixings and wasn't that much more, but those days are gone. Anyway, great American Waffle company, they have the seasonal one, which is actually really good. It's like, it's still good. It's still a good waffle.
[00:43:39] Speaker B: It's a waffle. You can't go wrong with that. And it looks cute.
[00:43:42] Speaker A: The Mickey waffles. Ours, I like. I think ours are the best out of. Just, like, a standard Mickey waffle. Out of all the Disney parks, I think ours is the best flavor. The outside is always nice and crunchy. The inside is nice and fluffy.
It's. I think it's the perfect waffle. And it's big. Like, it's a big waffle.
[00:44:02] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:44:04] Speaker A: For the Halloween one, they put pumpkin whipped cream in the ears with little chocolate pumpkins on it as well. And it comes with maple syrup.
The pumpkin whipped topping is very light and very light in its pumpkin flavor, but I think that works, and I quite enjoyed it. I think last year's was like a chestnuthen, I believe Chester.
[00:44:30] Speaker B: I can see that.
[00:44:31] Speaker A: Let's see. They went with pumpkin, which I'm not. I'm not mad at. I think it was really good. The only thing is, like we mentioned, there's a wait. There's always a wait. Like, I think I waited 30 to 45 minutes for this. Yeah, the app said it was gonna be 70 minutes, but I didn't wait that long.
But there's no reservations. There's, like, there's no mobile. No mobile ordering anything like that. You just have to queue up. So kind of have to decide, like, what you. How you want to work that in. I wouldn't sacrifice waiting to get a waffle first thing in the morning if that means you're not going to get on, like, beating the beast or something, to be in the beast first, do the big rides first.
[00:45:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:17] Speaker A: And get the waffle later. The weight doesn't really die down all day either, which is kind of a shame.
[00:45:23] Speaker B: I wish I could open another location or something.
[00:45:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, make another. I don't know, do another one. Offer it somewhere else.
[00:45:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:31] Speaker A: I'm not sure they need to do something because. Yeah, that, like, the waffle's good, but it's not, like 90.
[00:45:37] Speaker B: Not like waiting 45 minutes. Good. You know what I mean?
[00:45:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:42] Speaker A: Like, it's one of those where it's like, okay, I can wait 1015 minutes like that.
[00:45:46] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:45:47] Speaker A: That's a reasonable amount of time. Anything more than half an hour, I'm like, okay, like, I'm starting to question my sanity here with what I'm doing with my time. Yeah. I hope they figure something out with that, because. Yeah. Do you remember when they had the mini, the mini waffles and the little takeout container? Do you remember those?
[00:46:05] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:46:07] Speaker A: That was at both parks, too. You could just go to that about a bunch of restaurants. Like, I don't care that they weren't fresh.
[00:46:14] Speaker B: Like, they were made freshen. I think those are perfect. They're, like, bite size, because, like, if you weren't that hungry, too, because, like you said, the Mickey waffle is pretty big, you know?
So those are, like, perfect.
[00:46:27] Speaker A: It was nice having, like, the little. I think it was, like, four or five. And the perfect snack amount. I think Mickey waffles are pretty much a meal in itself.
[00:46:36] Speaker B: Mm hmm.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
Over at La Tavern des Gaston, they have the special berry cheers, which was grape and raspberry.
[00:46:49] Speaker B: Those are good flavors, and it was good.
[00:46:52] Speaker A: I really enjoyed it. It was. It was good.
[00:46:55] Speaker B: The price is not bad either.
[00:46:57] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. For ¥600 for a specialty drink, that's not bad.
It wasn't overly sweet. I love grape.
I'm like, I. Raspberry is not my first choice, but when it's paired with something, I'm fine with it.
[00:47:12] Speaker B: Yeah. I like this great flavor and has.
[00:47:16] Speaker A: Like, it's like, it's not whipped cream, but it's, like, kind of a creamy.
Like, they put a creamy top on it.
[00:47:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:26] Speaker A: Which I'm not sure what that's made out of besides sugar.
Like, it's like, it's not whipped cream. You know, it's almost like, you know when they put, like, um.
Uh, when, like, someone's making a latte, it kind of.
[00:47:40] Speaker B: It's like the layer.
[00:47:42] Speaker A: Yeah, it's almost like foam. That's a good. That's a good way to describe it. It's. It's not foam, but it's kind of like foam.
It's, like, in between foam and whipped cream. It's very strange. I don't know what the. I don't know what you're saying, what it is exactly. But, hey, it tastes good, so. Sure. I'll take it. Yeah.
Really quickly, about the tavern des Gaston, you know they changed the menu recently, right?
[00:48:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:48:06] Speaker A: And I was so mad because that. The french toast and.
French toast and cheese. Cheese chicken sandwich.
[00:48:15] Speaker B: That was so good.
[00:48:17] Speaker A: So good. I was so mad. They got rid of it and they replaced it with this assortment plate, which I was kind of mad at.
[00:48:24] Speaker B: Oh, wait, I think. I think I tried the assortment plate. Wait, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't.
[00:48:30] Speaker A: You know, it wasn't.
[00:48:32] Speaker B: It wasn't the same as, like, the freaking sandwich, which was so good.
[00:48:37] Speaker A: So.
And then also they replaced the croissant sandwich with the sausage with bone. Remember that? Like.
[00:48:51] Speaker B: It makes me so angry, Chris.
And not only was the menu good, but you could actually get into that restaurant without, like, too much of a. Wait anyway, you know?
So, like, it was great when you were on the go and you wanted something and you wanted it to, like, it was gonna taste good, and you knew you could get seating, and they changed the menu.
So annoying.
[00:49:16] Speaker A: So they. Yeah, so they. Those two mini items were taken out and switched, so now they have a croque monsieur sandwich, which I have.
[00:49:24] Speaker B: Crook Monsieur anywhere?
[00:49:26] Speaker A: Pretty much. Yeah. I haven't tried that one yet. But I did try the assorted plate a few weeks ago, and like you said, it's not bad.
I was expecting to hate it.
[00:49:39] Speaker B: I was thinking, like, it's gonna be.
[00:49:40] Speaker A: Terrible, but actually it wasn't bad.
[00:49:43] Speaker B: It was like, all right. I.
[00:49:45] Speaker A: Well, I think what, like, upset me the most was like, guys, this is a hot dog.
But, okay, to be fair, though, the hot dogs. I'm putting air quotations. The hot dogs at Tokyo Disney aren't really hot dogs. They're more sausages.
[00:50:02] Speaker B: Yeah, that's true.
[00:50:03] Speaker A: In Japan. So there's, like, a lot more seasoning in them and their sausages.
[00:50:08] Speaker B: Unless it's, like, at the hot dog place, and then it's a hot dog.
[00:50:12] Speaker A: Yeah. So, like, usually they kind of blur the line between what it. What they consider hot dog.
You know, compared to people like us from North America, hot dog is like, we have a. Like, an image of what a hot dog is. Right.
This is not that, but I know. I'm going on complete tangent. It's not Halloween related, but I'm gonna talk about it anyway. So the assorted plate, it comes with a hot dog, which is basically just a sausage, which. The sausage is really good, by the way.
[00:50:40] Speaker B: It's good. Yeah.
[00:50:41] Speaker A: The bun is not just a bun. It's a pretzel bun. Which. Pretzel bun, which was surprisingly really good. I just wish there was salt on it. They didn't put salt on it. When I see a pretzel. I think of, like, salt.
[00:50:54] Speaker B: There should have been salt.
[00:50:55] Speaker A: There should have been salt on it. That's what I was missing.
[00:50:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:50:59] Speaker A: But then it also came with chicken. Like, a chicken on the bone, and the chicken skin was actually pretty good. Like, it was seasoned really nicely.
[00:51:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:51:10] Speaker A: What was the other thing? I don't know what the other thing was. I'm gonna look it up really quickly on the app here, because you can conveniently look these up on the app.
What was the other item? Was it potatoes?
[00:51:24] Speaker B: No.
[00:51:27] Speaker A: It's gonna bother me if I don't figure out what it is. It's gonna bother me.
Yeah. We're both looking. Let's go really quickly.
Tap, tap, tap.
Just tapping here.
Oh, my God. It's bothering me. I should have wrote this down ahead of time, but, hey, no, I cannot remember.
[00:51:50] Speaker B: My brain is mush.
[00:51:52] Speaker A: Yes. I think it's a gratin.
[00:51:55] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:51:58] Speaker A: Oh, it's a ratatouille and potato gratinous.
[00:52:00] Speaker B: Oh, yes.
[00:52:04] Speaker A: That was actually pretty decent. Yeah, it wasn't bad.
[00:52:09] Speaker B: It's all right.
[00:52:11] Speaker A: Like, I'm not completely upset at it, because it actually tastes pretty decent.
I was expecting to hate it, to be quite honest, but it's actually decent.
[00:52:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:52:23] Speaker A: I would have preferred that they kept the old menu, but 100%.
Here we are. I will have to go back and try the other item, though, to get a full verdict on all that. But that's on a Halloween item. It's going to be there for the next few years.
I'm always curious as to why they changed this. Did the supplier change? Maybe something happened where they couldn't really source.
[00:52:47] Speaker B: I don't know. I feel like it's probably more expensive.
[00:52:51] Speaker A: Probably? Yeah. Like, a french toast is more expensive than a hot dog.
[00:52:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
No, but, like, maybe.
[00:53:03] Speaker A: Who knows?
[00:53:04] Speaker B: Because the hot dog, they have, like, you. They have probably. They use it in other things. You know?
[00:53:11] Speaker A: I'm sure you've noticed they can, like.
[00:53:13] Speaker B: Buy it in bulk.
[00:53:14] Speaker A: You know, they've been using a lot of the same base foods for a.
[00:53:17] Speaker B: Lot of the restaurants, and just crazy. And it's, like, all over. You just find them, like, made in.
[00:53:21] Speaker A: A different way, kind of like the chicken. Like, the. The tandoori chicken just magically left the Casbah food court, because that was the only place you can get it. But now it's, like, there's a version of it. At the New York deli, there's a version of it.
[00:53:37] Speaker B: It's good. It's fine, you know? And it's good that, you know, they're, you know, using. You know, they're using it, but, like, just, you know, some of, like, for, like, the. The beauty and the beastland, those were really nice, like, food items that were just at that location, and it was, like, so nice, and it kind of, like, fit the theme, and it was, like. It was kind of lovely, you know?
[00:53:58] Speaker A: Yeah, it's true.
But let's move on. Let's move on from that. Let's keep going there at Grandma Sarah's. Grandma Sarah's always has very hearty food. I've said this countless times on the podcast.
The thing with grandma Sarah's and her special sets is sometimes grandma doesn't nail it.
[00:54:18] Speaker B: Sometimes it's not grandma thinking.
[00:54:21] Speaker A: Sometimes the stuff is not great, thankfully. So last year's version, I don't. Was it the Halloween version or was it the Minnie Mouse event version? I don't remember. But there was a version of her special, like, omelette meal that she did that was just not good. I didn't like it. It was kind of. It was so bland. Yeah, it was terrible. But, no, this one is really tasty. So this is omelette over rice with meatballs with mushroom cream sauce on it. And it comes with a pumpkin cake and a drink as well.
[00:54:58] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:54:59] Speaker A: It was incredibly hearty, and I don't know why they called it an omelet. This thing was definitely not an omelet. It was definitely scrambled eggs.
[00:55:10] Speaker B: Oh, no, really?
[00:55:11] Speaker A: It was very. It was, like, the runniest omelette I've ever seen in my life. But that's what it was supposed to be.
[00:55:18] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:55:19] Speaker A: So it was, like, it. It was loosely an omelet, but it was kind of, like. It kind of worked with, like, the mushroom cream sauce.
[00:55:29] Speaker B: I like a mushroom cream sauce.
[00:55:32] Speaker A: It was. It was quite hearty, especially with the. The meatballs and stuff, and then the sweetness of the. Like, they had sliced kabul chop on it.
[00:55:40] Speaker B: Yeah, that's good. I just feel like, visually, it's not super appealing.
[00:55:46] Speaker A: No, it was not visually appealing at all.
[00:55:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:55:50] Speaker A: But it tasted really good. And it's very mushroom forward, so if you're someone that doesn't like mushrooms, you're not gonna like this there. They have, like, bits of mushroom, like, full things of, like, the little mushrooms.
[00:56:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:56:03] Speaker A: And that's, like.
It's very fall. It's a very fall flavored dish. Very hearty. I really enjoyed it.
And the portion size is quite big, so you can definitely share this with between two people.
[00:56:20] Speaker B: True.
[00:56:21] Speaker A: And it's on the more expensive end, it's about 2040 japanese yen, which is about 14, $15 roughly. Um, but that also comes with the pumpkin cake. The pumpkin cake is really good too.
[00:56:36] Speaker B: Yeah, the pumpkin cake looks good.
[00:56:39] Speaker A: Um, it does have a Mont blanc on it, but I didn't mind it because it wasn't just because, you know, like, Mont Blanc. Some of the cakes would be like, it's just Mont Blanc and, like, a little bit of cream on the bottom. So this is like, Mont Blanc was just kind of on the top, and then the rest was like some cake and some whipped cream and, like, there was a lot of flavors going on, which I enjoyed.
[00:57:00] Speaker B: Okay, sounds good.
[00:57:01] Speaker A: Yeah. So Grandma Sarah got it right this time, in my humble opinion.
[00:57:07] Speaker B: Good job, grandma.
[00:57:09] Speaker A: And also, what I like about Grandma Sarah's, which I'm sure we've talked about this before, it is probably the best restaurant at Disneyland during a hot day.
[00:57:22] Speaker B: Oh, for sure.
[00:57:23] Speaker A: Eating inside, it is so dim because you're in a burrow. So it's nice and cold and you're out of the sun.
[00:57:32] Speaker B: And in the winter, it feels very cozy.
[00:57:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Because it's nice and warm in there. It's just like, it's probably the coziest restaurant out of all of them. It's just, it very, feels very homely.
[00:57:46] Speaker B: It does. It feels like, very, like home cooked. And also, I feel like if you're there with like, as like a family and you have small kids, like, grandma Sarah's is like one of the go to's because it always has things that kids want to eat and like, it's a super cute, like, they'll, like, they'll be eating, but they'll also be looking at all the cute little, like, house. Little mini houses around them in the tree and stuff. And it's like, really adorable.
[00:58:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
It's a really well themed restaurant, I think.
[00:58:15] Speaker B: Or if you're like my child, you go to the window that's overlooking haunted mansion and you pretend to be a ghost and scare people.
[00:58:22] Speaker A: That's also there too. That's fun. That's a fun one. Also. I like going there. So sometimes if, like, obviously to get out of the heat, but if I have a headache. If I have a headache, yes. That's a good place to go because you're, you're out of the sunlight. It's very dim in there. Yeah, it's perfect. If you need to, like, if you're sensitive to light or something, like you have headache or whatever, it's a really good place to go.
[00:58:46] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:58:48] Speaker A: The next food item. This is probably one of my. My go tos, one of my favorites.
[00:58:53] Speaker B: This is like a classic.
[00:58:56] Speaker A: It's at rackety raccoon saloon, but they also have it available without all the fixings.
Also at, I think, squeezers juice bar in Adventureland.
I can't. I can't remember if it's at Disneysea or not, but I. Anyway, it's the Halloween Sunday, and it has pumpkin soft serve, and I freaking love the pumpkin soft serve.
[00:59:21] Speaker B: It's so good.
[00:59:22] Speaker A: It's. It's a classic. They've had it forever, and it is delicious. It is so good.
Again, this is kabucha, not, like japanese pumpkin. It's not the pumpkin that you're thinking of when I say pumpkin. So it's not gonna taste what you think it's gonna taste like if you've never had capuchin.
[00:59:40] Speaker B: It's not gonna be like, pumpkin spice.
[00:59:42] Speaker A: No, it's not like that whatsoever. It's more. It's more of a. Yeah. Like a nuttier, sweet, smooth flavor. It's. Yeah, it's so good.
[00:59:52] Speaker B: It's so good.
[00:59:53] Speaker A: I love getting the Halloween sundae because there's just so much going on. So they have the. Obviously, the pumpkin sauce syrup, but then on the bottom, they have, like, granola and chocolate on the bottom of it, which is really nice. Give it some nice, like, crunch. Um, they put the pumpkin churro on it. I do not like the pumpkin churro. I think it's terrible.
[01:00:13] Speaker B: I like it.
[01:00:14] Speaker A: I don't like it. I don't.
[01:00:15] Speaker B: I just don't like it.
[01:00:17] Speaker A: I'm sorry. I don't.
[01:00:18] Speaker B: No, it's okay. I know. I totally understand.
[01:00:21] Speaker A: I just don't like it. But I will tolerate it inside my favorite sundae. It's, like, in the context of the sundae, it's fine. I would not get it on its own. I would not go out of my way.
[01:00:33] Speaker B: Fair enough.
[01:00:34] Speaker A: But I know there's people like you that do enjoy it, and I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna knock you for, like.
[01:00:39] Speaker B: If you don't like it, that's a. That's, you know, that's valid.
[01:00:43] Speaker A: I don't know.
[01:00:43] Speaker B: I just don't think there's a lot of people that don't like it. You know, I get it. I totally get it.
[01:00:48] Speaker A: But if, like, if you don't want the Sunday version, if you go to the squeezers juice bar, they just have it as just a soft serve by.
[01:00:55] Speaker B: Itself, which is also good. But, man, get the. If you can't, if you. If you have the time, get the sun at the saloon. Yes.
[01:01:03] Speaker A: It's at the exit. Like, it's kind of hard to find a. It's at the exit of splash mountain. Like, you have to go all the way to the back of critter country. That's the only place that they have it.
But, yeah, the. The squeezers juice bar has, like, they have just the pumpkin saucer, but then they also have the swirl, which is the pumpkin, and the milk, which is actually pretty good, too.
But I just prefer the full on just pumpkin.
[01:01:27] Speaker B: Just give me the you. And I don't like the milk sauce.
[01:01:30] Speaker A: No, that's too mild. But, like, okay, so in the context of, like, chocolate and milk, like, that swirl that they do in the summer, I'm fine with that. Like, that's fine. But with anything else, no, thank you.
[01:01:44] Speaker B: Like, yeah, no, thanks. It's all right.
[01:01:51] Speaker A: Then over at the refreshment corner, there's a hot dog. They always have a hot dog. Like, this is, like, the definition of a hot dog.
It has a sweet chili and meat sauce with, like, some drizzled, like, cheese sauce on it.
[01:02:08] Speaker B: It sounds good, but messy.
[01:02:10] Speaker A: It's very messy. It's kind of, like, as it's described, if there's some sweet chili and meat sauce on it with a little bit of cheese, it tastes exactly how you think it's gonna taste, which is, I guess, not a bad thing.
It's. It's very safe in its flavor. Like, it's not bad, but it's not gonna. Like, there's not a lot of flavor profiles as compared to, like, the other stuff that we talked about.
[01:02:35] Speaker B: Um, it also doesn't feel, like, super autumn, although I think it's just, like, a popular thing right now. Like, a chili hot dog. You see it a lot more everywhere.
[01:02:46] Speaker A: Also, I. It's. It's. It's part of the Halloween event, but the packaging wasn't Halloween themed, which is, I was a little disappointed in. Oh. Usually things are part of the event, are themed. Like, the packaging is themed. This one was not. So I don't know if they ran out, which is a possibility they could have ran out, or it's just not themed. I don't know what the deal is with it.
[01:03:07] Speaker B: I wonder.
[01:03:09] Speaker A: But also, at the refreshment corner, this is where they have.
They have a lot of the, like, the souvenir plates and stuff.
[01:03:19] Speaker B: Mm hmm.
[01:03:19] Speaker A: It's like they.
They carry all the Halloween ones there, too.
Um, I didn't put on the list because I didn't try it because I. It looked terrible. Um, the sandwich from sweetheart Cafe blah. No, I skipped it because they're more miss than hits most of the time, especially recently.
[01:03:42] Speaker B: Like, probably they just get people because it's close to the entrance. You know what I mean?
[01:03:47] Speaker A: It's just. I don't know.
[01:03:49] Speaker B: It's not super appealing.
[01:03:51] Speaker A: No, this one was a ham and pumpkin salad with keema curry.
[01:03:54] Speaker B: And I love keema curry, you know, but it just looked really, like, not amazing.
[01:04:02] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, mixed with, like, the ham and the pumpkin salad and the keema curry.
[01:04:06] Speaker B: There's, like, so much happening at one time.
[01:04:09] Speaker A: It's. I didn't. I just didn't want to do it because the last two seasonal sandwiches I had, there were not for me at all. Like, there was, like, a shrimp and avocado one they did one time.
Didn't like it. It was gross. And then they did another one, which was kind of like, eh, whatever. So I didn't even bother with this one. It's just.
I didn't want to do it. I just didn't want to do it, period.
[01:04:35] Speaker B: But, like, on the other end, the east side cafe menu looked really cute and, like, super ethnic aesthetic.
[01:04:43] Speaker A: This was really good. Yeah. So I decided to do a counter or table service restaurant, because I tend to skip them. Um, just mostly for time's sake, because table service restaurant does take up extra time. Um, but I decided since I was, like, skipping the refreshment corner, and I also skipped, um, the Plaza pavilion.
[01:05:03] Speaker B: That one did not look good.
[01:05:05] Speaker A: Yeah, it was. It was very seafood heavy.
[01:05:08] Speaker B: I like seafood, but I'm like.
[01:05:11] Speaker A: It didn't scream Halloween to me.
[01:05:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:05:15] Speaker A: Let me just pull it up again. I think it was like a seafood.
[01:05:17] Speaker B: It's like a. Like some kind of a stew.
[01:05:20] Speaker A: It looks like it was like a seafood. Oh, yeah, it was like a seafood. Oh. Fettuccine with smoked salmon and mushroom cream.
[01:05:27] Speaker B: Sauce with a purpose butter. I don't like the presentation at all.
[01:05:32] Speaker A: Yeah. And a vegetable quiche. Like, it just. It just didn't appeal to me.
[01:05:35] Speaker B: Mmm. So I think you made the good choice, because the east side cafe looks really good.
[01:05:42] Speaker A: Yeah. So the Halloween portion was like a pork rilettes. I had to look that up. I've never seen that word before, and I've never had it before, so I had to look up what it was, and it's effectively like a pork paste.
I've never had that before. So it was like this little black cone filled with that.
[01:06:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:06:04] Speaker A: And then a bunch of other stuff on the top. And it had a little tortilla that looked like maleficent's horns. Yeah, it was very well put together. And then it had, like, an eel, um, eel on top of, uh, I think it was. I think it was eggplant or something with, um, vinaigrette sauce on it. And it had a spinach frittata on it.
Whole thing was really delicious. The eel was probably the least favorite part of mine, but again, I'm not a big seafood person, but I still ate the eel. Um, that was really. It was really nice. And then the main, like, that was, like, the appetizer.
[01:06:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:06:42] Speaker A: Then the main was a grilled beef. Grilled beef steak. And it was. It was very. It was basically a flank steak. Like, a very thin cut of steak. Definitely wasn't the best steak I've ever had in my entire life.
I wouldn't even say it was in my top five, but it was still decent.
Usually. What? Yeah, usually what Eastside cafe does with their seasonal menus is, like, they'll have, like, the grilled beef. Like, it's usually what's always on there. And then the appetizer is what changes for the seasonal stuff. So grat beef is usually always there.
[01:07:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
I'm looking at the squid and the.
What is it?
[01:07:36] Speaker A: Oh, the pasta.
[01:07:37] Speaker B: The pasta looks really good.
[01:07:40] Speaker A: Yeah, the pasta was more Halloween themed.
[01:07:43] Speaker B: Yeah. The black tortoise, the way they have the muscles sticking out, it also looks like it could be, like, little horns.
[01:07:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Black tagalini.
[01:07:51] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[01:07:53] Speaker A: But seafood, tomato sauce. I knew I wouldn't like that. Because it's all seafood.
[01:07:56] Speaker B: It is all seafood. Yeah.
[01:07:58] Speaker A: I would not have cared for that.
[01:08:00] Speaker B: So that's why I totally get it.
[01:08:02] Speaker A: Yeah. So the grilled steak was kind of like, it's there. It's fine.
Yeah. Overall, though, like, the presentation on it was very elegant with really pretty. It was really good. Yeah, I really I really enjoyed that. The whole thing was ¥3800, which is about $27 roughly. So it's like, it's table service price.
[01:08:26] Speaker B: Did you try the cocktail smoothie, like, the really bright, like, bright green?
[01:08:37] Speaker A: No, it looks really cute.
[01:08:41] Speaker B: It looks at troubadour tavern.
[01:08:46] Speaker A: Oh, I did not see that. See, I've kind of. I haven't been drinking alcohol lately.
[01:08:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, that's true.
[01:08:54] Speaker A: So that's probably why I didn't look at. Oh, yeah.
[01:08:56] Speaker B: It just looks really vibrant.
[01:08:58] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Very green, very orange.
[01:09:01] Speaker B: It kind of reminds me of, like, I wonder why they don't have this, like, next to buzz Lightyear. Because I feel like with them closing the attraction soon, it's really cute.
[01:09:09] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, rum, tea, jelly, and apple. Oh, that sounds pretty good. Usually those are very strong too. I've had them, like, in the past. They're usually pretty strong for small little drink.
[01:09:23] Speaker B: And you don't want to get, like, sleepy at Disneyland.
[01:09:26] Speaker A: No, definitely not. Absolutely not.
Yeah, that was all the different food that I tried at the park.
[01:09:38] Speaker B: The other thing that I thought looked really good was, like, the special corset, Magellan's, and. And dicanaletto looked really yummy.
[01:09:45] Speaker A: Yes. I kind of want to try them before the season's over.
[01:09:48] Speaker B: It's so hard to get reservations now, though.
[01:09:52] Speaker A: So they've done.
I forgot to talk about this. They've been allowing a lot more standby now.
[01:10:02] Speaker B: Oh, really good. Yeah.
[01:10:03] Speaker A: So, like, for Eastside Cafe, there was no more reservations left on the app.
[01:10:08] Speaker B: Mm hmm.
[01:10:08] Speaker A: But when we. We asked them, can we wait in stem? But, like, yeah, you can. It's gonna be about 30 minutes. We waited ten.
[01:10:15] Speaker B: I'm so glad, because, like, that was something that was, like, such a pain, you know?
[01:10:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I've been doing that more. And even, like, this wasn't related to Halloween. But last week, I also went and I did stand by for restaurant Hokusai. Again, there was zero reservations left on the app, but they did take standby, and I waited about 20 minutes.
[01:10:38] Speaker B: That's great. That makes me so happy.
[01:10:40] Speaker A: Yeah, cuz. Cuz, yeah. Remember, like, I think it was, like, 2021 to 2022.
It was like, if you didn't have a reservation, they weren't gonna let you in.
[01:10:50] Speaker B: Yeah, there was no standby.
[01:10:51] Speaker A: There was no standby. Or the standby was just, like, ridiculously long. Or they cut it off. Now it looks like they're just like, if you want to wait, they'll let you wait, which is nice, because getting a reservation is just such a pain in the butt.
[01:11:06] Speaker B: It really is for restaurant reservations.
[01:11:08] Speaker A: So just know that, like, I obviously haven't tried this, all the restaurants, but it looks like a lot of them. Just if you go into the app, it'll tell you what the wait time is for. All the restaurants, like, table service included, which is nice.
[01:11:24] Speaker B: That's a really wonderful update to hear about.
[01:11:27] Speaker A: Yeah, that makes me very happy. I need to try it with Magellan's. I haven't tried it with there, there yet, and that might be a different case, but we'll see.
I haven't been to Magellan so long. I need to go back. I miss also like, what's it called? Teddy Roosevelt lounge. I stopped going. I haven't gone in years.
[01:11:46] Speaker B: They destroyed the menu there.
[01:11:48] Speaker A: Well, that too. But also, it was just, again, it was that time where it's like, if you didn't have a reservation, you weren't getting it.
[01:11:54] Speaker B: No, yeah, that's true.
[01:11:55] Speaker A: So I need. I need to go back and just try. Like, can I just wait? Like, I don't mind waiting. If I. If I have the option to wait, I will wait.
[01:12:04] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah.
[01:12:05] Speaker A: Like, being told no, but who do. I mean? Who.
[01:12:10] Speaker B: I mean, it's just about choices. It's about having choices, you know?
[01:12:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, okay, I could wait an hour to eat here. Okay. Do I want to do that? Sure. Why not?
[01:12:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Because I like to have, like, a sit down, like, course menu at Disney, you know? But, like, if it's impossible to get into, it's just, like, a bummer, you know? So I'm. This makes me really, really happy to hear.
[01:12:34] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a nice, positive thing.
So, yeah. Remember, the menu is running until November 7, and then right after that, we go right into Christmas.
[01:12:46] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. So fast.
[01:12:48] Speaker A: You get to do this all over again.
But before we go, we want to thank some wonderful explorers that are supporting us over on Patreon. So if you want to support the show, you can head on over to patreon.com tdr now. So a big thank you to acro Disney girl. Adam, Amanda, c. Amy b. Amy, c. Mama. Explore, Benjamin, Brent m. Carrie, Chris b. Claire, Claudia, Dave, David, Baker, Kevin, Harry, Marina, Beth, Eli, Abby, Robinson, and Taylor, and.
[01:13:15] Speaker B: And Jamie, Jose, Kathy, Lee, Marie, Michelle, Murray, Sophie, Spoopy, Thomas K. Alexandra, Lizzie, Amy, and Andy, Dana, Cassandra, Annie, Sonia, WW page, and Tara.
[01:13:26] Speaker A: And if you haven't already, make sure you hit that subscribe or follow button on your podcast app of choice. That way you don't miss any of our newest episodes, and you can stay up to date with everything. Theme parks over on this side of the world. I'm one of your hosts, Chris. I am the one that eats a lot of. That is no secret whatsoever. And forever dreaming of my delicious pumpkin soft serve. And joining us always is the wonderful Patricia.
[01:13:54] Speaker B: Oh, my God. I want pumpkin soft serve, too.
But now I want to try the sweet potato one because it looks really cool.
[01:14:02] Speaker A: Yes. Go try it.
[01:14:03] Speaker B: I might. I actually might because I like Halloween. So we might go over there, you guys. Let us know how your Halloween adventures are going and keep exploring.
[01:14:16] Speaker A: All right, explorer. See you in the next one. Bye.
