food review

Dining at Disney: Cinderella’s Royal Table

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For those of you who didn’t know, my husband and I are DISNEY JUNKIES.

Seriously, we’re at the parks almost every weekend. Epcot is our favorite – especially during the Food & Wine or Flower & Garden festivals – but we’ve been recently rediscovering the cuisine of Magic Kingdom and I have to admit we’ve been pleasantly surprised.

Last week was our ninth wedding anniversary (cue the “Awwwwws!”), so I surprised him with reservations at Cinderella’s Royal Table, located in the beautiful castle the park is so famous for!

Let it be known, Cinderella’s Royal Table is not something you can do impulsively: you have to book reservations MONTHS in advance, and even then you can’t guarantee you’ll get an ideal time slot. I booked almost three months in advance, and managed to get a 10:15pm reservation for dinner. Not ideal dining time, but beggars can’t be choosers.

There are some caveats to keep in mind with dining at Cinderella’s Royal Table:

  • You pre-pay for dinner. It’s roughly $75 per person, but that covers a soft drink, appetizer, entree, and dessert, plus tax and gratuity.
  • It’s a pre-fix menu, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
  • If you don’t like being visited by Disney princesses in full costume throughout your meal, this is not the place for you.
  • NO ALCOHOL. (boooo)

That being said, I was very impressed by the food quality, presentation, and overall experience!

The Menu at Cinderella's Royal Table

The Menu at Cinderella’s Royal Table

The appetizer selection was a bit small – but the cheese tray was scrumptious and my husband said his sea-scallop compote was very nicely plated and surprisingly flavorful.

The dinner entrees, however, were STELLAR. We both enjoyed the filet and shrimp and, though again small portions, they were perfectly cooked and the tenderness of the steak was downright impressive.

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Seriously, this may be small, but it packed a ton of flavor. And the shrimp is almost as wide as the steak!

I was so tickled to see how many gluten-free and allergy-sensitive options they had! They offered vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and diet conscious choices, which was honestly very impressive.

Of course, since we were celebrating our anniversary, we didn’t really follow our normal diets (we both stick closely to Paleo), but rather we enjoyed the bread basket (so delicious!), and got whatever dessert sounded best.

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Almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

I tried the flourless chocolate cake (I can’t resist chocolate) and he tried the seasonal dessert, which turned out to be a delicious strawberry cheesecake I ate too quickly to take a picture of – whoops!

All in all, I would definitely recommend Cinderella’s Royal Table to anyone looking for some fine-dining on Disney property with all the fun of a character meet-and-greet. The food was worth the expense (unlike some of the other dining options, which are egregiously overpriced), and the ambiance was lovely.

Naturally, we took lots and lots of photos with the princesses.

 

P.S. It’s probably not a surprise (based on these photos), but we did enjoy a few drinks at Epcot before heading over. Hey, we were celebrating, so it’s 100% acceptable.

On that note… bon appetit, my friends!

Tori

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My New Obsession: Rudi’s Original Gluten-Free Bread

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Despite staying under 1,300 calories per day and working out 5-6 days per week, my weight has creeped up a tiny bit this week. I’m back up to 135.8 as of this morning.

I’m not freaking out, though, as there are a lot of factors contributing to it:

  • I’ve doubled up on strength workouts. And we all know that muscle weighs more than fat. Cheeky bastard, that muscle tissue.
  • Don’t want to get into TMI-territory, but I’m at the special time in a lady’s cycle that causes her to eat chocolate, cry unnecessarily, and gain a lot of water weight. And punch people. Yeaaaaah, punch people.
  • I’ve discovered the most delicious “cheat food” in the world: Rudi’s Original Gluten Free Bread!
Can I pull a Lady Gaga and make a dress out of this? I want to just roll around in a massive pile of this bread and eat my way out of it.

Can I pull a Lady Gaga and make a dress out of this? I want to just roll around in a massive pile of this bread and eat my way out of it.

Seriously, this sh*t is crack to me.

Last week, as I perused the aisles of Publix, bored and hungry, I happened to spot a beloved BOGO sale in the frozen section for the bread. Normally, I try to stick with my Paleo-approved coconut bread from Julian’s Bakery, but at $6.99 per loaf and $15 shipping (not to mention a six loaf minimum order!), I haven’t been able to restock lately. Not that I don’t like $12 turkey sandwiches packed into my lunch-pal and all, but for $4.99 for TWO LOAVES of this Rudi’s Original Gluten-Free (plus dairy and soy free!) bread, I decided to try it out (and excuse the fact that it included the forbidden rice flour) this one time.

Best decision ever.

Skeptical as I was, I decided to have my first slice of this bread on Monday night as I ate my leftover pasta (miracle noodle) dish from the weekend. I toasted a single slice (90 calories, 17g carbs) in the toaster over and used it to lap up the remaining tomato sauce.

HOLY CRAP.

This bread has a fluffy, wonderful Wonder-bread (sinful!) texture and the flavor of the ever-fattening picnic staple: POTATO bread. It melts on your tongue with a very buttery flavor – which explains the 90 calories per slice – and I could barely stop myself from wolfing the slice down in three bites.

Rudi’s, you’ve outdone yourself here. This is the BEST gluten-free product I’ve had so far. It perfectly replaces the texture and flavor of even the richest glutinous bread and I feel no depravity using this for a sandwich over any other freshly-baked option out there.

Needless to say, I sent my husband out to buy SIX MORE LOAVES (come on, they’re BOGO – I’m not being obsessive) to stock up my freezer and I’ve been eating 1-2 slices daily this whole week. Considering I’m normally VERY low on my sugars, this could be a contributing factor to my two pound weight gain so far this week.

You know what?

The bread is damn worth it.

Even though the BOGO sale at Publix is over, I did find a $1.00 off coupon for it (you’re welcome!) in case any of my readers now feel compelled to test it out. I promise, you won’t be sorry. DELICIOUS!

Bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori