Seven Seas Food Festival Preview

Check out some of the amazing food and drinks coming to the Seven Seas Food Festival at SeaWorld Orlando!

On Saturday SeaWorld allowed annual pass holders to sample a few dishes from the upcoming Seven Seas Food Festival. This festival will feature 60 unique dishes from 11 global regions, 55 craft beers from both local and international brewers, wine, and specialty cocktails.

The event is replacing, and in many ways, combining two other events at SeaWorld; Bands, Brew, and BBQ and the Viva La Musica. Have no fear, executive chef Hector Colon assures that everything you love about these events will be incorporated in the new event. The Seven Seas Menu will be available all 14 Saturdays, however, Bands, Brew and BBQ favorites will also be available during the first portion of Seven Seas and Viva La Musica favorites will be added the last four Saturdays. These include both the flavors and live concerts of the previous events. After the preview, I am even more excited for this event! First let’s look at the preview menus.

After the preview, I am even more excited for this event! First, let’s look at the preview menus.

Food Menu:

Braised Short Ribs with Jalapeno Corn Grits, Candied Smoked Bacon, Aged Balsamic Demi and Crispy Fried Onion Strings: Do yourself a favor, make sure your first bite has some of each component, you won’t regret it. While the jalapeno flavor comes through if you taste the grits alone, this dish is not spicy

Dark Chocolate Guinness Mousse Parfait with Baileys Infused Whipped Cream: Fluffy mousse with the after taste of Guinness. Many guests felt like this lacked a small garnish, possibly a tart berry however even without a tart garnish the dish was incredible.

Bacon and Hushpuppies Cornmeal Fritters with Honey Butter: Heavy and a touch on the greasy side but still well worth it. Some guests I spoke to noticed that some of the bites seemed to lack actual bacon but still had a good bacon flavor.

Grilled Venison Sausage Slider with Caramelized Red Onions, Sweet Red Peppers, and Whole Grain Mustard:  Sweet peppers and spicy mustard combine to fantastic layers of flavor for this slider. Certainly, a must try. It is also available without mustard if that is your preference.

Corn on the Cob with Cheese: I personally was not able to try this dish however it was well received by the guests. Grab a knife with it, the cob is cut in half length ways which made it difficult to eat.

Churrasco Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimichurri and Garbanzo Frito:  The other of two dishes that I was not able to try myself. Guests I spoke to described the steak as “Very tender” and “well matched with both the garbanzo and chimichurri flavors”

Shrimp Cake with Jicama Slaw & Key Lime Mustard: First thing to come to my mind my “tangy perfection”. The perfect amount of lime to compliment the jicama and shrimp.

Grilled Cheese Pound Cake with Cheddar Cheese & Raspberry Sauce: Despite my initial hesitate this was absolutely my favorite dish of the preview. The sauce, albeit on the sweet side, is an incredible compliment to the cheddar cheese. Every trip I guarantee I will be buying one of these.

Alcohol Menu

Watermelon Slushy with Soja, Ginger Liqueur: Well balanced flavors without the ginger overpowering.

Frozen Lagoon Punch with Lychee Liqueur:  Strong lychee flavor mixed with citrus flavors.

Sangria: Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions are available at different stations.

Along with a wide variety of wines and beers including some local Florida breweries.

Believe me, you’re going to want to skip breakfast on event days to leave room for more dishes. After 5 food and 1 drink sample, I found myself very full. Pass holders, make sure you stop by the Wild Arctic gift shop each visit to be scanned, three visits to the event will get you a free mason jar glass with the event logo, while supplies last.

Price Points for samples, which are ample sized, will range between $4.75 and $6 for most items. I feel that these prices are very reasonable. Samples can be purchased individually or you can purchase a discount lanyard. Lanyards will get you either 12 samples for $40 or 15 samples for $50. If you are a pass holder your discounts apply to any individually purchased dishes.

Executive chef Hector Colon also said during the preview that all foods at the park, including the entire menu for the Seven Seas Food Festival, are free of MSG.

The Seven Seas Food Festival in included with park admission every Saturday from February 11th until May 13th. Concerts, depending on the weekend, will begin at either 3 PM, 4 PM, or 5 pm.