Viva el Sabor! Latin-Inspired Festival Area and Menus Now Available for the 2018 Seven Seas Food Festival

Starting today (March 31st, 2018) and running on weekends only through April 29th, 2018, the specialty eats and entertainment area at Sea World Orlando's Seven Seas Food Festival switches from Craft Brew and BBQ to Latin-infused Cuisine. The switch-over pays homage to the two separate festivals that have now been combined into one larger "Seven Seas Food Festival".



The small stage concert area by the fire pit fills the air with live performance groups and music that ranges from Reggaeton, Salsa, Latin Pop and Merengue. Dancing in this small concert venue is encouraged -- and almost mandatory -- it's hard to walk by and not tap your toes and dance a little as the Latin beats and music fill the air.



Be sure to check out Sea World Orlando's main stage concert lineup page for all the most recent information on the "featured bands" that will be performing. This opening weekend kicks off with Eddie Palmieri on Saturday and El Gran Combo on Easter Sunday!

The Festival's existing 12 culinary marketplaces remain open throughout the park -- but the "festival event area" is where you'll find all of the newest Latin culinary selections.



Most of the menu items in the festival event area can be purchased as full plates and two of the items are even available as smaller sized "sampler" plates. Don't let the "sampler" size fool you though… there's a lot of food for the cost, no matter which option you choose. The festival's "Sampling Lanyard" is still one of the best deals around, especially outside of this special Latin Cuisine area -- at any of the 12 marketplace booths around the park. The "full plate" items in the Latin Cuisine area range from $9.99 to $14.99, with the Empanadilla's and the Bacalaitos being the only "sample sized / lanyard" Latin Cusine items.



This year we have couple of comparison photos, showing the new items (and a couple of returning favorites), in their "full sized plate" and "sample plate" sizes!

There are several Empanadilla's available (the Savory Ground Beef or Seasoned Pulled Chicken) along with a new "Empanadilla Loca" which is a Pizza Empanada with Cheese, Beef, Mayo-Ketchup, Lettuce and Tomato. This one will appeal to the masses, but is a little less "authentic" from a culinary standpoint than say, the Empanadilla de Pollo (Seasoned Pulled Chicken).




Also new this year, is the more authentic "Mofongo with Carne Frita" which features Garlic Mashed Plantains with Onion Mojo, Served with Fried Pork. This item was very authentic -- and with that being said, thank goodness for Executive Chef Hector Colon's variation on Chimichurri on there! A little goes along way and it does add an amazing flavor punch to the item.




These guys -- were actually mashing plantains in a giant mortar and pestle -- which is the traditional way to make this dish (although I highly suspect there's also a commercial mixer around somewhere).



Bacalaítos are Thin, Crispy Salted Codfish Pancakes



The "Pincho con Tostones" is a returning item from last year's festival -- and for good reason! They are a good combination of tradition and general appeal. You do have the option here of requesting Skewered, Flame-grilled Chicken or Pork on this one -- whichever option you select there's a great Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce that gets drizzled over that (although "spicy" in this case, is a mild "theme park spicy"), both the full plate and sample plate are also served with Fried Plantains.




Finally a "Lechón Asado" item is also returning from last year, and it's sure to be a crowd favorite as well. It features Traditional Roasted Pork Rubbed with Caribbean Seasonings and is served with Pigeon Peas and your choice of Ripe or Sweet Plantains. This was a winner in my book as well, it's really nice having three distinct flavors and textures on one plate… even on the smaller sampler plate!




Everyone asks about the sample beverage sizes, and so I wanted to show the Frozen Sangria that is being featured as a Specialty Cocktail in the Latin Festival Event Area.



I'd say it's somewhere between a 5 oz and 6 oz cup, and while it's maybe not as "strong" as some might like, it may actually be a little above the volume of alcohol that you will find in other theme park frozen cocktails. At any rate, it's the perfect size for sampling, and this particular Frozen Sangria is really good -- and so easy to drink!

These of course, are all premixed and served out of large frozen drink machines. The good news there is, there should be a fairly even mix of consistency in each draw… the bad news is (especially in Florida, where the weather and humidity can wreck havoc with a frozen drink machine) … they may not always be working at capacity (or at all). On the day I got this sample for the photo… it was very nearly perfect!

You can tell that this portion of the festival is a happy place for Executive Chef Hector Colon, as you'll often see him actually in the special event area during the festival, making and serving food!



He brings an authenticity to many of the street-food inspired items that really make this special area worth a visit … and the festival as a whole! We'll have another report in a few days about some of the other new items that can be found throughout the park at the marketplace booths!

Some of the information and photos for the preceding article were gathered at media event sponsored by SeaWorld, Orlando, at which, Mealtrip.com was an invited guest.