We continue our 2018 Epcot International Festival of the Holidays coverage with Le Marche de Noel Holiday Kitchen in the France pavilion.

Napoleon de Saumon Fume, Brioche a l’aneth – $5.75

First up is the smoked salmon napoleon in a dill brioche. We start our tour of the menu with my favorite offering. You get a surprisingly sizable and soft slice of salmon between an equally soft brioche. The salmon comes out cold and smokey. The cream spread holds the dish together with a denseness that contrasts the other elements nicely. This is definitely a recommended dish.

Bouchee a la Reine Traditionnelle – $6.75

Another solid dish is the turkey and mushroom in a puff pastry. More specifically, it’s a turkey and mushroom in a veloute cream sauce served in a light puff pastry. At $1 more than the salmon above, what the dish lacks in exciting flavor it makes up for in size. A layered puff pastry does a good job of holding in more than a few bites of turkey and mushrooms and an almost gravy-like sauce. It’s a bit more of a glaze than a gravy though, but it serves a similar purpose in this dish.

If you only get one item from this holiday kitchen, make sure it’s the salmon, but if the budget allows, we can recommend this dish as well.

Buche de Noel au Chocolat “Christmas Log” – $4.75

In our seemingly never-ending onslaught of yule logs, we find another one here in France. It’s unlike most of the other logs though in that it’s incredibly dense and the caramel inside only thickens the experience.

This is really the “go to” yule log for lovers of dark (and slightly bitter) chocolate. We’d likely prefer the yule log from Yukon, but this is a close second. They’re so different it’s tough to compare, but this also comes recommended. A solid showing from the France booth this year.