Making its return this year is The Alps Global Marketplace near the Germany Pavilion. The Alps has returning dishes this year and we made our way out to EPCOT recently to give it a try! Here’s our The Alps booth review from the 2022 EPCOT Food and Wine Festival.
The Alps Booth Review
Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese with Ham – $5.50
Served with alpine ham, baby potatoes, cornichons, and baguette (Emile’s Fromage Montage)
Cheese! The Alps is 100% focused on cheese this year, with their warm, fresh raclette swiss cheese. Keep in mind that we consumed this during the heat of summer with a “feels like” temperature of over 100°. Accordingly, you can probably give each dish either half to a full star bump if you get to enjoy these dishes when the temperatures dip below 80°.
If you’re unfamiliar with the raclette style, you’ll be served hot, fresh cheese that is continuously warmed and scraped off when you order the dish. Here’s a look!
We’ll start with the ham and what amounts to a 3-star August dish (4-star November dish). A substantive amount of ham plays hide and seek beneath a heaping portion of cheese. Your best approach here might be just trying to grab the ham and cheese together by the fistful as you peruse World Showcase, but we took a more measured approach and found a Remy spork and knife to do the trick after a bit of wrestling.
Here’s a photo showing just how much ham there is. It’s a lot of ham, but there is value here as a result. The potatoes are an afterthought as well as the bread.
The neighbors were interested to see what was going on.
Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese with Potatoes – $5.00
Served with baby potatoes, cornichons, and baguette (Emile’s Fromage Montage)
The most basic option comes with no ham or Riesling-poached pears. You’re basically just here for cheese and bread. For $5, it’s not a bad option, but you can do better.
Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese with Pears (NEW 2022) – $5.50
Served with Riesling-poached pears, red wine-braised figs, candied pecans, honey, and cranberry toast (Emile’s Fromage Montage)
A new offering this year, the “with pears” option will also be your most robust from a flavor perspective. It tastes as good as it sounds – Reisling-poached pears, red wine-braised figs, candied pecans, and topped off with honey is a heavenly combination. We didn’t care much for the cranberry toast, but you may enjoy it.
Beverages
- Wicked Weed Brewing Uncle Rick’s Pilsner (New) – $5/9 (6/12oz)
- Huber Vision Grüner Veltliner – $5.00
- Cave De La Côte Rosé Gamay – $7.00
- René Favre Dôle – $7.00
- Frozen Rosé – $9.00
- Wine Flight – $6.75
The Alps is all in on cheese and we’re all in on The Alps (when it gets cooler). A tough sell during the heat of summer, plates and plates of cheese are going to play well with just about everyone who can eat it. Get a little adventurous and go for the new Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese with Pears!