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I grew up on Harry Potter. Heck, I felt like I lived and breathed it for years and any time I have a golden opportunity to immerse myself into the world, I take it.
So, you’ll be unsurprised when I say that one of my favorite places is at Universal Orlando in both the Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley lands.
There’s something so different when you feel the places you have read and seen come to life before your eyes. But it’s definitely something else when you get to eat the food that you read so many times about.
Butterbeer? Pumpkin Pasty? Gillywater? Yes. Please.
And of course, this is a theme park food review site so I had to get some insight for y’all on some places.
Here’s the thing: there’s a lot of food at Harry Potter World and this will be one of many posts on those foods (so keep yourself tuned!).
In future I will be making a “catalogue” of all of the foods I try so you can click and go to whatever food you’re looking for and gain some insight; until then, I hope you enjoy this one for the time being.
The Leaky Cauldron
One of the popular wizarding locations on property, The Leaky Cauldron is a great spot to try if you’re looking to try some quintessential British food inside of the iconic grubby lookin’ pub.
- Peachtree Fizzing Tea ▸ $5.99
Fizzy but smooth with flavors of fresh peach nectar and ginger - Cottage Pie (Egg/Fish/Peanut/Tree Nut Sensitivities) ▸ $16.99
Savory combination of beef and chunky vegetables in a potato crust served with a garden salad - Sticky Toffee Pudding (Soy Protein/Sesame/Peanut Sensitivities) ▸ $7.99
Peachtree Fizzing Tea
Review: This is an enjoyable simple drink.
It’s 16 oz of effervescent goodness (think more in line of a Prebiotic drink than soda or Sparkling Water) with a visible peachy taste (and a subtle ginger hit). It’s smooth and the bubbles inside are not crazy carbonated, but it will definitely give you some of the burps.
Even though it’s a tea I didn’t find it to lean toward any specific kind (i.e., black, green, white, herbal), I think it’s just named that, although I would say it would learn toward a white tea if anything.
Rating: 4.5/5
Cottage Pie
Review: Akin to a Shepherd’s Pie, this Cottage Pie is made with ground beef rather than ground lamb like in a Shepherd’s Pie.
This meal came nice and hot with the mashed potato topping broiled to golden perfection. The crust on the potato was just right (I feel like Goldilocks would appreciate it).
The beef was well seasoned and savory and the flavors melded well. I liked the incorporation of small vegetables like onions and peas.
If you’re sensitive to meals made with wine, you should be fine here as the taste of that alcohol (if there is any in this) has been cooked off and fully incorporated into the meat to give it that extra lift.
I don’t think this will taste any different to the Shepherd’s Pie… however, I will give that a go at some point, too.
Before I move on, I wanted to mention that the salad (Garden Salad with Italian dressing) was fresh and crunchy and actually had what I felt like the freshest, plumpest, most flavorful tomato I had ever eaten. It was absolutely delicious.
Rating: 4.0/5
Sticky Toffee Pudding
Review: Easily one of the best desserts I’ve had the pleasure of trying while at Universal Orlando, this Sticky Toffee Pudding is absolutely delicious.
Coming to your table warm, it is a simple yet sweet treat that everyone can enjoy. It is a very moist cake-like dessert which a crunchy top and sticks to your teeth. While it is a little on the dense side, it is easy to eat.
This particular treat isn’t too cloying despite the saccharine nature of the pudding. The vanilla ice cream on top of the pudding pairs very well and it’s a nice cold addition to a warm treat and it tames the sweetness of the pudding believe it or not.
While the ice cream is not premium like what you’d get at Florean Fortescue’s it’s a pretty decent vanilla ice cream.
As you can see from the picture above it is a dessert filled with butter so if you’re not into that, or can’t eat too much, this is an easily shareable dish between two or three people.
Rating: 5/5
Recommended Page: Food Reviews
Hogsmeade Butterbeer Cart
- Pumpkin Pasty ▸ $7.99
- Frozen Butterbeer ▸ $7.99
Pumpkin Pasty
Review: I neither hated nor loved this particular treat. It’s a pastry filled with pumpkin and that’s honestly all that there is.
I will honestly say that I wasn’t paying too much attention to the taste of this as I was scarfing it down before hopping on The Hogwarts Express, but I do remember it was cool (not cold) and the pumpkin was smooth. I liked the sweetness of the pastry paired with the pumpkin that had hints of nutmeg and it held itself together pretty well.
I wouldn’t say that the pastry was flaky though, but you can see the shiny egg wash that it received before baking. Overall, it’s a decent treat that can be either hit or miss for varying pumpkin levels of like.
Rating: 3.0/5
Frozen Butterbeer
Review: One of the very things I ever tried when I got to Harry Potter World many moons ago was Butterbeer. I didn’t like it.
I was really hoping that the frozen version would give me a different outlook though. I will say that in some ways, yes, but in other ways, it was just as disappointing.
For one, my butterbeer was barely frozen, it was definitely more like a watery slushy which didn’t help my opinion of this different variant. The foam on top was nice though, but it didn’t really help make the drink better.
The crazy thing is that I felt like the frozen butterbeer was sweeter than the regular version, so if you’re not looking for that I’d pass on this, but it is refreshing in the sweltering heat.
Rating: 3.5/5
Florean Fortescue Ice-Cream Parlour
Located in Diagon Alley, Florean Fortescue has an array of ice cream flavors to try in both soft serve and hard pack ice creams to enjoy. Some flavors include: Orange Marmalade, Butterbeer, Chocolate & Raspberry, and Strawberry & Peanut Butter.
- Sticky Toffee Pudding Hard Ice Cream, Waffle Cone ▸ $7.49
Sticky Toffee Pudding Hard Ice Cream, Waffle Cone
Review: This is an enjoyable flavor of ice cream, and even if it wasn’t, the texture was creamy, velvety, and felt luxurious. This seems to be a custard-style hard packed ice cream which is what most of us know and love from ice cream shops that do things in-house homemade-style.
The richness in this ice cream points to that (as it is made with egg yolks and heavy cream).
It has, surprisingly, a complex flavor profile with wonderful vanilla flavors that was buttery and filled with toffee pieces of varying sizes. There are miniscule pieces to larger ones you can pull out of the ice cream and really chew into.
The only thing that detracted from this was that the toffee pieces, especially the large pieces, were a lot drier than I would have thought considering it being sticky toffee pudding (see photos above à la Leaky Cauldron).
I think in the mixing process that stickiness gets dispersed and I wonder if it would be better if those pieces were folded in to maintain some of the original dessert in the ice cream.
I believe that during the freezing process it also affects the sticky quality, however, if they were to add ribbons of syrup into the ice cream (think Dulce de Leche or Fudge ice cream) that could help to really showcase the ice cream.
But I really do like this ice cream flavor, just suggestions for potential improvements!
As for the waffle cone, it’s a generic cone that adds an incredibly light touch of sweetness and texture to the treat. I am a lover of waffle cones so I was happy with it. ??
Rating: 4.0/5
Hogsmeade Stand
I typically don’t notice this kiosk, so I’m sure others tend not to either, but if you’re facing The Three Broomsticks, you’ll have two stands on either side of that main alleyway. This one is to the right near to the stage and across from Ollivanders.
- Chicken Pasty ▸ $9.49
Chicken Pasty
Review: This is a no for me (and I regret not taking a photo of the inside of the pasty, my apologies). If you like thick dough and Campbell’s Soup chicken noodle soup flavored meat, then go for it. If you look at the photo you’ll notice there is a thick edge of baked flaky pastry surrounding the main attraction – and it’s not great.
I almost believed this was a hot water crust pastry because of how sturdy it was, however, I think it aligns more with a shortcrust since it’s got that slight flakiness to it. It’s dry and almost felt like a ball of dust collecting at the back of my throat, but eaten with the meat and it’s fine.
However, even with the vegetables (peas, carrots, onions) mixed into this, this pasty is not something I would ever go for again unless I had no other options.
It was very salty; I ended up having to stop at Moose Juice Goose Juice in Suess Landing to grab an ICEE to wash it down with because it was brackish.
The two things I really liked about this were the small bits of potato and the fact that it was still hot toward the last hour of the park being open; quick note: the potato didn’t change anything texturally, but it was a nice reprieve from the saltiness of the chicken.
For the price and quality, this is a bonafide rip-off even with an UOAP discount. As someone who enjoys Jamaican patties and Empanadas, these don’t cost more than $2.50 at your local restaurant, so for it to be charged at almost 4x that (and not nearly as good) even at Universal is insane.
Rating: 2.5/5
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