Up to this point, my experience at the plant-based food tent for Universal Orlando Mardi Gras rates as average at best. The rice-based dishes tasted just okay. The vegan brownie might make a “Top 3” article at some point based on its value not so much its quality. The last remaining food item at this tent awaited my examination. The concept of a vegan samosa intrigued me. Still, my disappointment with the other dishes brough my expectations down.
The Potato, Pea, and Carrot Samosas costs $8.99 before potential discounts. These samosas appear on a plate covering green chutney. Even though I do not dine exclusively vegan, I appreciate Universal Orlando creating a full vegan menu this year. For record, other vegan items appear on menus of other food tents within Universal Studios Florida. However, this plant-based tent serves a one stop vegan shopping.
So how were the samosas? First, you get four samosas in total. However, the size of them appeared small for a standard samosa. Yet, we must remember that these are food festival portions and prices.
On the good side, these shine with flavor and more than average theme park level spice. The spice I desired within the “Vegetable Vindaloos” sparkled with this menu item. As I was enjoying these, I would have traded some of the spice with this dish to the other rice-based dishes here, making everything better in my opinion.
The samosas by themselves provided enough flavor for this dish. The combination of vegetables and spices works well. If you are concerned about the “spice” level, use very limited amounts of the green chutney. Most of the spice resides within the chutney. One guest ordering when I ordered, asked for no chutney so you could take that option. I preferred the spice from the chutney myself.
Based on chatting with other reliable sources and my experience, this vegan item serves as the best vegan food options at Mardi Gras food tents this year at Universal Orlando. If you dine exclusively vegan (or would like to see what it would be like at a food festival), this menu item should make your list. This menu item earns a high score in my mind based on being vegan and very non-traditional theme park food. So, if you only have time for one menu item at the plant-based food tent, make it this one.
Let the good times roll!
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