Though we might need to brush up on our Portuguese to order appropriately, we have always enjoyed Brazilian cuisine. Considering that, we love seeing the Mardi Gras Brazil food and beverage areas at Universal Orlando’s Mardi Gras that runs through April 16th.
The Mardi Gras Brazil location resides in an easy place to find. Guests walk toward the under-construction KidZone area. You will be able to see it if you walk that way. The Mardi Gras Brazil location sells four food items this year. Two returning favorites appear on this menu. The Chicken Coxinha and Brigadeiros Trio cost $5.99 each. They each offer decent value.
The Chicken Coxinha presents guests with a nice crispy outer texture and creamy interior this round fritters. These tasted like last year at Mardi Gras, in a good way, since we enjoyed them then.
The Brigadeiros Trio provides guests with three small classic Brazilian treats. These include condensed milk, cocoa powder, chocolate sprinkles, and hazelnuts. The interior of them brings a robust cocoa flavor. Each one offers a slightly different outer coating and texture. These make an excellent palate cleanser while dining at Universal Orlando’s Mardi Gras.
Linguica Skewers ($9.99)
Speaking of needing a palate cleanser, the Mardi Gras Brazil tent sells a grilled Brazilian sausage with some Brazilian cheese bread on the side. These skewers offer guests an interesting but odd presentation. The casing of the sausage showed promise for this festival item. However, then, we tasted it. This sausage contains some seasoning but not the level expected for this.
Our primary reaction to this sausage was immediate dislike due to the grease factor and insufficient supporting seasonings. Maybe our taste buds were destroyed by this sausage. Still, we found the Brazilian cheese bread overly chewy and different from usual at Universal Orlando resort. We find it hard to recommend these skewers, so it makes the low for the Mardi Gras Brazil tent.
Picanha Skewers ($10.99)
On the other end of the spectrum, the Picanha Skewers from the Mardi Gras Brazil location would be our high for visiting this location. Though, based on the presentation, we would not define these as skewers, we enjoyed the seasoning and preparation of the beef sirloin. The Picanha comes served with chimichurri and smoked salt. Guests also receive a small serving of pão de queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread) to balance the festival food item.
We enjoyed the steak on our three trips to the Mardi Gras Brazil food tent. The seasoning brought out some good flavor, and the chimichurri sauce enhanced this, also. We found the steak tender and easy to cut.
On the negative side, some guests said their steak tasted dry and bland. Also, this style of festival food might offer too much salt for some diners. Yet, we would place this as the high for this location instead of the Linguica Skewers. We wish the portion size were a bit larger, however.
So far in our travel to the theme park food festival, the Picanha Steak offering themed to Brazil has been very good. We wish you the same fortune. As always, eat like you mean it!
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