REVIEW: Somebody Call Arby’s Because This Booth Has the MEAT – and for Less Than $10 😱

Join us in EPCOT’s lovely China Pavilion to visit Shanghai Holiday Kitchen!

2024 Shanghai Holiday Kitchen

Shanghai Holiday Kitchen is one of the Holiday Kitchens (also known as Food Booths) at the 2024 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays. And, just like we’re doing with EVERY Holiday Kitchen at the Festival, we’re stopping by to bring your our full review of everything new (and returning) to this popular Festival booth!

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Menu

The new XO Fried Rice is joined by the returning Beef Noodle Soup Bowl and Vegetable Spring Rolls on the Shanghai Holiday Kitchen menu.

2024 Shanghai Holiday Kitchen Menu

In keeping with previous years, SEVERAL drinks are up for grabs here, including the non-alcoholic Taro Bubble Milk Tea. It’s joined by Brew Hub Year of the Dragon: Dragon Fruit Lager and a few cocktails: the Butterfly Lantern, the new Lychee Martini, and the new Peach of Longevity!

Are you ready to dig in? Then what are we waiting for???

Eats

We are definitely intrigued by the new XO Fried Rice, made with Chinese sausage, onion, green onion, mushroom, egg, and house-made Hong Kong XO Chili Sauce. 

XO Fried Rice

It costs $9.75. We are starting off with our favorite dish at this booth! The rice is perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned. We loved the amount of mix-ins to rice ratio. The pork had a sweeter marinade on it that made the dish taste a bit like pineapple fried rice, but it worked really well. Our biggest complaint about this dish is that it was on the greasy side, but we still really enjoyed it.

XO Fried Rice

The returning Beef Noodle Soup Bowl is made with slow-braised beef shank, green onion, and house-made chili oil. This dish costs $9.50.

Beef Noodle Soup Bowl

We are so impressed by this dish and the massive portion size you get. The pieces of beef were HUGE, and there were plenty of noodles. However, the dish lacked flavor, and we thought it was bland for an Asian noodle soup. It impressed us more than most noodle dishes we have gotten at EPCOT, but it won’t stand up to an authentic Asian noodle soup.

Beef Noodle Soup

The broth was savory with lots of aromatic flavors. The beef was very tender, and you could easily pull it apart with a fork or chopsticks. There is a bit of chili oil in here, but not only enough to leave a slight tingle on your lips and not ruin your mouth for the rest of the day. The scallions were the perfect addition to the soup and added a great texture and flavor. It definitely hit the spot for a tasty noodle soup!

Beef Noodle Soup

The Vegetable Spring Rolls with citrus sauce are also back this year!

Vegetable Spring Rolls

These come in at $5.50. While we felt like these spring rolls were a bit expensive for what you got, we were impressed with the flavors and textures. They were super crispy, even after likely sitting out for a while, and there was LOTS of filling inside. It was super flavorful with lots of fresh vegetable flavor. 

Vegetable Spring Rolls

The chili sauce that they were served with was sweet and not really spicy at all. They are great spring rolls, but also nothing super unique and, like we said, a bit expensive for what you get,

Drinks

You can always count on Shanghai Holiday Kitchen to bring a Bubble Tea to the party, and this year’s new Taro Bubble Milk Tea features green tea and boba. 

Taro Bubble Milk Tea

This non-alcoholic option costs $8.75. We thought this was a great size! It was very creamy and delicious, but you will want to like tapioca pearls and taro if you grab this drink. It definitely has a lot of taro flavor, and you can grab a boba straw to get the tapioca pearls out of the bottom.

Taro Bubble Milk Tea

The Butterfly Lantern is back, and this returning drink features Butterfly pea blossom gin, vodka, prickly pear, lychee syrup, soda water, and white boba and costs $14.50. Honestly, we find this cocktail to be… just okay. The pear is pronounced with just a touch of the lychee, but it’s not a great combination and comes off as a bit medicinal. The gin doesn’t carry a strong presence, either.

Butterfly Lantern

New this year is the Peach of Longevity for $14.00. Aside from having a cool name, this drink also features Peach Schnapps, citrus vodka, piña colada mix, and orange juice.

Peach of Longevity

This is a sweet cocktail with a lot of peach flavor! We thought it was delicious and refreshing, but you will probably only like it if you enjoy sweet cocktails.

Peach of Longevity

Also available is the new Lychee Martini (vodka, lychee syrup, and vermouth) for $14.50. Beer drinkers can give Brew Hub Year of the Dragon: Dragon Fruit Lager a try for $5.75 for a 6-ounce pour or $10.00 for a 12-ounce pour. 

OVERALL

We enjoyed everything we tried at Shanghai Kitchen. It may not land in the rankings as our absolute favorite booth, but it is definitely worth a stop. Our favorite dish was the XO Fried Rice, but the portion size of the Beef Noodle Soup is pretty impressive. The spring rolls were tasty, but we don’t think you get your money’s worth with this dish. We would definitely also get the Taro Bubble Milk Tea again and if you are looking for a sweet cocktail, make sure you check out the Peach of Longevity.

Shanghai Holiday Kitchen Spread

Thanks for joining us at Shanghai Holiday Kitchen! And don’t forget that we’ve got LOTS more to check out at this most festive of all the EPCOT Festivals!

Click here to see FULL reviews of EVERY. SINGLE. BOOTH. at the Festival of the Holidays!

Trying to plan the PERFECT trip to the 2024 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays? We’ll be keeping you updated on all of the latest. Click our links below for the information you need to know:

And don’t forget to pick up our 2024 DFB Guide to the Holidays at Disney World! See more details about the book below.

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  • ALL of the events, activities, and holiday additions in Walt Disney World. ALL. OF. THEM.
  • And, of course, we’ll tell you where to eat!

Save 20% on the Holidays at Disney World: DFB’s Merriest Guide with code PEPPERMINT.

What items from Shanghai Holiday Kitchen would you most want to try? Tell us in the comments!

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