Orlando International Visitors Guide 2016 - 21

5 Unexpected Hotel
Restaurants in Orlando

ACCLAIMED AND FAMED DINING
IS HOT IN ORLANDO
2015 was a landmark year for Orlando dining. Wine Enthusiast
named the city one of the year's 10 Best Wine Travel
Destinations, and The New York Times named Orlando one of
the 52 places to go in the world in 2015, citing a dynamic food
scene and exciting restaurants. In addition to these accolades,
Orlando is a hotbed for celebrity chef restaurants in recent
years, with Masaharu Morimoto joining Norman Van Aken,
Emeril Lagasse, Todd English, Wolfgang Puck, Roy
Yamaguchi and Melissa Kelly. Even homegrown chefs are
making a splash. For the third consecutive year, Orlando
captured the most nominations of any Florida city for the
prestigious James Beard Foundation's 2015 Restaurant and
Chef Award Semifinalists.

Orlando chefs are literally
looking in their own
backyards for fresh
ingredients and locally
sourced goods. With four
growing seasons, local farms
provide an abundance of
fresh, seasonal products.
Grande Lakes Orlando, home
to the Ritz-Carlton and JW
Marriott, sources ingredients
straight from its very own
7,000-square-foot Whisper Creek Farm and raised-bed PRIMO
Organic Garden. The new Whisper Creek Kitchen showcases
these elements in its comfort food and craft beers. Closer to
downtown, Chef Kevin Fonzo not only sources ingredients
from an organic garden in the backyard of K Restaurant in his
recipes, but also uses the garden to teach local students about
healthy eating. In Winter Park, Chef Brandon McGlamery of
LUMA on Park, is an avid fisherman and ensures that only the
freshest catch from both of Florida's coasts is served.

SURPRISING DIVERSITY FROM
AROUND THE WORLD
Cuisines from around the world are well represented in
Orlando. The downtown Orlando area of Mills 50 is a hub for
diverse flavors with classic Vietnamese pho at Little Saigon,
authentic Korean at Shin Jung and wild cards like the AsianLatin-American fusion of Tako Cheena. The variety stretches
throughout Orlando, as diners can circumnavigate the globe
without ever leaving Central Florida, tasting Malaysian at
Mamak, Polish from Polonia and Scandinavian from the
SwedeDish Food Truck. From Africa, guests can experience
Nile Ethiopian Cuisine on International Drive or Flavors
Nigerian near downtown Orlando. Plenty of Latin American
options add spice to the selection, including 14 different types
of churrasco grilled meat at Black Fire Brazilian Steakhouse,
and the perfect Cuban sandwich at Black Bean Deli. Txokos
provides a taste of history and culture with its Spanish Basque
dishes, while Naru Restaurant & Sushi Bar offers Orlando's
first Japanese-Brazilian fusion cuisine.

Visit Orlando's Food Fanatics have picked five Orlando hotel
dining options that are sure to blow your mind:

Whisper Creek Farm at Grande Lakes Orlando

FARM-FRESH IN
ORLANDO

Planning your dream holiday in Orlando usually starts with
finding the right place to stay. When it comes to many
Orlando hotels, independent-style restaurants are serving up
thrill rides for your tastes buds with fresh ingredients paired
with a side of swagger.

#1. Highball & Harvest at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando,
Grande Lakes
The rail-road inspired design, communal seating and raw
oyster bar of this restaurant re-defines hotel dining and is
pretty eclectic for a Ritz-Carlton. And guests are eating it
up-literally. H&H is already notorious for its shrimp and grits,
chicken fried chicken, line-caught swordfish, house-made
beef jerky and warm donuts paired with Nutella "paint tubes".
You can also enjoy craft beers and handcrafted cocktails
infused with seasonal fruits and herbs.
#2. PB&G at Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney
World Resort
Not your typical pool-side dining, towel off for some fingerlicking dining in a sanctuary-like setting. Enjoy amazing
views of natural Florida while dining on southern BBQ
favourites like pulled pork, rotisserie chicken, smoked brisket
& house-cured charcuterie. And wash it down with a glass of
the fresh Absolute peach ice tea. Soon joining the resort's
menu is its signature steakhouse. The resort's signature
steakhouse, Capa, opened recently and offers rooftop views
of Disney's nightly fireworks from both Magic Kingdom Park
and Epcot.
#3. Emeril's Tchoup Chop at Loews Royal Pacific Resort at
Universal Orlando®
Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse switches it up from his
signature New Orleans style cuisine with Emeril's Tchoup
Chop. The restaurant gets its unusual name (pronounced
chop chop) from New Orleans' famous Tchoupitoulas Street,
where Emeril's parent restaurant is located. Menu offerings
take diners on an exotic journey through the Pacific Seas,
with bold Asian and Polynesian influenced dishes, complete
with views of bamboo, waterfalls, sculpted gardens and
giant woks.
#4. Hamilton's Kitchen at the Alfond Inn
Locally sourced ingredients are transformed into fresh and
light flavors with a modern twist at Hamilton's Kitchen inside
the boutique Alfond Inn hotel in Winter Park. The open
kitchen and rustic farmers table are perfect pairings for
refreshing dishes incorporating local citrus, strawberries,
corn, tomatoes, beef and gulf seafood.
#5. Siro Urban Kitchen at Orlando World Center Marriott
Not your typical lobby bar and restaurant, this dining venture
blends the contemporary urban ambiance of this resort's
central atrium with farm-to-table ingredients and family-style
Italian flavors. The real treasure is the restaurant's extensive
drink menu, as bartenders have mastered the "Garden to
Glass" method of mixology-preparing handcrafted Italian
classics from the Negroni and Aperol Spritz to the "The
Artisan," Lemoncello Martini-complete with fresh squeezed
juices and fragrant herbs.
With rockstar chefs in the kitchens and a growing portfolio of
uniquely designed restaurants, it's no surprise that some of
the most exciting food in Orlando is being served in our
hotels and resorts.
Universal elements and all related indicia TM & © 2016 Universal Studios. All rights reserved. Loews
Royal Pacific Resort logo © 2016 UCF Hotel Venture. All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Orlando International Visitors Guide 2016