Recently Disney’s Animal Kingdom received a makeover for many their vegan options at the restaurants, mainly the quick service locations. One of those was over at Flame Tree Barbecue near the center of the park. The new option here is an Impossible based dish rather than a Beyond one as it was before.
Flame Tree Barbecue is one of my favorite restaurant locations in all of the parks. They have tons of seating located behind the restaurant and if you keep heading down the path you can sit along the water with an incredible view of Expedition Everest or enjoy a meal next to a tranquil fountain. There is so much shade and coverage here too which is great for most days. Even if you aren’t here to eat this is a great space to take a break.
The new vegan option here is the Impossible Burnt Ends. This plant based option comes with fries and coleslaw as well. I am not from the south and was never a fan of bbq so I truly had no idea what “burnt ends” were until Corey did an internet search for me. I still barely understand it, but it seems in this context it’s just crispy-ish “meat” with some bbq sauce on it at some point.
The Impossible Burnt Ends reminded me of the Boneless Impossible Korean Short Rib, during the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival, but smaller. The cuts were about an inch long and more of a cube. The texture of the Impossible was very firm. There was a sweet and smokey flavor to it as well which was enjoyable. I really liked these.
I have heard some mixed opinions on these from our Instagram followers, so I am not sure if I just got lucky and got a good batch or I just don’t know what this is supposed to be like.
The coleslaw was another story. It just tasted like cabbage and carrot that had soaked in some apple cider vinegar. The texture was super soft and all you could taste was the vinegar. This was a pass for me.
The fries were a good classic Disney fry. They were cold by the time I ate them, but they were still crunchy on the outside and salted well.
I was happy with my meal of fries and Impossible burnt ends. They just need to improve that “coleslaw” because that is not it. I did also notice this was listed for the gluten allergy friendly options on mobile ordering too, so hooray for the gluten free vegans! I would absolutely get this dish again.
Review from December 2023.
Price $
Watch our vlog from this visit below!
