Double-Fisting at Gaston’s Tavern!

Since the opening of New Fantasyland, we’d read plenty of reviews on Gaston’s Tavern and it’s unique offerings: LeFou’s Brew and the Roasted Pork Shank.  So we just had to make some time to try these out in New Fantasyland!  We liked one of these so much we tried to make our own at home!

Nestled into New Fantasyland just around the corner from Beast’s castle is Gaston’s Tavern, a cozy tavern with a modest number of offerings. The tavern itself is easy to overlook if your too busy looking at the incredible statue of Gaston and LeFou out in front.

We grabbed a table outside near the fountain, and I went inside to get us our lunch.  We had a big breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table and we knew we had other snacks in mind as well as dinner at Be Our Guest, so we kept it light.  Lisa opted for the Hummus and Chips, Bella got some apples with caramel sauce, Jackson had a mixed fruit cup, and I got the famous Roasted Pork Shank.

And of course we had to get a LeFou’s Brew to sample as well.

Lisa’s Hummus and Chips, Bella’s Apples, and Jackson’s fruit cup were all prepackaged items that you would get if you had bought them in the store.  Nothing to write home about.  Then there was the Pork Shank…

The portion is very generous.  It’s not much smaller than a Turkey Leg.  You could easily split this with somebody if you were inclined to share.  My first bite was full of flavor and I thought to myself that the shank was living up to the hype.  I quickly discovered that once the skin was gone, so was most of the flavor.  What remained was a well-cooked, very tender piece of meat… it just didn’t have any flavor to it.  Lisa wouldn’t try it herself, but I remember describing it to her by comparing it to a roasted chicken that we get at our grocery store.  All the flavor is in the skin.

So for me, the Shank had some tasty bites, but didn’t deliver on the hype with every bite.  It was by no means bad, but I can’t say I’d go out of my way to get another like we did on this visit.

Now on to the Brew…

At Home Twist

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream, cold
• 4 tablespoons Mango Nectar/Juice (I found this in my grocery store’s Mexican Food aisle)
• 4 tablespoons Passion fruit Juice (I found this in the refrigerated juice section, by orange juice)
• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 2 (12 ounce) cans of frozen no-sugar added apple juice concentrate (keep frozen until ready to use)
• 12 ounces cold water (I just filled one of the empty juice cans for this)
• 3 squirts (or tablespoons) Torani Toasted Marshmallow Syrup (I found this for less than $5 from this site: lollicupstore.com)**

We followed the directions, substituting our vanilla syrup for the hard-to-find marshmallow syrup.  In just a few minutes, we had a batch of LeFou’s Brew ready to go… and Lisa added a little something extra at the last moment before we tried them…

Some ground cinnamon sprinkled on top…

We only had one souvenir cup!

I have to say that Lisa’s idea with the cinnamon was a stroke of genius!  Just the smell of it alone as I took a sip of my brew really added something to it!

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