30 July 2019

Ingredients from Across the Galaxy


With Galaxy’s Edge having only been open for two months in Disneyland and it’s preparing for launch status in Walt Disney World, I took some time last week to sample as much of the area as I could, and that includes the many tastes and menus found throughout the land. I’m the first to admit I wasn’t able to try every bite, meal, and beverage Black Spire Outpost had to offer, but I did my best to get to as many as I could. The one blind spot in this review is going to be Docking 7 Food and Cargo, but I hit up as many other food stops on the hyperspace trail as I could.

Let’s start with a beverage that has been with Star Wars from the very beginning and its more recent cousin. I am, of course, talking about blue and green milk. Found at the Milk Stand, blue and green milk are slushy-smoothie types of drinks. Blue milk in its purest form is also available at Oga’s Cantina under the name of Blue Bantha, and comes complete with a Bantha-inspired vanilla sugar cookie. I only tried the Oga’s version of the blue milk which was sweet and filled with tropical flavors, almost like a liquid sunscreen. The green milk, meanwhile, is a bit sourer but still tropical in its taste. Most people are partial to one or the other, but I feel like both have their place. It is worth remembering that both blue and green milk are non-dairy, plant-based blends of coconut and rice milks. These are not my typical milks, but they were both delicious. I did prefer the non-smoothie version of the milk, but your mileage may vary.

A word on the Bantha-inspired vanilla sugar cookie, this is a cookie with flavors and layers that you will be happy you tried. There is a haystack element to this cookie that is chewy and reminds me of the Samoas or Caramel Delites cookies that come around from the Girl Scouts every year. The Blue Bantha, complete with cookie, is a great morning treat or a final nightcap.

Sticking with Oga’s Cantina, I had the pleasure to visit both in the morning and the evening. In the morning I also sampled the Yub Nub, a cocktail that mixes Malibu Pineapple Rum and Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum with citrus and passion fruit juices. It also comes in a souvenir mug depicting the Battle of Endor, and yes, it absolutely came home with me. The citrus, passion fruit, and pineapple flavors seemed to be competing too much for me, with the faux pineapple flavor weighing down the drink to me.

With my Blue Bantha and Yub Nub I grabbed the Rising Moon Overnight Oats, which are also available at Ronto Roasters and Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo. This is a cold oatmeal and yogurt dish with a ton of fruit, including dragon fruit and berries. As it is cold the overnight oats may be an acquired taste for some, but it is a hearty and refreshing start for your day on Batuu.

Once the sun had set and the energy level climbed at Oga’s, I experimented with a pair of cocktails and couple of bites. My droid-driven smorgasbord included The Outer Rim and Fuzzy Tauntaun cocktails alongside the Batuu Bits and Oga’s Obsessions off of the provisions menu.

Oga’s Obsession is a gelatin-based dessert dish that combines Odwalla Lemonade, cotton candy flavoring, blueberry popping pearls, and a dried fruit crumble that includes pop rocks. While it looks like something laid by a worrt (ask your friendly neighborhood Star Wars enthusiast, but only if you REALLY want to know), this is sweet and tangy, basically the best Jell-O salad you’ve ever put in your mouth. On the flip side, Batuu bits is a sweet, spicy, and crunchy snack mix that includes rice crackers, veggie chips, meringue bites, and wasabi peas. It was fine, but nothing special and the company I visited the cantina with was mixed on whether or not they liked it. More often than not we each gravitated towards the ingredient we were most fond of.

On the beverage side of things the Fuzzy Tauntaun is a concoction of Cîroc Peach Vodka, Bols Peach Schnapps, and Simply Orange, with a head of tangerine, cane sugar, and "Buzzz" foam. Let’s start with the first question on your minds, yes, the “Buzzz” foam is meant to make your lips and mouth tingle, and maybe a little numb. It can be a disconcerting feeling, so if you’re nervous I would stand clear of this cocktail. For me, it was a fun gimmick that I would love to try again. The peach and citrus flavors of the Fuzzy Tauntaun were tangy, mouth-watering, and only added to the experience.

The Outer Rim is Oga’s version of a margarita with Patrón Silver Tequila, Cedilla Açaí Liqueur, lime juice, and pure cane sugar topped with exotic fruit puree and completed with a black salt rim. The puree sits on top of the cocktail, but I would recommend mixing it in with the rest of the cocktail before taking a sip. This way you will get sweet tropical flavors playing with the sourness of the acai and lime, and that interplay is fun and delicious. Grab yourself a bit of that black salt on your lips as you take a drink, and you’ve got yourself a real winner.

Back out in the bright sun, hiding in the shade of the Market is Kat Saka’s Kettle, a stall that serves up a sweet and savory popcorn mix. The Outpost Popcorn Mix includes standard popcorn, a chili-spiced kernel, and lastly mixed berry popcorn. I’m usually a fan of sweet and savory tastes working together, but something in this mix just didn’t land right for me. In particular, the mixed berry popcorn had an artificial flavor to it that threw my palate off.

Lastly, let’s run through a meal at Ronto Roasters. From ronto straight off of the pod racer engine, two type of jerky, and a specialty juice, there is a lot to try.

The Ronto Wrap is a pita filled with grilled pork sausage, a slab of roasted pork, tangy slaw, and a peppercorn sauce. The wrap doesn’t come with a side, but, to be honest, it doesn’t need one as it will fill you up all on its own. There is a great snap to the sausage and the two types of pork present two entirely different, yet compatible, flavor profiles. The heat from the sausage and peppercorn sauce is great and really punches this up a notch. The pita is a bit too thick, but that is nitpicky in an otherwise stellar staple.

The Nuna Turkey Jerky comes in two varieties, sweet and spicy. The sweet reminded me of a jerky version of the outer skin of a turkey leg. On the other hand, the spicy has a slow building kick from a collection of spices that I couldn’t quite pin down. It has a Middle Eastern vibe to it, but feels a hair out of this world.

Lastly, there Ronto Roasters has three specialty beverages, the Tatooine Sunset, Sour Sarlacc, and the Meiloorun Juice. With my meal I opted for the Meiloorun Juice, a combination of Barrilitos Aguas Frescas Pineapple, Simply Lemonade with Blueberry, and white cranberry, lemon, and desert pear juices. It is very sweet and has an old-school Hawaiian punch feel to it. It was fun, but definitely isn’t an every meal treat.

Overall, my dining experiences across Galaxy’s Edge only made me want to take a second, third, fourth, and beyond bites and sips. The food and dining locations have a surplus of atmosphere which will make repeated dining a joy to partake in. Some of the dishes may sound unappealing or something that only caters to the adventurous eaters, but I promise you there is something there for everyone. Just remember you’re off world, so you should dine like it! Personally, I can’t wait to book my next trip to the buffet that is Batuu.

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