I
’ m sipping a mint iced tea while I wait for my dolmas . At my back , there ’ s a gentle breeze off the water . Steps away from the cafe , I see exquisite Moroccan architecture . I take a deep breath and smell spices simmering .
It ’ s not a restaurant in Casablanca , but it ’ s as close as I ’ ll get today .
Until 2020 , my favorite restaurant in the whole of Walt Disney World was Restaurant Marrakesh . The Beef Couscous M ’ Rouzia ; the marinated olives in the Moroccan Salad ; the Bastilla for Two that was never enough for two … why on earth would I ever choose another restaurant at EPCOT ?
When Restaurant Marrakesh closed — seemingly forever ago — in 2020 , I found myself squarely outside my culinary comfort zone . But the point of World Showcase is that it exposes you to a taste of other cultures and new things , so I set my resolve to try something new .
OK , so Spice Road Table wasn ’ t exactly shaking up my taste buds as it would if I , say , made reservations for the Rose & Crown Dining Room , but had Restaurant Marrakesh never closed , I most likely would not yet have tried Spice Road Table .
That would have been a mistake , because the flavors of the Mediterranean found inside this waterfront restaurant are every bit as rich and complex as the ones at Restaurant Marrakesh . And — the best part — it ’ s all small plates , which means I get to try a lot more food than I would at a more traditional restaurant .
A SPICY START Spice Routes are the maritime trade routes that link Japan , Indonesia , India , the Middle East , the Mediterranean , and Europe . These routes cover more than 9,000 miles and are the first trade routes known to humans . At first , humans traded spices ( records show cinnamon and cassia moving along these routes in 2000 B . C . E .); as time passed , of course , we traded other things .
While people traded goods along these routes , another thing happened , too : Cultures exchanged ideas , knowledge , and beliefs . UNESCO calls the Spice Routes “ melting pots for ideas and information . With every ship that swept out with a cargo of valuables on board , fresh knowledge was carried over the seas to the ship ’ s next port of call .”
Another Spice Route , known as the Spice Road , allowed for trade between the Mediterranean and presentday Yemen . It operated in the third century B . C . E .
THIS PAGE : Details inside Spice Road Table . PHOTOS BY CATHY SALUSTRI PREVIOUS : The exterior of Spice Road Table . PHOTO BY DANNY SHUSTER
Without these Spice Routes , we wouldn ’ t have cinnamon-spiced apple pie , furikake sprinkled on our sushi , or marinated olives on our charcuterie boards .