Sunday Brunch

Sunday Brunchies and Crunchies: Chinois Chicken Salad at Wolfgang Puck Express
June 26, 2011

Author’s note: Sunday Brunchies and Crunchies is a new version of Sunday Brunch that explores a single item in WDW.  Rather than dedicate a post to one whole restaurant, we’ll be taking a critical look at some delicious Disney treats and dining individually.

This week we’ll be zooming down to the Wolfgang Puck Express in the Downtown Disney Marketplace for a quick taste of Wolfgang Puck’s Chinois Chicken Salad.  This quick service restaurant is rather unique and on a higher level than many other quick service locations in Walt Disney World, though that discussion is for another time.  Get ready, because this salad has both great and unsatisfactory elements.  The salad is made up of sliced pan-roasted chicken, cashews, red cabbage and other Asian vegetables (hence the name “Chinois” meaning “Chinese” in French), crispy wonton noodles, and a honey mustard dressing.

Wolfgang Puck’s Chinois Chicken Salad

My plate arrived at our table piled high with a colorful array of shredded lettuce, red cabbage, carrots, and other vegetables.  There was also about 1 cup of crispy wonton noodles sprinkled on top with a handful of cashew nuts and some chicken.  The portion size was quite generous and I knew it would definitely fill me up.

The first forkful of salad arrived with satisfaction as I could taste the tangy, yet light honey mustard dressing and the crisp freshness of all the vegetables.  My first bite was made complete with a satisfying crunch of the lightly salted, wonton noodles.

After a few more bites, I have to admit, the salad got a bit…tiring.  The more I ate it, the more I realized this salad was a lot more like an Asian coleslaw.  Not to say it’s a bad salad, it’s just the portion size as a full serving salad was too much.  Served along some Beef teriyaki or with a Hibachi meal, this would be a great accompaniment.  By itself as a single meal it was just too much.  I applaud Wolfgang Puck for creating an Asian themed salad, though for me it was too much to have as a single meal.  I think it would work better with more greens rather than shreds of lettuce and cabbage.  Perhaps some spinach, lettuce, and bok choy could work.  When one thinks of salad, a nice poofy bed of greens comes to mind, though these Chinese Chickens were out of bed and stuck in a nest of coleslaw.