{"id":105811,"date":"2026-01-05T03:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T03:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/105811\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T03:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T03:11:13","slug":"the-12-most-memorable-plates-our-critic-cleaned-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/105811\/","title":{"rendered":"The 12 most memorable plates our critic cleaned in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s that most wonderful, and agonizing, time of the year: a time for me to reflect on 12 months\u2019 worth of eating, then reduce it to 12 superlative bites. This list is the cumulative result of mind-flavor remembrance and thumb-swiping endurance, but wouldn\u2019t be possible without plenty of cloud storage. And while 2025 may have stood out for its notable closures, this year also firmly ensconced Orlando as a serious food city of the South. So, here they are \u2014 12 of the most memorable bites I\u2019ve enjoyed this past year.<\/p>\n

\"\"Boujee Pho (Z Asian) Credit: Faiyaz Kara<\/p>\n

Boujee Pho (Z Asian<\/a>):
This might very well be the finest bowl of pho being served in Orlando right now. Filet mignon and bone marrow aside, it\u2019s the herbs procured from chef Huong Nguyen\u2019s family in Vietnam (they have a herb farm there) that lend this bowl its unmatched aroma. And the broth? Perfect.<\/p>\n

\"\"Poulet au Vin Jaune Credit: Faiyaz Kara<\/p>\n

Poulet au Vin Jaune (Camilo Velasco):
Camilo Velasco, executive chef of Disney\u2019s Animal Kingdom Park, served one of the most stunning plates of food at a special \u201c90\/90\u201d dinner for the Jacques Pepin Foundation at Norman\u2019s. While Pepin wasn\u2019t in attendance, he most certainly would\u2019ve approved of Velasco\u2019s poulet au vin jaune, a dish featuring a cut of Pennsylvania Golden chicken conjoined to a layer of black winter truffle and a chicken mousseline scented with more chopped black truffle and crispy skin.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mushroom Handroll (Mosonori) Credit: Faiyaz Kara<\/p>\n

Mushroom Handroll (Mosonori<\/a>):
One of the newer handrolls offered at Winter Park\u2019s Mosonori is filled with a meatless, umami-rich blend of local mushrooms supplied by Fungi Jon saut\u00e9ed in garlic butter and soy. It\u2019s a three-bite flavor wallop.<\/p>\n

\"\"Iraqi Kebab (Rawsha Mediterranean Cuisine) Credit: Faiyaz Kara<\/p>\n

Iraqi Kebab (Rawsha Mediterranean Cuisine<\/a>):
Orlando\u2019s first Iraqi restaurant serves a kebab that takes succulence to a whole new level. The secret to the baharat-spiced ground lamb\u2019s ridiculous luxuriance? Why, its own fat, of course. You\u2019d be hard-pressed to find a juicier kebab in the city than this.<\/p>\n

\"\"Koshary (The Cairo Express) Credit: Faiyaz Kara<\/p>\n

Koshary (The Cairo Express<\/a>):
Egypt\u2019s national dish features a heap of black lentils mixed with chickpeas, rice, macaroni and spaghetti in a tangy tomato sauce topped with fried onions and a liberal blob of shatta, a hot pepper sauce Gigi Elgharbawy, proprietress of The Cairo Express food truck, fashions from cayenne peppers.<\/p>\n

\"\"Pizza (Nuri\u2019s Tavern) Credit: Faiyaz Kara<\/p>\n

Pizza (Nuri\u2019s Tavern<\/a>):
The downtown pie house bakes the acme of tavern-style pies, none better than the thin, crackly-crusted \u201cjalape\u00f1o and pepperoni\u201d round with a slather of ranch and a sheen of sticky chili crisp. Though, really, you can\u2019t go wrong with any of the pies here.<\/p>\n

\"\"Cape Canaveral Hoppers Credit: Faiyaz Kara<\/p>\n

Cape Canaveral Hoppers (Nikk Burton):
At Seito Sushi\u2019s 25th anniversary dinner, The Monroe\u2019s executive chef, Nikk Burton, plated these sweet, head-on shrimps that were marinated in sofrito, grilled and set in a carrot escabeche. The hoppers were then garnished with a cilantro pistou, lightly pickled carrots, peppers, onions and micro cilantro.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Rocoto Relleno (Lima 1535) Credit: Faiyaz Kara<\/p>\n

Rocoto Relleno (Lima 1535<\/a>):
Rocoto relleno is a rare find in any Peruvian restaurant, but we\u2019re lucky enough to have access to it at Lima 1535. The apple-sized, infernal red Andean pepper comes stuffed with bits of filet mignon seasoned with aj\u00ed panca, aj\u00ed amarillo and cooked with sultanas, olives, boiled egg and crushed peanuts. Draped over the roasted orb is a sheet of melted queso paria with an egg-milk sauce pooled around its base.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Kanpachi (June) Credit: Faiyaz Kara<\/p>\n

Kanpachi (June<\/a>):
No surprise that the Top Table of 2025<\/a> would have a dish on this list. Of the many contenders at this contemporary Mexican restaurant, I chose the Hawaiian kanpachi (here looking like the lengua of some crispy-tongued beast) set in a pool of blood-red guajillo-tomato butter. Like many of the proteins at June, it\u2019s kissed by the flames of Florida oak.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mul Naengmyeon (U Chun) Credit: Faiyaz Kara<\/p>\n

Mul Naengmyeon (U Chun<\/a>):
If there\u2019s one dish you get at the H Mart food court, make it U Chun\u2019s mul naengmyeon, a cold, refreshing soup of chewy buckwheat noodles buried beneath an icy slush of vinegary beef broth. Julienned cucumbers, sliced radishes and a sesame-specked soft-boiled egg adds body to every stellar slurp. Get. This. Soup.<\/p>\n

\"\"Spicy Squid (Surah) Credit: Faiyaz Kara<\/p>\n

Spicy Squid (Surah<\/a>):
The scratch kitchen by Angie Ahn and Christopher Bae serves classy (and classic) Korean dishes, none prettier than this plate of wok-fried squid with a vibrant mix of crisp cabbage, onions, carrots and scallions. It\u2019s all tossed in a sweet and fiery sauce crafted from house-made gochujang and gochujaru.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mushroom P\u00e2t\u00e9 (Sparrow) Credit: Faiyaz Kara<\/p>\n

Mushroom P\u00e2t\u00e9 (Sparrow<\/a>):
I haven\u2019t come across anyone who isn\u2019t a fan of the silky, earthy sweetness of executive chef Wendy Lopez\u2019s mushroom p\u00e2t\u00e9. The blend of maitake, shiitake and oyster mushrooms splashed with Madeira is a starter that the fungi-averse have come to love.<\/p>\n

Orlando\u2019s daily dose of what matters. Subscribe to The Daily Weekly.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s that most wonderful, and agonizing, time of the year: a time for me to reflect on 12…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[54531,139,54532,54533,141,140,7872,54534],"class_list":["post-105811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-best-bites","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-chefs","tag-orlando-dining-2025","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlando-restaurants","tag-year-in-review-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}