If you ask us, the best part about Disney Springs is the FOOD! There are so many incredible restaurants to explore in this shopping and dining district, and one of our favorites is celebrating Florida’s strawberry season with an exclusive event!

Jaleo by Chef José Andrés is hosting the Festival de Fresas — or the Strawberry Festival — to put an emphasis on the sweet and versatile flavor of strawberries. Jaleo has partnered with a local farm, Southern Hill Farms, for the freshest strawberries in these unique dishes, and we’re bringing you with us to check it out!

The Festival de Fresas at Jaleo is happening from now until March 16th, 2025. There are seven featured dishes on the menu — full of strawberry treats. We were invited to Jaleo to check out some of the items and we couldn’t wait to share with you!

We kicked things off with the Texturas de Fresas for $16 — imagine a strawberry purée ball. This was SO fun! The membrane around the spheres popped easily, and a smooth, velvety juice rushed out. It was like having a delicious strawberry without having to chew.

Next up, we tried the Cono de Queso azul “Mamá Marisa” y fresas, which is available for $6. It’s a cone filled with Mamá Marisa Blue cheese mousse, strawberry marmalade, and toasted pistachios. This one was definitely strong on the cheese flavor, but we enjoyed the sweet and savory components that made up this dish.

Then, we tried Coca de queso idiázabal y mermelada de fresas which normally costs $12. This is an olive oil and rosemary cracker with strawberry marmalade and grated idiazabal cheese. We LOVED the sweet and salty combination of this dish — the sweet jam and savory cheese reminded us of a Monte Cristo sandwich, though the sweet flavors are what stand out most here.

Next up, we had the Gazpacho de fresas, which costs $11. It is a cold soup with strawberries, tomatoes, cucumber, and green bell pepper. This was SO fresh, and it was an excellent combination of sweet and savory.

The Pinchos de fresas, sandía y tomate is available for $10. This dish comes with strawberry, watermelon, and tomato skewers with sherry dressing. Each ingredient was fresh and complemented the other well. It was good, but it wasn’t a standout of the night.

Next, we had the Ensalada de fresas, tomate, aguacate y queso de cabra for $14. This salad consists of strawberries, tomatoes, avocado, goat cheese, and sherry dressing. This was an excellent salad. The fattiness of the avocado worked so well with the acidity of the strawberry and dressing.

Last but not least, we tried the Fresas con nata for dessert, which cost $10. This is a traditional Spanish dessert of strawberries with cream. The strawberries in this dish have been peeled, which was a delicious surprise. The cream was soft and light, with a hint of orange liqueur. We thought each element worked well with the other and made for the perfect ending to the strawberry dishes!

But, our dinner didn’t stop there! We also got to taste some of Jaleo’s other dishes, like the Croqueta de jamón “José’s Way.” This is a traditional fritter with a slice of Jamon Iberico de Bellota. They were crunchy, cheesy, and what dreams are made of.

The Endivias con queso de cabra y naranjas features endives with goat cheese, oranges, and almonds. We’ve consistently loved this dish in the past, and this time was no different.

Next, we had the Chuletas de Cordero which is Josper grilled “Lumina” New Zealand Lamb Chops with Rosemary Sauce and Honey Alioli. The meat was tender and earthy, and the sauces complemented the meat well.

We also tried the Lubina a la Donostiarra — Whole Mediterranean Seabass cooked with traditional Basque sauce. This was the most delicate, garlicky, and delicious fish!

To wrap everything up, we had the Pan con chocolate. It is Chocolate custard with caramelized bread, olive oil, and brioche ice cream. The textures and flavors here were so fun — and delicious to boot.

Make sure you stop by Jaleo during the Festival de Fresas to try some of these exciting dishes!

In the meantime, we’ll be on the lookout for the latest updates from Disney Springs and more. Make sure you stay tuned to the Disney Food Blog for more restaurant reviews and news!

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Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Today, we were invited by Jaleo to attend their media preview of their Strawberry Festival menu. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ