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JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek adds kitchen garden for fresh ingredients

Written By Scott Joseph On July 8, 2022

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The JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort & Spa has a new garden that not only serves as a tranquil spot for guests to relax but also provides ingredients for the resort’s chefs to use in its signature restaurant.

JW Garden sprang up in April, the creation of landscape designer Lily Kwong. It’s an elevated garden with a stone pathway and benches for seating, planted with herbs and citrus – oranges, kumquats, tangerines and Meyer lemons – as well as vegetables and edible flowers.

It’s very much a kitchen garden, and Melissa Sallman, executive chef at Sear + Sea, the hotel’s very good steak and seafood restaurant, and chef de cuisine Jose Escanio are incorporating the hyper-locally sourced ingredients into their dishes and cocktails. (More on that in a moment.)

To further the JW Garden mission, the resort has partnered with the Orlando City Foundation to donate gardens to two local schools – Rolling Hills Elementary School and Lockhart Elementary School – as part of the organization’s efforts to promote good nutrition and to bring fresh ingredients to the area’s food deserts. Which is a pretty nice thing to do. The produce from the gardens will be donated to the Orlando community and will educate kids about healthful eating habits and sustainability practices.

But back to how the garden’s bounty is being used at the JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek. As you’re probably aware, the resort has a pretty dynamic craft cocktail program. Here are a couple of drinks that are making use of some of the ingredients outside the kitchen door.

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Peach and Rosemary Cocktail

  • 1 ounce Grey Goose Peach & Rosemary
  • .50 ounce Cointreau
  • .75 ounce lime juice
  • 1 ounce rosemary simple syrup

Add ingredients to shaker filled with ice

Shake and strain into glass full of ice

Top with crushed ice

Garnish with rosemary and blood orange wheel.

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Strawberry & Lemongrass

  • 1.5 ounces Grey Goose Strawberry & Lemongrass
  • .75 ounce lemon juice
  • .50 ounce Crème de Violette
  • 1 ounce Simple syrup

Add Crème de Violette to bottom of glass

Add ice to glass

In a shaker, mix the rest of the ingredients

Shake and strain into glass

Top with crushed ice

Garnish with lavender

We hope you find our reviews and news articles useful and entertaining. It has always been our goal to assist you in making informed decisions when spending your dining dollars. If we’ve helped you in any way, please consider making a contribution to help us continue our journalism. Thank you.

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