Cool Stuff: IHOP Has A Wonka Menu With Purple Pancakes, And We Tried Everything
This week brings "Wonka" to theaters, offering a fairly sweet origin tale of the famous fictional chocolatier known as Willy Wonka. Director Paul King ("Paddington") brings his signature dose of whimsy to Roald Dahl's world of cynicism, inspired by both the book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and partially by the original 1971 film adaptation "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." When you have a new movie squarely focused on delicious treats, it only makes sense to have a proper promotional food tie-in. What you might not expect is that the cross-promotional tie-in comes from IHOP, the International House of Pancakes.
That's right, IHOP has an official "Wonka" menu, including a signature serving of purple pancakes, inspired by the candyman's trademark wardrobe. But that's not all, because the "Wonka" menu includes a variety of sweets and treats perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert, a couple of tasty drinks, and even a special cheeseburger. IHOP gave yours truly a chance to try the entire "Wonka" menu, and I'm here to report my very important findings about this scrumdiddlyumptious offering.
Here's what's on IHOP's Wonka menu
All right, let's lay everything out that's available on the new "Wonka" menu at IHOP, straight from the restaurant:
- Wonka's Perfectly Purple Pancakes: Purple buttermilk pancakes layered with creamy cheesecake mousse & topped with purple cream cheese icing, whipped topping and gold glitter sugar.
- Hoverchoc Pancake Tacos: 3 silver dollar chocolate pancakes folded & filled with chocolate chips, creamy cheesecake mousse, fresh sliced strawberries & a chocolate drizzle. Served with extra strawberries on the side.
- Daydream Berry Biscuit: Warm and flaky buttermilk biscuit split and filled with creamy cheesecake mousse, a mixed berry topping, topped with purple cream cheese icing and powdered sugar.
- Dreamy Lemonade: Prickly pear-flavored lemonade served with a cream cheese icing rainbow sprinkle rim and topped with a cloud of cotton candy. Create your own magic by stirring in the cotton candy.
- Scrumdiddlyumptious Strawberry Hot Chocolate: Hot chocolate flavored with strawberry syrup, topped with whipped topping, a drizzle of chocolate sauce and gold glitter sugar.
- Fantastical Wonka Burger: 100% USDA Choice Black Angus beef steakburger with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, four-cheese blend, avocado, 2 strips of bacon, fried hash browns, IHOP sauce & a ranch drizzle on a brioche bun. Served with choice of side.
- Jr. Magical Breakfast Medley: 1 Wonka's Perfectly Purple Pancake, 1 scrambled egg, 1 bacon strip and 1 pork sausage link
- Willy's Jr. French Toast Dippers: Sliced French toast with a side of fresh strawberries, banana and chocolate dipping sauce.
Believe it or not, I tried every single item on this menu, with the exception of the last two junior menu items, because it's just a smaller version of the normal Purple Pancakes, and the French Toast Dippers didn't offer anything unique like the rest of the menu items.
The question you probably have after seeing the images and video above is whether or not this menu is actually good. So let's dig into the meals and drinks!
The delicious drinks
First up, let's take a look at the new drinks IHOP is offering, inspired by Wonka's sweet sensibilities. First, as a warm winter sip, there's the Scrumdiddlyumptious Strawberry Hot Chocolate. As advertised, it's a hot chocolate with strawberry flavor, and the result is a hot drink that tastes like a liquified chocolate covered strawberry, complete with a dose of cream, thanks to the whipped topping. For a fun visual, after the whipped cream has melted into the drink, the gold glitter sugar creates little sparkling swirls throughout the chocolate. It's a nice spin on a holiday classic.
Next, we have the Dreamy Lemonade. This pink concoction is likely to turn some heads after you order, as it did when it arrived at my table. That's because it's a hot pink color, complete with a tuft of cotton candy placed on top. Along with that, one side of the glass rim is covered in cream cheese icing and sprinkles. Honestly, I wasn't sure how that flavor was going to vibe with the pear-flavored lemonade, but it blends surprisingly well. Plus, the cotton candy doesn't make the lemonade overly sweet after you dunk it into the lemonade and let it dissipate. Definitely a fun spin that feels like it's from Wonka's factory.
Fantastical Wonka Burger
Shifting away from the fantastical, this is probably the most ordinary offering on the "Wonka" menu at IHOP. There's nothing particular Wonka-esque about this burger, but that doesn't mean the combination of flavors is disappointing. As someone who doesn't particularly enjoy avocado (though I do enjoy guacamole, go figure), I didn't mind it on this burger at all. Plus, the combination of ranch, IHOP burger sauce, and hash browns mixed with the rest of the traditional ingredients makes for a savory mix of flavors on a juicy burger.
Honestly, I'm a little surprised (maybe partially disappointed) that IHOP didn't try to create some kind of peanut butter burger to bring in the candy-esque element of "Wonka" for this burger. If you've never had peanut butter on a burger, it's surprisingly great. Adding jelly makes it even better. But the Fantastical Wonka Burger is pretty good too.
Wonka's pancakes, a biscuit, and pancake tacos
Now, these are the "Wonka" menu items that are really going to draw your attention. Since this is the International House of Pancakes, you probably want to know about the new pancake offerings.
The "Perfectly Purple" pancakes are certainly a highlight. Yes, the pancakes are purple, and so is the cream cheese icing that is somehow even more purple on top of them. In between the stack of hotcakes is a layer of cheesecake mousse. Because of that creamy layer and the icing, you'll find that you don't need any butter or syrup for these pancakes. They're warm, soft, and the mousse makes for a gooey bite. You might want to split these with someone if you're having eggs, bacon/sausage, and hash browns too, because they're quite filling.
Ethan Anderton
The Hoverchoc Pancake Tacos offer a similar sweet treat, but in a much less purple fashion (and sadly, they won't make you fly like the movie's Hoverchocs). Instead, the three silver dollar chocolate pancakes offer a nice accompaniment to the cheesecake mousse, especially when combined with the fresh strawberries and chocolate chips placed on top of the creamy mixture. Again, you'll be pleased that you don't need any syrup, because these breakfast tacos are sweet enough already.
Ethan Anderton
If there's one part of the "Wonka" IHOP menu that's disappointing, it's the Daydream Berry Biscuit. There's enough cheesecake mousse, mixed berry topping, and purple cream cheese icing to keep the biscuit from being too dry. However, the berry topping flavor cuts through the cheesecake and cream cheese flavors in a displeasing way. I don't know if it's the berry mix or just how these berries mesh with the cream cheese mousse, but the combined flavors just didn't tickle my tastebuds in the same way as the pancakes. They can't all be Golden Ticket winners, I suppose.
So there you have it, a little nutritional nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men. I tried the "Wonka" menu at IHOP and lived to tell the tale. Granted, I split these items with my family, because otherwise I would have been as stuffed as a blueberry, just like Violet Beauregarde. Even so, just a sampling of these items was enough to fill me up.
The "Wonka" menu is available at IHOP through January 7, 2024.