I was lucky enough to be invited to a special tasting at IHOP for their brand new Wonka crossover menu. Since I had previously covered the menu and had a good idea of what would be served, I was a little wary about how anyone would be able to consume more than a quarter of a single dish and go on with their day. Wisely, the tasting featured small versions of the featured dishes, and with some black coffee, I was just about able to make it through the whole menu.

In other words, I tried pretty much everything on the IHOPxWonka menu. (We skipped the kid's breakfast items.) Here are my thoughts on what’s worth trying, and what’s better left to the movies.

Wonka's Perfectly Purple Pancakes

Now these pancakes are pretty standard… except for the fact that they are layered with purple icing (and gold dust of course). While these aren’t the sweetest things on the menu, if you do want to try them, I’d recommend the short stack instead of a tall stack for anyone planning on finishing them (then again, you can also scrape some of the frosting off).

Daydream Berry Biscuit

I would absolutely completely recommend skipping this dish. In fact, I wish that I had. Instead, I took a single bite, and that bite pretty much knocked me out of the running for the rest of the tasting. While I had been expecting sweetness from the topping of the biscuit (like the pancakes), I had not expected the biscuit itself to taste mostly of powdered sugar. I’d be surprised if anyone could make their way through even half of a portion of this dish.

Fantastical Wonka Burger

This is a pretty standard (and pretty good) loaded burger, making it the perfect dish for anyone who is avoiding dessert in their Wonka meal. However, it’s worth noting that beyond the Wonka themed name, there is no other Wonka theme that comes with the burger itself. No purple bun… no gold dust… not even fake frosting.

Dreamy Lemonade

This drink is absolutely Instagrammable. In fact, I’d even say it’s worth getting just to take a picture of it, with its bright pink color, rainbow sprinkles rim, and cotton candy floater. As for the drinking experience, I would be more likely to call it a punch than a lemonade, as there was no discernable lemon flavor, and it was, unsurprisingly, extremely sweet. The cotton candy was a fun touch, and the perfect serving of cloudlike candy.

Scrumdiddlyumptious Strawberry Hot Chocolate

This drink was, for lack of a better term, kind of gross, in my opinion. Hot chocolate is lovely on it's own, why would you add strawberry syrup? Still, with the gold dusting and the fact that kids love sweets, this syrupy drink will likely be a hit with the young ones, but probably no one else.

Hoverchoc Pancake Tacos

If you want to order something fun, sweet, and fully edible from the Wonka menu, I would absolutely go for the pancake tacos. (That definitely feels like a wholly original sentence.) The pancakes are chocolate but not too sweet, and they contrast well with the icing filling and tart berries. I really enjoyed this dish, and I'd definitely order it again.

The overall menu

I think most of the items on IHOP's Wonka menu are probably better for photos than eating, but that's probably the point. It's fun to try some ridiculous and purple food, especially in celebration of a movie that glorifies candy. It's good that there are at least a couple items on the menu that people will actually enjoy eating, but it would have been nice to see a little more fun taken with the burger and maybe another less-sweet option for adults who want to bring a little Wonka magic into their lives.

An advance tasting of the Wonka menu was provided in advance by IHOP.

Wonka is hitting theaters December 15. Buy tickets on Fandango or Atom Tickets.

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