IHOP - International house of pancakes
When I moved to the United states of America almost two years ago, I immediately noticed that American people value good breakfast. Two of the most popular breakfast items in the United states are fluffy pancakes and french toast, and there is a perfect place where you can get them both.
The place I am talking about, is called IHOP, which stands for International house of pancakes. But, like I already mentioned, you can get more than just pancakes there. In this entry, I will tell you all about the best foods that you can order at IHOP, and their special offers.
One of the IHOP restaurants that I have recently visited...
And an interior of IHOP.
What to order?
IHOP's menu.
IHOP - International house of pancakes has a pretty extensive menu for a chain. Unfortunately, I am not eating at IHOP as often as I would like, so I cannot (yet) say that I have tried everything on their menu, but these are the items that I love and I always have a hard time choosing which one to order. But these are definitely my top three menu items.
Three words: Stuffed french toast. I mean, french toast is a delicious dish by itself, but when it it stuffed with sweet cream, you can only imagine the deliciousness of it. The stuffed french toast at IHOP comes with two double slices of toast (which really is four slices), a load of delicious, creamy fillingin the middle, fresh strawberries, strawberry sauce, whipped cream and powdered sugar on top of it. Do you think you can handle it?
IHOP's stuffed french toast tastes even more delicious than it looks. Warning - it is super sweet!
Bananas foster are a typical New Orleans dish, and usually, a dish that is typical for a certain city, tastes best there. But bananas foster at IHOP are actually more than decent. They come with two generous bread slices, sliced bananas and a lot of raisins. Oh, and a rum sauce. Yummy!
Chocolate pancakes might sound very ordinary. Why? Because your regular definition of chocolate pancakes is regular pancake batter with a few chocolate chips in them. Well, not at IHOP! IHOP’s pancake batter is made with cocoa powder, which makes the pancakes look like a giant, round slice of chocolate. And yes, they have chocolate chips in them as well. Pancakes come in a stack of five, and they are topped either with butter or whipped cream and powdered sugar.
Chocolate pancakes and bananas foster.
When you are ordering pancakes, the waiter will ask you if you would like any sauce with it. Do not get scared, they are not talking about Sriracha sauce or something like that. They are talking about either chocolate sauce or strawberry sauce. Of course I tried both, and I cannot decide which one is better. And the strawberry sauce is delicious even on chocolate pancakes!
IHOP always offers four different syrups on the table. I am personally not a big fan of putting a syrup on my pancakes, because I find it too sweet, which is quite strange, since I love sweet food. But last time I was having pancakes at IHOP, I decided to try two of their syrups - the maple syrup and the blueberry syrup. I did not quite like the maple one as much as the blueberry one, but they were both pretty good.
Regarding the drinks, I have two favourites. In winter, I always choose their gingerbread hot chocolate, which is dense and creamy, and topped with a fair amount of whipped cream. When it is not too cold outside, I always order iced coffee with different flavours. My two personal favourite flavours are mocha and french vanilla. Their coffee is not very strong, but it is sweet and flavourful, and you get unlimited free refills. Yes, I said unlimited free refills.
When I am having pancakes, I realized that the best drink that goes with them, is simply the orange juice. Orange juice at IHOP is very sweet and flavourful, meaning it is not made from concentrate (like in some other restaurants), but from freshly squeezed oranges.
What about prices?
Do not let all the delicious food that I described above, scare you into thinking that good food means the prices are very high. While that fact is indeed true in some of the other restaurants, IHOP is an exception. You can get two food items and a drink for around fifteen dollars, which is a bargain, especially if you consider the fact that they are offering free refills on most of their drinks.
Special promotions
IHOP offers some pretty amazing perks if you join their mailing list. You will get a free short stack of pancakes just for joining the e - club! How cool is that? You will also get free pancakes on your birthday, and they will not even ask you for an ID to prove that it really is your birthday on that day.
The downside of their promotions Is that you can only get the pancakes at the IHOP location that is the closest to you. Well, I do not mind that policy, I was just thinking it would be cool that, in case you are travelling when a promotion is going on, you would be able to get the free pancakes in whatever city you are in.
IHOP often offers free short stacks of pancakes for random occasions if you are a member of their mailing list. Some of the occasions include the national pancake day, beginning of spring and so on. And despite the fact that the pancakes are free, they are still generously topped with whichever topping you choose. Hint: go for the peach topping!
A few words for the end…
IHOP - International house of pancakes is a great place to stop for breakfast during your road trip. You will find IHOP restaurants all along major highways, and most of their restaurants are open twenty four hours per day, you know what that means, right? If you crave pancakes in the middle of the night, you will never have to wait until the morning again to get them - just go to the nearest IHOP and satisfy your cravings.
