One of my favorite things to do is drive around and find different and interesting places to eat at. There's something about hopping in the car, taking a relaxing drive and finding something new, that I just LOVE. Recently I came across a restaurant called the Melting Pot, which is basically a Fondu place. My grandparents took me there when they came up to visit and then my boyfriend treated me their for a nice date. It's a special occasion kind of restaurant since it's pretty pricey. It's probably for the best, because it's practically a four coarse meal and if I ate it often I'd blow up like a balloon from all the fondu.
First of all, I loved how the place was decorated. The outside of the restaurant was decorated with beautiful and elegant flower shaped lights wrapped around the trees. We went during the day, but I imagine it would look so beautiful at night with all the lights lit up. It also had places to sit down around a fire to relax with friends. It would be a great place to go on a romantic date. (*hint* *hint* to those of you reading this who are men)
The inside was decorated with beautiful and colorful things such as walls that had bubbly water that changed colors. There were also bright bottles set up near the tables and dim lights to make the setting more romantic. Each table was also divided into little cubicles to give people more privacy.
The first coarse of the meal is choosing a cheese dip. I chose the Wisconsin cheese, which is my favorite because it has blue cheese in it. What's really cool about this restaurant is that they prepare the food right in front of you. For the cheese dip they brought out different types of bread, veggies and apples to dip into the sauce.
The next two courses are a salad and the meat. What's really unique about the meat is that the people dining out are the ones who have to cook and prepare the meat, not the chefs. First, you have to choose a broth that you want the meat to cook in. I usually choose the Coq Au Vin, which is a burgundy wine infused with fresh herbs, spices and mushrooms. Next each person gets to choose their own entree of meat. I usually order the classic, which comes with angus sirloin, memphis-style BBQ pork medallion, shrimp, chicken and teriyaki-marinated sirloin. The meat comes raw along with different colored broiler sticks for each person. You have to then cook the meat by stabbing it with the sticks and leaving it in the pot for a couple of minutes to cook. Each person has their own colored sticks so that they can tell which meat is theirs. The meal also comes with different sauces to dip the meat into such as curry and teriyaki glaze.
Last, but definitely not least is dessert! You get to choose your chocolate and then are given different treats to dip into the chocolate such as rice krispee treats, banana's and strawberries. I usually choose the flaming turtle, which is a combination of milk chocolate, caramel and pecans.
Have you ever been to the melting pot? What did you think of it and which part of the meal was your favorite? (My favorite has to be dipping the apples into the cheese!)
