Ryan and I went out on a fondue date last night!
Our first date night of 2013 took us to The Melting Pot in downtown Ocala.
Downtown Ocala is still decorated for the holidays, so we had fun walking around the square before dinner and taking in the holiday sights before they’re put away until next year.
Once we meandered over to the restaurant, we were immediately greeted by the hostess and escorted to a cozy booth.
Drinks!
Tipsy Turtle + Blackberry Bourbon Bramble
Ryan and I planned our date night after I received a press release from The Melting Pot inviting me to try some of the dishes on the restaurant’s new Skinny Dipping menu. The Skinny Dipping menu features three courses – a salad, fondue entrée and dark chocolate fondue dessert – for less than 700 calories. I selected a salad and entrée off the Skinny Dipping menu last night and loved both of my choices! (I veered off the Skinny Dipping menu for the cheese and chocolate fondue courses.)
Our meal began with the cheese fondue!
Ryan and I selected the special of the day which included a big pot of brie and bacon cheese fondue, served with bread, tart apple slices and fresh vegetables for dipping.
Oh cheese fondue, you are so fabulous!
Our waitress suggested placing a piece of bread and an apple slice on our fondue forks at the same time before dipping it into the cheese and the flavor combination was fantastic!
Salads were delivered to our table shortly after we finished the cheese course.
I ordered the spinach salad topped with baby Portobello mushrooms, red onion, chopped bacon, Roma tomatoes and a warm burgundy shallot vinaigrette. Though this salad came off the Skinny Dipping menu, it didn’t taste lightened up at all! The toppings were quite generous and the dressing was delicious.
When it came time to order our entrees, I decided to go for a combination of shrimp and teriyaki-marinated sirloin.
At first I thought the portion looked rather small, but as I started eating, I filled up fast. (I think I had a head start on filling my belly with the cheese course!)
Every entrée comes with fresh vegetables to cook in your fondue pot and I couldn’t get enough of the mushrooms! They were the best, especially when dipped in the various sauces.
Ryan and I both agreed that the five dipping sauces that came with our entrees added so much to our meal. My favorite two sauces were the teriyaki and the mild, yogurt-based curry sauce.
And then it was time for dessert! The shining star of any fondue experience!
It didn’t take much convincing from our waitress for us to order the crème brûlée white chocolate fondue for dessert.
Caramel shavings were sprinkled atop creamy white chocolate and set afire before we cracked the caramel coating with our fondue forks and dipping items.
I am normally not a huge white chocolate fan, but the caramel component of this fondue took it to another level. Ryan and I used our spoons to get every last bit of chocolate out of our fondue pot. Incredible!
And now here’s the really fun part!
One of YOU will win a $100 gift card to The Melting Pot to enjoy your own fantastic fondue experience! (To find a location near you, you can visit The Melting Pot’s Locations page.)
To enter this giveaway, please tell me what course you would look forward to enjoying the most if you won the gift card. Cheese? Chocolate? Entrée?
I will randomly select a winner on Tuesday.
Good luck!!!
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Go to go with the cheese, both hubby and I love Melting Pot’s cheese fondue, we could make a meal of that alone!
That’s a hard question since both cheese and dessert are delicious! I’m going to go with the cheese fondue! Savory wins over sweet today! Glad you had a good time 🙂
It would be a toss up between the cheese and chocolate!! I’ve never actually tried fondue, but I definitely want to!
It’s a tough choice, but I gotta go cheese!
I would love some chocolate fondue!
The caramel white chocolate fondue sounds delicious! I would love to try it!! 🙂
I’m normally a chocolate girl all the way, but something about a pot of melted cheese is just so delicious!
I would love to try their cheese fondue!
i would have to say cheese for sure! that brie and bacon sounded amazing
Chocolate!
I looove the melting pot!! I’d definitely pick the dessert course! no doubt about it 😀
Not the biggest cheese fan, but love me some chocolate!!
Definitely the chocolate. The only thing better than dark chocolate is melted dark chocolate!
I’d love the chocolate fondue, but the cheese I could eat every single day!
We almost went to the Melting Pot for our anniversary last week, but after feeling under the weather, didn’t want to splurge and not be able to taste our food! I could live on the cheese fondue, so clearly that’s my favorite!
Looks like you had a fun night! I’d have to go with cheese!
This is so tricky because cheese and chocolate are my all time favorite foods! I think I will have to go with the cheese with apples and bread. Yum!
The cheese fondue for sure! The apple and bread dipped in cheese sounds amazing!
The crème brûlée looks and sounds absolutely fantastic! That would definitely be the part of the meal I would look forward to the most! Yummy! 🙂
I am a cheese lover all the way buuut the dessert fondue just looks absolutely amazing!!!! I have to go with dessert 🙂
Cheese for sure!!
I would be lying to myself if I said I wanted to try anything other than the dessert! I would love to try the gram cracker marshmallows, the look amazing in that picture!
I have been meaning to try the Melting Pot forever! I’m a dessert girl all the way, so any type of chocolate fondue would be right up my alley.
Sooo hard to choose!! But I think the Brie and bacon cheese fondue would be my favorite!!
This would make the perfect date night for me and my boyfriend! I am a cheese lover, so bread dipped in gooey cheese is like my heaven!
Dark chocolate dessert – I have never been to melting pot although have been wanting to for many years!
Ohhh my that meal looks amazing! I am usually a chocolate/dessert/sweets person no matter what, but that cheese fondue you started with looks delicious; I think that is what I would actually look forward to most!
It’s all about the cheese. That brie fondue sounds amazing.
Chocolate all the way! That dessert plate looks incredible!!!!
Unsurprisingly, I would have to go CHOCOLATE all the way!
That chocolate dessert sounds delicious!! I have never been there because I’ve heard it was pricey, but this gift card would give me the perfect excuse!!
Chocolate ! With out question 😉
The Chocolate course for sure- yummm!!! Thanks! 🙂
The dessert course!! The banana fosters is delicous!!!
That caramel brulee fondue looks incredible! I do like the simplicity of the vegetables and sauces, though.
Chocolate for sure!
I’ve always wanted to try that restaurant! I love cheese on just about everything. I was salivating over your pics! 🙂
chocolate for this preggo:)
Cheese! That brie and bacon with apples and bread sound heavenly.
Oooooo that isn’t an easy question!!! I am going to have to go with dessert – dark chocolate specifically. YUM!
Cheese and chocolate!!! I am a sucker for both!!
I want to eat it all!! Never been to melting pot but would love to have a date night with my hubby there!
I would LOVE to try the chocolate course! The BEST part in my opinion!! It looks and sounds delicious! 🙂
Cheese please!
Chocolate!!!
Cheeeesseeeee! Im a savory girl all the way
choc.o.late.
Definitely the chocolate course!!! 🙂
I would really look forward to the dessert. Although I do really enjoy cheese and if there was steak involved that would be amazing. Or duck like at Korian BBQ. Mmmmm
How could I pick just one course?! I guess I’ll go with the starter cheese course; the cheese, apple, and bread combo sounds incredible!