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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The cheese & chocolate courses equally…both sound fantastic!
Definitely the cheese course- how can anyone resist melted cheese? Plus you get the combo of sweet and salty (my fav!)- a winner for sure!
YUM – CHOCOLATE PLEASE!
( Desserts always the best part of any meal )
I love The Melting Pot! My favorite course is the cheese fondue. Cheese and bread?? I’m a happy girl!
It would be a tie between the cheese and teriyaki-marinated sirloin! Both sound incredible!
Chocolate for sure!
I would love to try them all! i think the cheese would be the best though !
Dessert! Dessert! Dessert! for chocolate, chocolate, chocolate! 🙂 Your meal looked fantastic, and I’ve never been to the Melting Pot before. I’d love to try it out!
My favorite would definitely be the dessert course, though cheese is not far behind!
I love the melting pot!! Although the chocolate is probably my favorite course taste-wise, I always have a lot of fun cooking the veggies and meat 🙂
I have never been to the Melting Pot. There is one near where my daughter lives. So if I won I would take her and together we would share the experience! It looks realy yummy!
I have never been to one! The cheese looks so good…I am a cheese fan for sure but the chocolate looks amazing as well!
I love cheese! But the chocolate would definitely be a very close second.
Definitely the cheese !!!!!!!
Yummm, I have wanted to try The Melting Pot for so long now! I think I would be most excited about the dessert, but it all looks GREAT!
Cheese, cheese, and cheese. Wait…did I mention cheese?! 🙂
this is so great! my boyfriend and I are about to start our spring semesters and will definitely have some scheduling challenges. i would love to have this gift card as a reason to get out of the house and do something special!
No question about it… DESSERT COURSE!!!!
I may be in the minority, but I always love the entree course at fondue places. It adds a little fun to cook the food yourself and try all the dipping sauces!
CHEESE! Nothing better than bread and apple dipped into melty gooey cheese. YUM
I have never been to it yet but always wanted to try the cheese course!!
The cheese course for sure!! The cheese/bacon/apple combo sounds amazing!
I have never been but would look forward to the dark chocolate the most 🙂 shrimp is a close second!
Cheeeeeese please! My friends usually poke fun at me because I love cheese probably a little too much for an 18 year old. And we have a Melting Pot in downtown Seattle so it’s perfect for a dinner date! 🙂
Oh this is a tough call! I’m a huge fan of dark chocolate, but I love their cheese course! The one you had sounded delish!
The cheese looks amazing!!
I have never been to The Melting Pot before. My husband and I are about to have 19th anniversary, that looks like a great place to go! Pretty hard to choose between chocolate and cheese, but I would have to pick the chocolate…
What a great giveaway! I’ve never had fondue. I’d have to say that the chocolate is what I would be the most excited for.
I just stumbled upon your blog and I’m officially obsessed – especially because you’re originally from the NW suburbs of Chicago!
I’d definitely look forward to the cheese – I’m obsessed with cheese and the Melting Pots delicious choices of cheese flavors makes me super excited.
I have a hard time saying no to any kind of cheese so that would be my pick!
It’s a tie between cheese and dessert! Yum!
I would definitely look forward to the entree course – the dipping sauces sound so good!
Being from Wisconsin I must say CHEESE PLEASE!!!
Oh, that you cheese fondue sounds amazing! I have been asking my husband to try to out the melting pot, now i will have to insist!
Definitely entree! Those dipping sauces look delish!
The chocolate , Creme brûlée fondue that you spoke of 😀 sounds heavenly
I love the cheese fondue along with the salads. The best time I have had at the Melting Pot is taking my two girls there with my husband for a family date night. We’ve only done this once, but the girls continue to ask to go back. It’s pricey, but what a memory! Would enjoy taking them again.
Ooo looks so delicious! I’d want to try that dessert platter! Yummm 🙂
I would love to have anything at the Melting Pot but I would look forward to dessert the most. It’s the best part of a meal!!
I looooovvvveee Melting Pot and everything about the meal. I have to say, though, that the cheese is probably my favorite!!!
That looks like such a fun date night! I’m sure my husband would agree, but we would for sure enjoy the chocolate part! 🙂 Yumm!
Cheeeeese!!!!
cheese and dessert hands down!!!!!!
The dessert course… Perfectly sweet ending to such a savory intimate meal! LOVE the Melting Pot- but hubby and I haven’t been able to go in a while.
I would definitely love the chocolate the best! My boyfriend and I have our anniversary coming up and have been thinking of going to the melting pot.
I would be most excited for the dessert! Would love to try the white chocolate creme brulee dip:)
I would love, love, love that cheese course!!
Chocolate. I am a chocaholic of the worst kind. Love it
Wow! That’s a hard one! I’ve never been to The Melting Pot, but I am definitely a dessert girl all the way! I would be stoked to try the different things dipped in amazing chocolate!
Mmm, I would go for the chocolate course! One can never go wrong with chocolate 😉