IHOP's Bananas Foster Brioche French Toast

I know, I know, you've judged this french toast before you've even read this blog post.

I would just like to point out - IHOP has always been there for me, whether it's escaping my cramped dorm room freshman year, writing the first 80 pages of my novel or trying to sober up after a night out, IHOP has always been my night-hub of choice (I can feel you eye-rolling Denny's lovers through my screen).

So why wouldn't I try the delicious looking Bananas Foster Brioche French Toast? I'm an adult, I have a job, I can afford to treat myself to something with Brioche in the title. And it is hard to say "no" when the photo looks like this:

The description was even more decadent:

"Bananas and Brioche will make you say oui oui to this breakfast-anytime French Toast. The thick, rich brioche bread dipped in a lightly sweetened vanilla batter and cooked to perfection serves as the perfect bed for fresh sliced bananas warmed with classic New Orleans Foster’s buttery-brown sugar glaze. Then, powdered sugar and whipped topping create the finishing touches!"

After reading that I knew I was going to order it. Now I don't normally tell you what time I eat the french toast I write about because 9/10 it's in the morning, like a normal sane human. But when I walked into this IHOP in South Florida it was 9:45pm and I was under deadline for a work video and I needed a nice quiet place to fill my face with french toast and get to work. I was ready to settle in for the long haul in my favourite home away from home.

However, even the things we love can betray us.

Shortly after I ordered, I was informed by the waitress that this fine establishment would be closing at 10:00pm. You read right, this IHOP, this known home of 24-Hour breakfast access would be closing in 15 minutes.

I wasn't angry, just disappointed, and a little confused because there was a giant "OPEN 24 HOURS" printed on the glass, but hey, I'm not gonna argue with someone who has just taken my food order. So I ordered a coffee, opened my laptop and tried to do a quick speed edit before my food arriv- and it's here:

As you can see this is not what I expected, not even what I lowered my expectations to expect. But I ate it, tipped my waitress 25% and was out of the restaurant and editing in my rental car by 9:57pm.

Presentation:

As you can see, it looks pretty bad, I don't know if the chef was in a rush or his wrist broke when pouring the caramel sauce, but to say the bananas were drowning would be an understatement. If my baby sister prepared this for me at home I would hand her back the plate and tell her to "do better".

Taste:

Despite the caramel bath, the french toast itself was quite good, standard IHOP consistency, easy to chew, not too sweet, the bananas were oddly cold, which was unexpected and though the caramel sauce was on the yummy side, there was way too much of it.

Overall:

It's IHOP guys, so there is a certain level of taste and service we who frequent the International House of Pancakes are accustomed to and this to me was very disappointing. BUT as with a lot of chain restaurants, it could just be a bad day or the fact that I walked in 15 minutes before closing time. Maybe, once I have washed the taste of the residual caramel out of my mouth I will brave the Bananas Foster Brioche French Toast again - at a more reasonable hour.

#frenchtoast