Secret online menus provide different selections of food and drink

Fast food restaurants and quick food stops are great places to grab a hamburger or pick up a refreshing drink, but are typically places you wish to get in and get out of. They are also places where you can impress your friends with knowledge of secret menus or add-ons which are not on the menu, if you dig a little deeper.

Many chains such as Burger King, Chipotle, McDonald’s and Taco Bell have these “secret menus,” but most items are unknown to the general public or rarely ordered.

Jamba Juice features a large secret menu, which includes three drinks reviewed by The Feather Online staffers Nick LeBlanc, Julian Castro and Alexander Rurik. LeBlanc ordered the Pink Starburst.

“The pink star was sweet and had a strong strawberry taste and was similar to strawberry surf rider,” Leblanc said. “It didn’t taste like an actual pink Starburst so the name of the drink falsely represents it.”

Castro tried the San Diego. He found the drink tasted like a Lemonhead candy.

“The San Diego was sour, kind of tasting like a candy fruit,” Castro said. “It was light tan and had a great aftertaste. It tasted exactly like a Lemonhead. I would definitely get that drink again.”

Castro also tasted the drink Peaches & Cream and discovered it tasted like a frozen peach.

“I decided to go with the Peaches & Cream because I love peaches and a Jamba Juice spin on it with cream sounded really good,” Castro said. “It wasn’t very sweet and tasted exactly like a frozen peach. I wasn’t sure where the cream part came in.

Many secret menus are the result of employees and former employees of stores putting their own favorite drink they have created on a list. Almost all of these lists are found online.

Starbucks is a great example of this because of how easy it is to put a personal spin on well-known coffee drinks. When a barista creates their own favorite recipe, they can record it and add it to the secret menu if they choose.

Baristas like Christina from Starbucks will sometimes try different recipes they find online. Christina explains her experience with the secret menus.

“I am a barista here at Starbucks,” Christina said. “I found the Captain Crunch and decided to try it. It ended up being really gross. Baristas or old baristas can go on it and put drinks that they’ve made up on there. These can be found online and as far as I know it’s not sponsored by Starbucks.”

In-N-Out is another fast food shop that with a popular secret menu. If you are interested, you can go in and ask for animal style fries which will add melted cheese, 1000 island sauce, and grilled onions to the top of your fries. If you are extra brave, then the super animal style fries are for you which includes a whole hamburger patty. You can also ask for your fries extra well done or a neapolitan milkshake, which can be a large.

While many websites may list a secret menu, specific stores might not always know the recipe. It might be a seasonal item only, or they might not have heard of the thing you’re trying to order in the first place. However, at some places if you take the recipe in with you they will make it for you.

So remember the next time you go inside a fast food shop, look online to see if they have secret menus so that your can impress your friends and family with your ordering knowledge.

For more food reviews, read about the Ginza Bistro asian cuisine.

This author can be reached via twitter @alexrurik23 and via email [email protected]