Spice is nice
It’s hard to miss the steady stream of people lined up outside Pepper Lunch every time you visit Power Plant Mall. A small crowd of people waiting to be seated in a restaurant has the same effect as any traffic-causing accident on the highway. Curious passers-by slow down and take in as much information about the scene as they possibly can until they have to move on. Before you know it, you’re standing in line as well, wondering what’s so special about this new place.
If you haven’t heard about it yet nor have you succumbed to your curious stomach, Pepper Lunch is a DIY fast food steakhouse from Japan (co-owned by Cecile and Jeroen van Straten) where meals are served to you on sizzling hot iron plates patented in Japan. You get to cook your own food (the unique hot plate can heat up to a 260 degrees Celsius), and keep your food warm for more than 20 minutes. More than just enjoying the experience, you can relish the fact that all their ingredients are fresh and premium. For instance, their black pepper is prepared every morning, their beef is from Australia and New Zealand, they get their salmon from Norway, and they choose only the best cuts for all meat products. You can choose from their selection of delectable steaks and cook them exactly the way you want them. They even provide different sauces for you to try — their Honey Brown sauce or their Garlic Soy sauce, both of which are delicious.
The fun starts when your order is served, and you begin mixing, cooking your steaks, and dousing your food with Honey Brown sauce. The iron plate is so hot, they have a ring of paper around it to prevent you from experiencing searing pain while eating. It encourages you to — and I quote — “Hurry!! Mix Them Up!!” or “Hurry!! Turn It Over!!” depending on what you order. (Every time I read this, I imagine a Japanese anime character telling me to “Hurry!! Mix them up!!” in her tiny voice.) It’s important to start cooking your food as soon as it is served to keep it from burning and sticking to your plate. If you’re a little doubtful of your culinary skills, even on a hot plate, Pepper Lunch’s friendly staff is more than happy to assist you with your meal. There are also short educational videos playing in locations around the store showing you how to cook specific items in the menu.
Aside from their best-selling steak meals (the highly recommend their Hamburger Steak with Fried Egg and Shimofuri Pepper Steak), their Pepper Rice meals are also making waves. It’s a hefty serving of rice showered with black pepper, corn, spring onions, and your choice of meat — beef, chicken, or salmon. Delicious, delicious, delicious. The first time I tried it, I was overwhelmed by the spicy flavor of the pepper because I have low tolerance for anything spicy. On my second visit, I was pleasantly surprised and extremely impressed to see a small sign that asked, “Not fond of pepper?” Yes, they leave out the pepper in your Pepper Rice meals. My friends are incredulous every time I order my favorite Salmon Pepper Rice with no pepper (“So you’re eating… just lunch?”). I don’t at all miss out on the pepper flavor though, because I add exactly as much pepper as I want at the table. After all, it is a DIY restaurant, and I’ll pepper my food as much as I want to.
Another must-try is their Shake! Shake! Salads, which come in small plastic cups but pack a yummy Japanese punch. Their flavors are unique and delicious, like Sesame Chicken and Seaweed, and they even have a small serving of soba noodles, which adds a different texture to your leafy salad. As you can tell from their names, you have to “shake, shake” these salads to spread the sauce and toss the ingredients all around. It’s another Pepper Lunch meal that’s incredibly fun to mix up.
All the meals are incredibly filling, but don’t forget to leave room for their desserts. Their green tea Matcha Cheesecake is an interesting choice for its unique flavor, but their molten chocolate cake was the best surprise. Soft, tender chocolate cake oozing with melted chocolate that is best paired with their soft serve ice cream.
The line outside Pepper Lunch may seem daunting but the good news is that it’s worth the wait. The even better news is that the wait may not even be that long. Pepper Lunch has devised an ingenious and convenient seating system that secures your party a table while you wait in line and mull over what you want to order. By the time you reach the counters, one of the staff members will hand you your table number. After ordering, you go straight to your table and wait for your food to be delivered to you. The whole dining experience is casual and fun, and it’s made even more pleasurable by the perpetually pleasant staff. For all the times I’ve visited Pepper Lunch, it seems that they’re always smiling and ready to serve. It must be something in the water — or perhaps the pepper.
Cook-it-yourself steaks, shaken (not tossed) salads, and peppered rice — Pepper Lunch as certainly introduced us to a new dining concept. It may have been curiosity and word-of-mouth that drew us close before, now we can’t resist their appetizing offerings, efficient service and enjoyable dining experience. Get in line, people, because this novelty is quickly becoming a favorite.
