Pepper Lunch with The Breakfast Club

I have heard about Pepper Lunch hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun from friends who had traveled and eaten in Japan way back even before it was brought here in the Philippines.  While the food, they said were crave-worthy, it was the cooking of your chosen dish that can make the experience quite a ride.  I made a mental note about Pepper Lunch when I was contemplating on traveling to Japan but as luck would have it, it was brought here in the country way before I managed to save up for a plane ticket.

A while back, I had these episodes when Pepper Lunch cravings wouldn’t let up that I made several trips to Pepper Lunch in Shangri La alone just to appease my cravings.  The distinct flavor of their pepper rice and the sizzling thin slices of teriyaki beef mixed together with the bright wobbly egg was my default fare.  Loyalty to the dish got the better off me that the only dish I tried aside from Teriyaki Beef Pepper Rice with Egg was the Rib Eye Steak.  What a bore, I know.

Good thing though that our friends at Breakfast Magazine invited several food bloggers at Pepper Lunch through their Breakfast Club to learn something about this restaurant and to sample some of their dishes.  This gave a chance to reacquaint with an old favorite and to check on what I have been missing all these years.

While it was tempting to go for the usual, it was a good thing that one of my favorite food bloggers, Richie The Pickiest Eater beat me into ordering it. My Good friends and fellow bloggers Roch and Peachy suggested sticking to the usual game plan of ordering different dish each for the sake of variety.  As expected, game plan worked out as seeing others savor their chosen dish entirely different from one another made me excited on going back to sample other options than the usual.

In a nutshell, Pepper Lunch is a D.I.Y. fast and casual steakhouse which started out in Japan in 1994 and has now over 150 outlets.  Variety on the menu is quite impressive but my friends were right saying that the experience of cooking your dish on a teppan is an experience in itself.  Pepper Lunch’s teppan is a uniquely designed patented electromagnetic cooker patent registered in Japan.  Teppan heats quickly up to 260 degree Celsius and keeps itself warm for 20 minutes.  It was said that it is the secret to the juicy and tender taste of meat dishes at pepper lunch.

Cooking your own food using the teppan can be a tad too intimidating especially to some who have not tried it yet.  Fear not as the restaurant was peppered with LCD monitors showing step by step instructions on how to go about cooking your food with the teppan.  The teppans itself are served with instructional paper encircling the entire pan.

Aside from salt and pepper readily available on the table for the diner’s disposal, two kinds of sauces that Pepper Lunch is famous for are also there for the taking.  Between honey brown sauce and garlic soy sauce, it was the former that I take particular liking.

Basically, the instruction calls for mixing together everything on your plate, add your preferred sauce, season well, mix some more, then enjoy.  But then again, you can go through the whole she bangs or formulate your own way of mixing or not mixing anything on your plate. I know some people who want their meat separated from the rice, while some have it otherwise. Also, it depends on the dish you choose to have.  It’s your call, what really matter is that you get the whole thing cooked and blended to your liking. Whatever floats your boat, buddy. No one will press charges.

During our dinner with the Breakfast Club, I have settled for Chicken and Angus Beef.  An order is served with rice, bean sprouts, string beans, and corn kernels.  One can opt for pepper rice, which I did, or just settle for the steam variant.  As expected, the chicken and the Angus beef were juicy and tender. I love the combination of flavor which was a bend from the usual teriyaki beef I normally have.  I did not do the mixing of everything together route as I want to focus more on the meat which fortunately did not disappoint.  I find the servings of the vegetables a tad too overwhelming in terms of proportion, especially that I didn’t care much about the bean sprout most of the time. But all in all, it was worth a try and I did not regret shying away from the usual.

Main dishes on their menu are separated base on their, shall I say, category.  There’s Pepper Rice, Premium Beef Steak, Steak, Combo, and Japanese.  The Chicken and Angus Beef I ordered falls on the Combo. Choices under this category I can recommend for people who are after variety as you get to have two kinds of mean in one single order.  While their Beef Pepper Rice under the Pepper Rice category is the basic and most favored dish of some people I know, still it is their Teriyaki Beef Pepper Rice I can highly recommend.  I have also tried their Big Rib Eye Steak before and I must say that it live up to its name.

Extra egg and doubling the servings of beef are available as add-ons to some dishes. With minimal charge on top of its original price, one can personalized their meals depending on their liking. Pepper Lunch boast of their selected meat from Australia and New Zealand so it is guaranteed that these are of best breeds.  Side dish such as salads and soups are also available alongside variety of desserts.

I was half way through my enjoyable meal at Pepper Lunch and I was already making a mental note of what to try on my next visit. The Double Salmon Steak which Abet ordered looked enticing and less guilt inducing to me, so I would give it a go one of these days. The Curry Beef Pepper Rice with Cheese and the Beef Sukiyaki piqued my interest while browsing the menu so, these two go straight on my list as well.

Visiting Pepper Lunch again at Shangri La Mall feels like rekindling a relationship with an old friend.  I know I have a lot of catching up to do, but I couldn’t be more excited about that. Thanks to the beautiful ladies at Breakfast Magazine, it was a fun filled dinner with the Breakfast Club.

Pepper Lunch

Shangri-La
Garden Court Level, Shangri-la Plaza Mall
Ortigas Center
Mandaluyong City
Tel: (+632) 634 3231
Website:  www.pepperlunch.com.ph
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pepperlunchphil

Breakfast Magazine

Website: www.breakfastmag.com/
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/BreakfastMag/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/breakfastmag

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