Last December 21, 2016 (to be exact), Pepper Lunch launched a new location at our local SM Mall. Just to provide a little background, Pepper Lunch was created in 1994 by chef and inventor Kunio Ichinose, who wanted to serve quality fast food without hiring a chef. That’s a pretty good idea huh!? Although we had previously seen that the location had opened, we only had an opportunity to try Pepper Lunch just yesterday. The restaurant was clean and you could smell the aroma of the food while you wait for your meal to be served. There are so many entrees to choose from but I ordered the Garlic Beef Pepper Rice and my husband ordered the Teriyaki Beef Pepper Rice.
Garlic Beef Pepper Rice P235
Teriyaki Beef Pepper Rice with Egg
The P80 bonus meal that you can get with an order of any main dish includes a large drink of your choice plus you have 3 choices of side dish to choose from Miso/Seasonal Soup, Mashed Potatoes, or Ice Cream. We chose the Mashed Potatoes and thought it was delicious. A little tip: The sides are not served on the hot plate, so you really have to eat it while it is still warm.
We only waited for about 5 minutes and the lady came to deliver our food. Mine came first and it was sizzling hot! They claim that the secret to the juicy and tender taste of Pepper Lunch are: they use a patented electromagnetic cooker with a unique design created in Japan. The metal plates are heated quickly to 250-degree Celsius which actually cooks the food at your table (and also keeps the food hot while you eat). It’s a lot like eating sizzling sisig, but the difference with this one is your choice of how rare or well-done you prefer your meat cooked. You can stir everything up if you like it “rice box style”, but we we preferred not to mix it. The experience was actually a lot of fun and very unique. The food was hot and you don’t have to worry about any of it getting cold. If you’re really hungry and want to finish this kind of meal quickly, it’s pretty hard to do that. It’s just too hot. How’s the quality of the meat? That was going to be the big question with this restaurant. They’re doing everything right from preparation to presentation but the truly important thing is quality and taste. It can be difficult to find really good cuts of beef in the Philippines. I would rate the quality of the beef above average, but not on par with something like a Beef Tenderloin. There is a Premium Beef plate and I’d love to see what the quality of that beef is like. The meat is pretty tender and seasoned properly. The quality of the rice was excellent. Depending on which flavor you chose, there are two sauces you can use at the table (Honey Brown Sauce and Garlic Soy Sauce). These sauces really go great together with the meat.
Honey Brown Sauce and Garlic Soy Sauce with salt and pepper seasonings
We will definitely go back again and try some of their other entrees. I will keep you updated.
Have you ever dined at Pepper Lunch? Feel free to share your experience and let me know what is your favorite menu item.