Restaurant Review: Pepper Lunch

By Sherman Chan,
Special to The Post

Pepper Lunch is another popular Japanese chain setting up shop in Canada. It offers a sizzling hot iron plate and signature pepper rice for your DIY enjoyment.
The coffee was pretty smooth and aromatic, but not particularly strong. We were started off with the Salmon Pepper Rice.  Even after fully cooking the salmon, it was still moist. The seared crispy bits were a nice contrast to the soft ingredients. There was a generous sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper. The dish came with two different sauces - sweet honey brown and garlic soy. I found the sweet honey brown a better fit with the delicate salmon.
Next we had the Black Pepper Rice with sliced Angus beef and egg. We could control how well done the beef was cooked on the super hot plate. We mixed all of the ingredients with the egg yolk. With this dish, the garlic soy seemed to go a bit better. I found this concoction to be more filling because of the tender slices of beef and cooked egg.
The Wagyu Hamburger Steak served with pepper butter, black pepper and onion sauce ,was nicely seared. It formed a caramelized and crispy crust. The hamburger steak was moist and flavourful  - especially from the sweet and salty onion sauce. We tried the Ribeye Steak with mash potatoes and veggies. The heat of the iron plate was so intense that the completely raw steak was cooked and seared by the residual heat. We prepared the Angus steak medium-rare. it was tender. Thanks to the dusting of black pepper and pepper butter, there was no absence of aroma and taste either. Overall, I enjoyed the food at Pepper Lunch. The quality was definitely there. Although prices were on the higher side, they do reflect the material costs.Sherman Chan is the #1 ranked food blogger on the Vancouver portal of Urbanspoon.com. Read more of his reviews at www.shermansfoodadventures.com.

5951 Number 3 Road, Richmond, BC

The Good:
• Ingredients are of good quality
• Fun with your food
• Tasty sauces

The Bad:
• Can get a bit messy and you will smell like the food after

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