Years ago only available in fine dining restaurants great steaks had steep prices. Due to the lengthy process in cooking and savoring the luxury food, steaks could only be consumed during dinner.

It took a revolutionary cooking system to change the way of enjoying steaks. Chef Kunio Ichinose, who has been in the restaurant business since 1970 collaborated with an electric power company and a kitchen instrument manufacturer. The result was an iron plate that when preheated on electromagnetic cooker can make food stay hot at 80C for up to 20 minutes.

In 1994 Chef Kunio Ichinose and partner Chef Nario Yajima opened Pepper Lunch Restaurant in Ofuna, Kanagawa, Japan serving six different steak dishes, side menus, salad and drinks. All the dishes cost half compared to what Ichinose previously offered.

Ichinose named the restaurant Pepper Lunch for its unusual term that piques curiosity. The word "Pepper" was chosen because most of the menu is presented with the best pepper freshly ground. While the word "Lunch" is selected because lunch is identical with speedy dining atmosphere where each person only has a short time to finish the meal.

On Saturday morning, March 16, 2013, along with 24 members of the Indonesian Food Blogger Group (IDFB), I visited a new Pepper Lunch outlet in Cilandak Town Square, Jakarta for the group gathering.

Pepper Lunch has come a long way since its first restaurant in Ofuna. The Pepper Lunch franchise now has a total of 250 outlets in Asia and Australia, including 130 in Japan and 17 in Indonesia spread across 6 major cities: Jakarta, Bali, Medan, Surabaya, Bandung and Makassar.

Sizzle It Your Way at Pepper Lunch Citos was the theme for the IDFB meet up.

The morning’s program began with registration and distribution of coupons with 3 menu choices: chicken pepper rice, beef pepper rice and salmon pepper rice. Each participants chose one out of the three selections.

According to Rika Fardani, the marketing manager of Pepper Lunch, the eatery adheres to the standards of food safety and food hygiene. Prime ingredients serve daily include Australian beef, Norwegian salmon, butter with a soft texture and the best quality ground pepper. Pepper is one of the most important cooking components; hence leftover for the day will not be used for the following day.

Vania Sampereru representing the IDFB said the day’s event is a way for members to get to know each other while reviewing food to be tasted and restaurant visited. IDFB will have similar activities in the immediate future.

Our order finally came sizzling their way to the tables. Mine was beef pepper rice, the favorite among Pepper Lunch customers. It is also a historical dish. Decades before the first Pepper Lunch opened, Chef Kunio Ichinose brought home an iron plate which was later used by his wife to serve dinner consisting of thinly-sliced beef and rice seasoned with pepper and soya sauce. The delicious meal was the first beef pepper rice, and the iron plate has since developed into profitable invention.

At Pepper Lunch, the beef pepper rice was placed on a hot metal plate. White rice sprinkled with pepper, corn, spring onions, butter and the prime beef surrounding it certainly tempted anybody around to try the dish right away.

I was a little bit confused about how to begin but was rest assured that Pepper Lunch servers would help guests concoct all the ingredients. Some read the “how to” in the Oil Ring, the paper covering the side of the hot plate, or watched the TV screen in the restaurant.

We were guided to slowly mix the butter with all ingredients to prevent dryness. Pepper Lunch butter is an original recipe, a blend of crispy fried garlic and a special sauce.

When evenly mixed and the meat color has changed to brown, we added sauce into the dish for distinct taste. Two sauces will always be available at each table: amakuchi (honey brown sauce) and karakuchi (garlic soy sauce).

I tried to slowly cherish my beef pepper rice, after all I was the chef of my own food. However, the warm feast with a strong pepper aroma was a seduction to immediately finish it.

The meal was zesty rich. Salty, sweet and savory danced into the harmony of flavors.

Fluffy texture of rice and corn complemented tender and juicy beef with seasonings absorbed by even the tiniest cut with pepper as the dominant leader.

Friendship, beef pepper rice, cold red velvet for dessert and a bottle Mirai ocha contributed to IDFB’s memorable get together.

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Text: Dian Anggraini

Images: Pepper Lunch, Omar Niode Foundation