Steaking a claim

Pepper Lunch, a fast-food-style steakhouse popular in Japan, has opened its first branch in Hong Kong (below). The food comes on sizzling iron hotplates, heated up to 260 degrees Celsius, that keep the food warm.

'When customers get their food, they can see it in its fresh state and hear it cooking. It's a combination of sight, sound and taste,' says Louis Hayashi, the chain's business development manager.

The first Pepper Lunch opened in Ofuna, in Japan's Kanagawa prefecture, in 1994. It now has 200 outlets in Japan and branches in Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Pepper Lunch serves mostly beef dishes, with a few chicken and fish options. Selections include beef pepper rice (HK$40), hamburger steak with fried egg (above; HK$52), Shimofuri pepper steak (HK$78), Yawaraka loin steak (HK$75), double salmon steak (HK$75) and combination salmon and chicken (HK$72). If you want a lighter meal, there are three 'shake shake salads' of noodles, salad ingredients and toppings of sesame chicken, seaweed and spicy tuna (HK$15 each). Also offered are side dishes of soup (HK$10 to HK$12) and steamed rice (HK$8), and ice cream in caramel, black-sesame and green-tea flavours (HK$9).

Pepper Lunch is at shop F2, level 4A, Langham Place, 8 Argyle Street, Mong Kok, tel: 3514 4111.