After all these years, a Pepper Lunch inspired restaurant has finally made its way to Markham. Within a week of opening, news traveled fast - everyone must be Pepper Lunch fans! So I made my way here with dad and sis on a Thursday night. We waited for almost an hour for a table - it was packed. While waiting, I thought the white / grey decor looked oddly familiar and turns out I was right - same tables as Dessert Kitchen!



I ordered the Supreme Beef Rice. At first bite, of course it's sizzling hot with peppery taste and I was pleasantly surprised that the sauce was hidden in the middle. But later on, I realized the beef had no taste, only saved a bit by the sweet corn. For $0.50 you can add extra toppings like garlic chips, green onion, corn, cheese, etc. I would suggest them to give more sauce, such as garlic soy sauce, sweet honey sauce, or even hot sauce, or maybe season the beef a bit? As my sister said, for the signature dish, this wasn't memorable enough.

Duck Breast Spaghetti in Tom Yum Sauce

Tried a bit of the Duck Breast Spaghetti in Tom Yum Sauce. I like the creaminess of the sauce, but it was too spicy for me. Now this was more flavorful and special, but probably oily/heavy to finish myself.

For pasta teppan, they have a variety of sauces (cream, tomato, spicy, curry) and protein (chicken, salmon, seafood), as well as topping additions (egg for $1).

Chef's Special Chicken Wings

Cut in half like Greyhound Cafe, these were crispy with a slight sweet honey flavor, but it wasn't spicy. Good :)

After badminton, we were in the area to try this lanzhou noodle place (兰州拉麵 ) for dinner on Saturday. There was a wait but luckily seated quickly. I was already disappointed by the rude service but the food made up for it. 

Sliced Noodle ~ Braised Pork

Wow, the pork is super flavorful. Not sure what spices, it's good but at the same time sort of tastes like the pork is spoiled (?) Broth is also flavorful albeit oily. Noodles are short, thick, chewy and doughy. To my surprise, I liked this more than my own order of hand pulled noodles!

Made my way to Khao San Road with sis and friend on a Wednesday night. By 5:45, it was already packed and super loud! Interesting decor - it's not traditional Thai at all; industrial feel with grey walls and wood tables, servers without uniform.

Thai Iced Tea

Not as sweet as I expected. Thick and creamy condensed milk~ highly addictive and huge portion, couldn't finish.

Squash Fritters

Super crispy without being oily, but couldn't taste squash.

Second time at Auberge and while the menu wasn't as great as Summerlicious 2012, I still had a wonderful lunch in this cozy relaxing environment. Once again we were seated in the front dining room.. If I ever come again I want to sit inside!










I love warm bread. This was delicious with the artichoke spread and we got seconds :)

Salt-Baked Potato Soup ~ bacon lardons, candied onions, XO Gouda

Love this warm soup! Slightly cheesy, slightly sweet from the onions, and sharp green onion to balance it all out.

Pear and Kale Salad

Mom's starter. Huge portion! Dressing was nice and light, i like the blue cheese in small bits.

Smoked Salmon Rilette

Gnocchi a la Parisenne ~ chicken leg confit, cipollini onions, spinach, apple cider glaze

Love the sweet dressing on the spinach! First time trying confit - it tastes like smoked duck. Salty for my taste but balanced out by the cute sweet onions. First time trying gnocchi - always thought it was like a chewy pasta, but it's just little mashed potato pillows.

Cardamom Creme Brulee

Now this is the texture I like - not too creamy, more solid. Nice presentation again.

Verdict: food, ambiance, service all good. Fav was the soup!

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Last week I tried a new hk cafe place for lunch. Very small and packed place run by young people with cool English music posters on the walls. Their menu is pretty appealing, more on the pricey side, reminds me of more Westernized items like Firefly/Dickens.

海南雞飯 4/5
Rice - flavor packed with oily & salty goodness
Chicken - average, meaty and tender
Sauces - this was the highlight for me! Ginger oil sauce, a sweet-thick soy sauce, and fresh garlic sour red sauce (too bad soup is covering in this pic) I usually just eat the ginger sauce with the rice, but this time I really love the other two sauces, so flavorful, different and fresh.

Baked Pork Chop Rice

Of course at all new cha chaan teng, we have to try the baked pork chop rice. The sauce is sweet and different from the usual tomato sauce. However the rice tastes like it's leftover rice - soft, bland, loose, small grain.. and my dad reckons it is. Also the milk tea could have more flavor..

The croquette was nice and hot, soft, fluffy creamy potato inside with a crisp coating. Could not taste proscuitto though. Good with the pesto sauce.





As per recommendations on Foursquare, I opted for this white pizza. It is a fairly light pizza. Crust is super thin, which I like, but it wasn't served hot enough. Cheese was a bit hard and not melt-y (maybe that's due to the type of cheese) and it could use more walnuts, honey and pear to make the flavors stand out more. My favorite part was the proscuitto - flavorful but not overly salty. 


Inticed by the homemade sausage, this was not what I expected - crumbled finely like minced pork and was not spicy. I like the homemade pasta itself - not too thick or thin and cooked to al dente in a light tomato oil-based sauce. 


This was great, highlight of the night. Not too hard, not too soft - just perfect in between texture with hint of egg and caramel sweetness, topped with a sweet coffee-caramel sauce. We also ordered tiramisu but I liked this more.

Environment: A very large yet cozy, dim-light space. Pretty busy after 6pm.  Italian is usually hit-or-miss for me, but I think this one was an okay choice. 

Overall, with a glass of wine, $100 for three people. Best was potato croquette and creme caramel.

Tuna tataki – my must order for izakayas. This one was a bit plain though, not much sauce.


Honey sweet potato sticks – small portion of sweet potato fries covered in honey – sweet combo


Maguro Avocado Tartar – love creamy avocado, but could not taste tuna as this dish was overpowered by the mayo overload!!





Sister's surprise dessert - warm, moist green tea cake with green tea icecream and oreos. 

Service was very nice and gracious in true Japanese fashion. They gave an excellent surprise birthday song and complimentary dessert for my sister.