I'm pretty sure this is NOT a franchise of the actual Pepper Lunch but it's the closest thing we have here!
I first tried Pepper Lunch in Mongkok in Hong Kong. It was a food court restaurant that served meals on hot plates or "Teppanyaki".
Aka Teppan follows this trend.
Location:
It's located at First Markhan Place on HWY7 and Woodbine. Fairly accessible by YRT or driving and not difficult to find.
Decor:
The decor was clean and simple with white tables, white walls with a few posters of their specials and when we were there, they were playing Avril Lavigne songs lol. Later the music changed to canto pop.
Food:
They had many different Teppanyaki options, the two main being pasta or rice. Different kinds of meat were available such as beef, duck breast, salmon or chicken.
I ordered the Atlantic Salmon Teppanyaki with rice while Angela ordered the Supreme beef with rice.
The food came on hot plates with the meat surrounding a little mount of rice and we were advised to mix quickly to cook the meat. As we broke apart the rice, we discovered there was a clump of butter and terriyaki sauce inside.
The food was very flavourful and had lots of pepper - very reminiscent of Pepper Lunch indeed. I must say it's the closest I've tried in Toronto to the original Pepper Lunch! However, we found ourselves quite thirsty after the meal.
Sevice:
We were seated promptly and served tea. Although as we left there was a small crowd waiting for tables. The servers could all speak English. One thing I didn't quite like was that the food came individually so one person could be awkwardly waiting for their food while watching their friend devour their dish.
Price:
It was fairly reasonable for a lunch. Both of our dishes were $8.99+tax.
Verdict:
I'd definitely come back to try their pasta Teppanyaki! If you're a fan of Pepper Lunch, definitely come try Aka if you're ever in the area!
-M
