Delivery Snippets: Pepper Lunch x Po x Fumizen Japanese Restaurant
PEPPER LUNCH
I don’t really stick to a diet; but do get a bit conscious with my red meat intake. If I feel like I’ve been overloading on meat, I often seek lighter seafood options for my succeeding meals; which is why I frequent ordering Pepper Lunch’s Salmon Pepper Rice. It's the most convenient seafood meal I can get from the office as it’s made available on the Foodpanda platform.
DOUBLE SALMON PEPPER RICE (P395)
Pepper Lunch has always been known for its overloaded sizzling meat dishes; but I’ve always preferred its Salmon Pepper Rice. Obviously, when you opt for delivery, your food won’t come served on a sizzling plate; but fret not as the restaurant thoughtfully delivers two kinds of sauces for you (which I just simply mix and drizzle directly on my plate). Admittedly though, its regular Salmon Pepper Rice leaves me still quite hungry afterwards so I make sure to double up my salmon serving to make sure this won’t happen. Over time, the restaurant has changed its packaging; from using bowls to food trays; but its salmon has remained perfectly cooked each and every time. They're also one of the neatest when it comes to packaging. I've never experienced any spills or messes from their delivery so that's definite plus!
Pepper Lunch (via Foodpanda)
Date of Delivery: February 26, 2020
PO
I’ve always wanted to try out Po but somehow timing wasn’t on my side especially as you need to plan and order your Po meals ahead due to the high demand of its food. It's difficult to get a slot the day before or the morning of.
Right before the lockdown though, I was fortunately able to get a slot!
PO’S SCALLION NOODLES (P160) AND FRIED CHICKEN BUNS (P80/pc)
To make the most out of the slot, I got both their noodles and their buns. I opted for their Scallion Noodles which boasted of ramen quality noodles and overloaded with garlic, scallions and seaweed; topped with pickled cucumbers to give that much needed balance if ever the umami flavor got a bit too overwhelming. I thoroughly enjoyed the firm chewy noodles; but it did lack some meat or seafood to go along with it. Thus, the Fried Chicken Buns proved to be a perfect pair. Admittedly, I have a big appetite, but I’m not a glutton. However, I needed to get two buns to meet their minimum requirement but I definitely had no regrets!
Each bun comes stuffed with a gigantic fried chicken fillet which boasted of crips skin and tender juicy meat. I honestly was overwhelmed at its size that I wasn’t sure how to properly stuff it in my mouth without triggering my TMJ! Apart from its massive chicken, it makes use of a bouncy sesame crusted cuapao and is loaded with delicious Japanese mayonnaise! Of course it’s not as picture-perfect as the ones you get from Ippudo; however, it does assure you immensely more value-for-money than Ippudo’s (which I equally love)!
Po (via their Facebook page)
Date of Delivery: March 11, 2020
FUMIZEN JAPANESE RESTAURANT
Ever since it opened, Fumizen has always been on my restaurants-to-try list. It’s a popular chain from Japan which specializes in the art of cooking katsudon and tonkatsu that opened up its first branch in Quezon City. Yabu has always been my standard for quality katsu in the Metro but I was still pretty curious to see if Fumizen can back up its claim.
Unfortunately, the pandemic hit; and I wasn’t able to drop by its restaurant. Fortunately, it was one of the first restaurants to actively establish its delivery services and its presence online early during the lockdown so I was able to arrange it for a family dinner!
PRAWN KATSU WITH CURRY SET (P520)
Fumizen offers three variations for their katsu sets: one that comes with the traditional katsu sauce, another that interestingly comes with truffle salt; and the last option comes with Japanese curry. I’ve always preferred seafood katsu (my standard order in Yabu would be the Salmon Katsu + Layu Sauce, if I’m not opting for their Grilled Salmon Don) so the Prawn Katsu was a no-brainer choice for me.
I’m not a fan of curry sauce, but for some weird reason, I was craving for it. Even if we had it delivered, each set came complete with delicious and tasty miso soup, delicious curry sauce, salad with Kewpie dressing and fresh fruit slices. The effort to make each side dish amazing needs to be applauded; nothing was half-baked! My family ordered an assortment of katsu’s, but all of us were more than satisfied with the quality they had.
One thing that I regretted though was that I didn’t opt for its truffle salt. I actually scoffed at the idea of it; but boy does it work wonders on your katsu (I stole from my sister's)! As a die-hard Yabu fan, I can’t help but acknowledge a worthy competitor in the form of Fumizen. Its non-reliance on katsu dishes, evidenced in its wide assortment of other Japanese favorites actually gives it an edge over Yabu! I just hope post-pandemic that it’ll have enough horsepower to expand in Manila as more people deserve to know about this wonder gem!
Fumizen Japanese Restaurant (via its Facebook page)
Date of Delivery: April 5, 2020
