Pepper Lunch provides a unique DIY food concept for diners to cook their own food (especially the raw meats) on a sizzling hot plate. Other than giving diners this fun cooking experience, food is also ensured fresh.

Of late, I feel that Pepper Lunch serves food of varying standards at different outlets. I've had many wonderful experiences dining with Pepper Lunch, but my one recent experience was a little disappointing. Beef Pepper Rice, $6.20

I love their beef set, because I find joy in cooking my own beef to ensure that it always ends up with a more "medium rare" tender finish than a powdery overcooked tough texture. This time, given only 5 slices of beef, this experience was unsatisfying; I didn't really get a chance to cook my own food because there wasn't much ingredients available for me to mix in the first place. Granted, 1 slice was slightly larger than the rest, but the remaining 4 slices were really tiny. The rice was also mushy and plain if you observe carefully, a far cry from their signature pepper rice.

See the comparison: The proportion of rice to meat for mine seems miserable. Having paid $6.20 for plain mushy rice, a handful of corn and miserable amount of beef, I don't think this is worth the money. The entire thing tasted really plain.

Since my experience at other outlets were much better, I guess I'd head to the other outlets the next time I indulge in Pepper Lunch.

Penang Culture is a dining concept under Gurney Drive. Similar to its sister restaurant, it also serves Penang street food.

I've heard many great reviews on the authenticity in taste of their food ever since their Gurney Drive outlet opened in Suntec so I've always been wanting to give both a try.I have actually come across the actual recipe of their very own Penang Assam Laksa, shared by their very chefs at Gurney Drive, posted by Her World Plus magazine here: http://www.herworldplus.com/solutions/recipes/solutions-recipes-recipe-assam-laksa

This was my first time at the restaurant, so my choices were to go with their recommended and popular dishes, including their Penang Assam Laksa.

The setting of the restaurant was quite Penang street-style like, allowing diners to indulge in the culture of the food. However I've got to say that I felt slightly uncomfortable because the floor was rather oily on the day of my visit, and I could feel the oil slick dragging me from the soles of my shoes as I walked to my seat. Fortunately though (for me at least), the restaurant was rather empty as it was on a weekend afternoon, past the peak lunch crowd.

We ordered the Penang Assam Laksa, and since we usually like our Assam Laksa to taste a little stronger, we tried our luck by asking the waitress if we could request the chef to add more "Assam" to give us a stronger "Assam" taste in our food. (Assam = tamarind paste/juice). She was unsure, so she told us she would check with the chef. Frankly, it was a lazy weekend afternoon for us and we were just looking to have a very relaxing late lunch after shopping, so we were indeed just trying our luck for our request. We didn't want any fuss for our meal so we already braved ourselves for a "no". When the waitress came back after 5 minutes, her reply wasn't what we expected at all: none of the chefs or waiters/waitresses knew what "assam" meant, or what "assam" was, so they were unable to process our request! We then told her that it was ok, probably a little more chilli and lime in the food would be good enough. However, her answer really left us perplexed, confused as to how it was possible for the chef to be able to serve Assam Laksa but not know what "assam" was. We certainly hope it was just some miscommunication along the way. The waitress returned another 5 minutes later and told us they would try to add more "Assam" in our food; we were grateful that although she didn't know, she tried her best to help at least.

We were served plain water while waiting for our food. Right before I drank it, my friend stopped me right in my track and requested for the waitress to change our water, because the water was oily and there were some food particles floating around in it. The waitress came over, took a look, and said "oh yah..... sorry I'll replace it for you". This actually grossed me out quite a bit.The dessert, Penang Cendol ($3.50) was the first to arrive. The waiter did ask if we wanted it served first or last, but since we've already waited really long for our food, we requested for it to be served first. We genuinely thought we could eat as we waited, and also save some for the end of the meal, but the cendol melted before our laksa arrived.

However to be fair, the cendol was good. Indeed, Malaysia's gula melaka tastes stronger and more fragrant as compared to our local ones.Grilled prawns, $7.90.

We thought the grilled menu was another category of food we wanted to try here.

However, these were disappointing because the prawns were really skinny and tiny. If you observe carefully, there is not much meat left if you were to takeaway the head and the tail parts of the prawns. This looks very different from the photo in the menu whereby the heads and tails were protruding out of the plate, with the huge prawn bodies spanning the entire breadth of the plate.

It wouldn't have been so disappointing if the prawns were tiny but delicious, but the prawns were really quite bad. The meat was powdery and mushy, and were stuck to the shell. It was rather difficult to pull out the meat even when I used my hands to peel - 1) I couldn't pick up the meat due to it being too mushy, 2) It was too stuck to the shell, the best I managed was to scrape. Not wanting to waste the dish, I put the prawn in my mouth and tried to use my teeth to separate the shell as I chew to salvage any available edible meat. Other than being a tad spicy, there was not much taste in the prawns.Our Penang Assam Laksa ($5.90) finally arrived. It took quite long even when the restaurant was quite empty at that time.

The waitress told us the chef managed to add some extra "Assam" into our food. We thought this would be the saving grace of our experience so far, but it was also a disappointment. To be fair, it tasted average, at least not as bad as the prawns, but don't forget that ours had extra tamarind added. If there wasn't, I'm sure the taste would be more diluted. Also, we expected there to be some edible and softer bones in the sardine, yes, but somehow lady luck just wasn't shining on our food experience that day. There were some bigger and sharper bones that I managed to pull out of the sardine amongst alot of soft bones; one of it actually pricked me in my gums. It also got a little uncomfortable chewing on so much bones.

One more thing, when I read reviews on this Assam Laksa and look at photos posted by other diners, it always comes with a spoonful of "kecap manis" (soy sauce) served on the bowl (you may also scroll down this food review page to see photos posted by other reviewers - everybody's Assam Laksa had a spoonful of this kecap manis in it!). Ours didn't come served with the kecap manis, and we were guessing part of the lack in taste might be attributed to this missing soy sauce, which is an important element in this dish.

An extremely disappointing experience, but I hope if I had the chance to try out their food again, I would be able to give better ratings.

Knowing that I liked spicy food, my friend posed a challenge to me - to conquer Level 30 (the highest level of spiciness) of their infamous Buffalo Wings. Challenge accepted!

The purpose of our visit was therefore not for the taste but merely out of the fun of challenging ourselves to spiciness.Level 30 here we come!!

2 of us ordered half dozen, the minimum number per order.

Prices increase steadily with increased spiciness. The buffalo wings are rather expensive!After eating 1 piece each, I started to drink alot of water, which didn't help in relieving the spiciness at all. Biting into it, like how you would normally eat a chicken wing, was painful because the chicken wing had a thick coat of Level 30 murderous chilli all over, and I was literally biting straight into the deadliest part. There was no way to escape. Later on we just peeled all the meat off the bones first. The secret to conquer this is to not allow the chilli to touch your lips, and chew and swallow as fast as possible.

If scraping the coat of chilli away and eating just the chicken meat was how you intend to conquer this, I'd say it wouldn't make much of a difference because the spiciness was in every single cell of this chicken wing. Even the white meat parts were spicy like the chilli coat.

There was no slightest tinge of chicken taste at all. The chilli covered over every single bit of taste. In fact, I'd prefer to describe it as no taste except for extreme intense spiciness and very slight chilli-bitterness.

3 chicken wings for each of us were a little too much. At the end of the ordeal, I also finished 2 cups of milk (said to do alot in relieving spiciness) and 3 cups of water, bloated too full. There was no way to get rid of the spiciness because it bites and burns very stubborn on the tongue and throat - which became really painful. The pain didn't go away for another hour. My stomach felt like it was on fire too.We were given certificates, and were qualified to sign our names on the wall of fame!

Going through this challenge was a crazy idea, we did it in the name of fun and had a good time laughing at each other's swollen lips. This was a once in a lifetime experience. The next time I go back to this restaurant I'll be sticking to Level 1 and making sure it'll be for an enjoyable experience rather than a torturous one.

I've patronized Popeyes for a few years now, and 2 of my must-haves from the menu, are the Bonafide Chicken and mash potato.

The size of the bonafide chicken is quite huge. The skin is very crispy; the meat really tender and juicy. When you bite into the chicken the juice flows into your mouth and on your hands too. There is alot of flavour in the meat, and I don't find the meat to be dry, unlike most other fried chicken elsewhere.2 pieces for about $6+
3 pieces for about $8+

The mash potato is topped with a generous amount of Cajun gravy. This combination is stunning. The gravy gives a very strong and succulent flavour to the mash potato. Also, the potato is soft and easy to eat, which often leaves me craving for more even after finishing a large bowl on my own. Even without the gravy, there is sufficient taste in the mash potato to eat it on its own. I prefer Popeye's mash potato as compared to KFC's which I find to be on the starchy side - it gets me full and bloated too soon.Small for $2+
Large for $3+

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Recent encounters at Punggol outlet:

Personally I find this outlet to be quite dirty especially during the night time. From the recent few months I've been there at night, their tables are mostly uncleared, and there is no attendant around to help.There were a couple of times my friends and I had to clear tables on our own so that we could dine in. The patrons before us did not use a tray, and threw lose pieces of chicken bones all over the table. There were also puddles of water on the table from water, coke, sauces, coleslaw, mash potato, and leftover food all mixed together. As there were no other tables available, my friends and I decided to clear up the entire mess. After that, we went to the cleaner's counter to take a cleaning spray and cloth to wipe the table clean. There were also fingerprints of oil stains all over the seats so we wiped them down too, before eating. Did I mention there were bits of leftover food and chicken bones strewn on the floor too? It was an experience we didn't want to go through again, especially when it involves clearing a mess of leftovers of the food we were going to eat.

In one of my recent encounter, my friends and I had some difficulty trying to order food from a service staff who didn't give any acknowledgement during the order process despite us repeating our orders. As she didn't even give a nod, we couldn't figure out if she had gotten our orders. However when she spoke a little after a long while, she was barely audible even though we tried to lean over the counter to hear her. Later on, we received wrong orders. When we finally settled down with the food, the more disappointing part was that our usual favourite Bonafide Chicken was too salty. It was surprising because while we understood that different outlets may serve food that deviates slightly in taste, that particular day's food was just way distinctively salty. Even the Buttermilk Biscuit was tasteless yet too salty. When we bit into it, it disintegrated into a lump of flour goop in our mouths. We gave up eating, and had no idea why our dining experiences at the Punggol outlet kept getting more and more disappointing. It was the first time in our lives we experienced a fast food chain serving food that was so different from its usual standards.

I do patronize Popeyes at many of their other outlets too. Those experiences have been good so far, so I guess that's where my friends and I are heading for our next Popeye's craving.

Durian McFlurry, $2.80

Vanilla icecream with Durian flakes.

Many people have given good reviews, but I don't think I'd go back for a second try. For some reason I felt a little sick after eating this.

It was o-k generally; if you are looking for strong durian flavour, it was definitely evident, but it was the artificially sweet kind of durian taste, coming from the toppings and mixing into the vanilla icecream.

I enjoy durian icecreams that taste more authentic, like the real fruit itself, so I guess I'll stick to Udders' Mao Shan Wang!