Pepper Bowl Review: Black Pepper Beef Bowl Stall In The CBD With Nothing More Than $5

Even though many queue up for fish soup whenever they’re at Amoy Street Food Centre, it was Pepper Bowl that caught my attention. A bed of rice topped with stir-fried meat in gravy and onsen egg is not something I can easily resist. Food at Pepper Bowl Black Pepper Beef Rice ($5) might not be the most visually appealing dish, but carrying this back to the table already got me salivating from its sheer fragrance, and I couldn’t wait to dig in.

It’s made up of white rice covered in beef and onions, and dotted with flecks of black pepper. The juicy and caramelised onions gave this dish a mild sweetness that balanced out the slight heat from the black pepper. I enjoyed how the smokey, wok hei fragrance was not overpowering, and managed to let the sweetness from the onions and the thin savoury sauce come through.

We moved on to Spring Onion Pork Rice ($4.50) and added an Onsen Egg ($0.60) . This dish is as straightforward as it sounds; it’s basically rice topped with stir-fried pork and spring onions.

Unlike the beef rice bowl, this had no hint of black pepper, and was more sweet than savoury or spicy. Per to The spring onions along with the larger slices of onions, crunch and a touch of freshness to each bite, while the molten yolk acted like a sauce and binding agent that brought all the components of the dish together.

The pork was glazed in a sweet, sticky sauce and was unbelievably lean. Chicken Chop Rice ($4) took on a slightly different taste profile from the rest of the dishes and didn’t come with gravy. The grilled chicken thigh, that said, had a strong garlic savour, and a subtle sweetness from the teriyaki sauce, along with nuttiness from white sesame seeds.

The meat itself was a tad too tough for my liking, and that surprised me given that chicken thigh was used. Plus, I wanted to know how Black Pepper Beef Hor Fun ($5) would taste like with the addition of an Onsen Egg ($0.60 ) . The thick hor fun gravy was thickened with cornstarch, and clung to each strand of noodle.

I forecast the beef to taste the same as the one in the beef rice bowl, but surprisingly, this had thicker cuts of beef with a higher fat-to-meat ratio. The intensity of the black pepper was extremely strong for this dish, so take caution if you’re not into spicy food.

Other than helping to thicken the gravy, the onsen egg failed to deliver flavour of other sorts – or perhaps it was simply masked by the assault of black pepper. Ambience at Pepper Bowl Located on the second floor of the bustling Amoy Street Food Centre, Pepper Bowl often has a snaking queue during lunch hours. But with Pepper Bowl’s tasty bowls of carbs and meat, you might just spot me in the lunch queue someday, with one hand holding my grumbling tummy and the other impatiently scrolling through Instagram.