Review: Black Pepper Steakhouse (Victoria Island, Lagos)
Black Pepper Steakhouse
Eko Pearl Tower, Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island, Lagos. | Instagram | Phone
FOLLY: Driving into Eko Atlantic took me back to EatDrinkFestival in 2016.
NOSA: Eko Atlantic doesn’t seem to be panning out as the owners expected it to in 2017. COVID plus the economy tanking has done a number on everyone’s pockets. BUT, I’m sure there’s something we can do to help each other, i.e. let’s have the Festival in the location again.
FOLLY: Eko Atlantic, please call me. Nobody has money in this economy to buy your plots or land or build all the bank HQs they told you they’ll build years ago. Let me have the festival of my dreams in Eko Atlantic, please. I promise not to be like those fashion people that messed up your space and made Chairman cancel everything that year. There aren’t many things that I’m proud of but pulling off that festival every year since 2015 has been the highlight of my life. Sometimes I’m terrified that it’ll never get to happen again in a post COVID world but I don’t know what I’d do with myself without it.
FOLLY: On Blackpepper, I’ll start with the menu and space suggest it was designed for group dining. There are a number of things in sharing sizes that I feel will work nicely for groups of 3 or more. And even more so cause it’s so pricey, it makes sense to order and eat family style so no one gets stuck with some very expensive thing that they don’t like.
NOSA: The menu at Black Pepper is infinitely better than their previous attempt at a restaurant. Like, much much better. In fact, even the space looks like they were trying to be serious this time instead of Yahoo Boy outpost.
FOLLY: To start, we chose the Smoked Beef & Cheddar and Butterfly Shrimps.
The smoked beef and cheddar is simply thinly sliced and smoked topside with a healthy helping of cheese. This was a really easy starter and tasted great too. It could be improved with a sharper cheddar for flavour because it was bland and needed salt and pepper.
NOSA: I thought this would be some cold cut type thing and I was plenty disappointed. I think this one plate epitomizes the whole restaurant - ostentatious for no reason at all. A sizzling plate for something so bland? Jesus. I swear I made this thing during the lockdown in my house.
FOLLY: I was incredibly offended by the butterfly shrimp. In hindsight, the menu did say butterfly shrimp and not prawns but cue that Maraji meme.
Just look at how tiny the shrimp are. I couldn’t even be consoled by the flavour because there was absolutely nothing going for these.
NOSA: Very disrespectful, man.
FOLLY: For mains, we decided to split a short rib burger and a 1kg beef tomahawk (medium-rare).
NOSA: They do a whole fake Salt Bae song and dance for the short rib. The chef comes in to pull out the bone in the short rib to show how tender the thing is. Our chef on the night was a bit uninspired. Man didn’t even wait for us to whip out the camera. He just pulled the bone out and went on his way. He could’ve done this in the kitchen if he wasn’t about the show, to be honest.
FOLLY: A lack of seasoning seems to be a running theme here because the burger was also bland and dry. The bigger challenge for me with the burger, though, was the dryness.
The burger was simply meat, bread, and lettuce. No sauce, no cheese, nothing. There also was really no need for the burger to arrive with a giant bone only for the chef to pull it out at the table. They could have pulled the meat, seasoned it, added a sauce or something. The meat was so desperate for seasoning, the cow called out to me.
NOSA: I think that’s what the BBQ sauce on the side is for.
FOLLY: But a 12,800 burger shouldn’t rely on my resourcefulness to taste good.
NOSA: For all of Folly’s complaints, it was a very soft bun. Near perfect even. The short rib was also the most tender I’ve had in quite a while.
FOLLY: Two things can be true.
NOSA: TL;DR - The burger is not for everyone.
FOLLY: The tomahawk was the only bright spot about our dinner at Blackpepper. The chef did a little show in slicing the steak and pulling the bone out for this as well.
NOSA: If there’s anything #CertainDemographics know how to do in Lagos, it is make a mean steak. This didn’t disappoint at all. Although the waiter thought I was mad when I asked for it “medium rare”. I’m not spending over 25k on meat for it to be suya hard, please.
FOLLY: The steak was tender and soft but I did wish it was a bit more marbled for the price. I ended up just favouring the slices with more fat.
NOSA: If you check out Black Pepper, it should be for the steak and another else. The tomahawk made up for that mess of an appetizer.
FOLLY: I feel that as a group we could have tried more things from the menu at Black Pepper without being wasteful as there’s only so much we could both eat ourselves.
POSTSCRIPT
FOLLY: It’ll be a great idea for group dining. The menu is a a lot for one person or two people eating alone.
NOSA: I’d visit again, but only if I’m not spending my money. They only pay me one salary so I’m not about this.
VERDICT
DAMAGE
Smoked Beef & Cheddar - N7,100
Butterfly Shrimps - N6,500
Short Rib Burger - N12,800
Beef Tomahawk 1kg - N27,600
PRICE RANGE
N15,000 - N50,000
PARKING
Bare land.