Crazy spicy ramen..

I am posting this short post early as we will be on holiday on Sunday. Since the weekend has not yet happened I only really have one thing to post. Back when I used to eat dinner at work, many times I would eat the spicy ramen when available. Typically I would add two additional spice packets to make it more to my liking. Watanabe san would always laugh and say I had a てつおしりor iron butt... During one meal he told me about a ramen place that had a spicy ramen challenge. If you ate there 10L (crazy spicy ramen) they would put your name on their wall. We talked about it off and on, and now that we were running out of time we set a date. Well that day came today..

This was the place.

This was the goal.. Not a huge list of names, so I became a little nervous.

Watanabe san talked Sagawa san and Hoshi san into joining in. Watanabe san decided to actually enjoy his meal and selected the mild spice option. Sagawa san, Hoshi san, and I went for the 10L.

(In order from left to right: Me, Sagawa san, Watanabe san, and Hoshi san.)

When the food arrived it was easy to see that it was loaded with pepper. It was an unnatural bright red color. After taking my first bite I was blasted by a pretty good heat, but I really felt I could finish it. My main concern was with the rule that required us to drink all the liquid as well if we wanted our name on the wall. I fairly quickly downed all the noodles and then in about 3 tries finished off the soup. I avoided water as it can spread the heat around. I had to sit somewhat still after finishing because my stomach was not enjoying the meal at all. I am just now (3.5 hrs later) starting to feel OK again.

Sagawa san took his first bite and was immediately in trouble. You could almost see it in his face that he was not going to make it.... and he didn't. He gave a bit of a fight, but the heat was just too overwhelming for him to finish the challenge. He bowed out early enough that he probably stopped for something good to eat on the way home.

Hoshi san looked really rough in the beginning. I thought he was also going to fade.

It was easy to see that it was hurting him, but he was able to press on. I think it was much more painful for him to finish than it was for me, so I give him a lot of credit for sticking to it. After finishing he also looked like his stomach was upset.

Both Hoshi san and I were able to write our name on the paper to hang on the wall. I told Watanabe san that it was both fun and not fun at the same time. Before we leave I will have to go back to get a picture with my name hung up and to eat some tasty ramen, rather than horrible and spicy ramen...

In the end it was a great challenge and fun/not fun time. I guess tomorrow I get to see if I really to have an iron butt or not......

That is all for this post, have a great week...