Eat the "World's Spiciest Curry"

Inspiration:

One thing that immediately comes to my mind when I think of Facebook is food. Dang it, those food videos really can get you...from their perfect capture of a dish, the mouthwatering reaction of the person in the video and to the frustration I feel that technology hasn't been invented to smell or taste virtually (if someone out there creates that, please let me know so I can invest in it with a smile).

So a few weeks ago when my friend tagged me on this video highlighting the "world's spiciest curry" in NYC, I knew I had to add it to my list of food destinations. When she came to visit me in the city soon after, I went to Bricklane Curry House with her and another mutual friend.

Ordering

Already an hour before we got the restaurant, we were excitedly anticipating that the act of devouring the spicy Phaal curry would come soon. Once we got there, it was interesting to see such an empty restaurant, so we initially questioned if we were at the right place.

Phaal: excruciatingly hot curry sauce using Carolina Reaper peppers

But sure enough, we looked at the menu posted outside and read "World's Spiciest Curry: Phaal." We had found what we were looking for.

My two friends were determined to order the Phaal and attempt the challenge of finishing the whole dish in under 30 minutes. While I'm a lover of spice, I still wanted to have an enjoyable dinner that I could guarantee I'd finish. So I actually ordered the Lamb Bhuna curry, knowing I would still be able to have spoonfuls of my friends' Phaal curry.

Bhuna: A well-spiced curry where the meat is cooked with the spices in its own juices resulting in a thick and strongly flavoured sauce

After placing our orders, we made the time go by faster by reading about how spicy the Phaal actually was. We eventually stumbled upon a photo of the chefs...and how they have to wear a mask...because the curry is so spicy. Eek.

This proceeded to make friends slightly more nervous, but we were all still more excited than anything.

When our food arrived, my one friend (we'll call him guy friend) proceeded to ask a billion specific questions to the waiter, who looked like he'd dealt with a bunch of challenge attempters in his job. My friend would ask questions like "do we also have to eat the dried pepper on the top?" "can we drink anything?" - the waiter's answers essentially let us know that you could do anything as long as you finished your curry. There was a huge bowl of rice, unlimited water and the service of the workers at the restaurant at your disposal.

Eating the "World's Spiciest Curry":

My guy friend went into the challenge determined to win, no matter what. After they both took their first bites, my girl friend quickly started panting and looked like she wouldn't be able to continue for much longer. My guy friend was strategic; he said the curry was too hot and needed a plate to pour it all out. He would then wait for it to cool down and within the last 10 minutes, he'd scarf all the curry down without stopping.

I can say that his strategy paid off. You watched him go from calm, normal facial expression to a tomato-red, huffing and puffing, unable to speak wrecked appearance. I was insanely impressed watching him stuff all the curry down his throat in a matter of minutes.

Because yes, the curry was insanely spicy. But it may just be because I'm a big spicy fan, I actually expected the curry to be even spicier. But I also didn't order my own portion. My ordering method worked out really well; my curry was only slightly spicy so I tried a few bare spoonfuls of my other friend's tofu Phaal curry, then added her curry into mine for the perfect level of spice.

Fast forward to the end of the dinner, I had eaten the rest of my friend's tofu even though concentrated spice still lingered, I had consumed a whole huge bowl of rice, and I was the only one with a smile left on my face. The dude who had essentially rapidly spoon-fed the curry to himself had a hard time even walking back to the subway station because the spice was coming back with a vengeance.

Takeaway:

If you want to try the "world's spiciest curry," don't go alone and make sure someone orders a normal curry. The normal curry will be your fall back when you can't finish the Phaal.

If you want to do the challenge...don't. Unless you're curious about fire poops (and no, I'm not joking).

#curry #spicy #nyc #newyorkcity #indian #indianfood