A Tokyo restaurant has succumbed to the allure of fast – though, perhaps, fleeting – fame and launched a mega-food challenge to lure gluttons and the adventurous. The eating object is not a Burger, a Taco or a Burrito. It’s classic Japanese Ramen Noodle Bowl, only super-super-sized…
The Mega Ramen Bowl offered by the Umakara Ramen Hyouri restaurant in Tokyo.
At an upfront fee of (US)$26, you’d be farther ahead just ordering it
and sharing it with a party of six. Or eight. Or more…
Umakara Ramen Hyouri restaurant eating challenge that could be characterized as a double-edges Samurai sword. (Except that the latter cutlery has always been single-edged. I know there’s a disconnect, but I like the cultural-reference metaphor too much to not use it!)
The restaurant is offering a mammoth Ramen Noodle Bowl. There’s nothing unusual about it except the size: 24 oz. / 710 ml of Broth, 8.8 lb. / 4 kg of Bean Sprouts, what appears top be about 5 lb. / 2.25 kg of Deep Fried Pork and a liberal dusting of Red Hot Chili Powder.
An ingenious deal…
The deal is ingeniously structured to shield the restaurant from serious financial liability, but the rewards – if you can finish the mega-bowl in 20 minutes or less, are commensurately handsome: They’ll pay you 50,000 Yen / (US)$438! If you can finish it in 30 minutes or less, they’ll pay you 30,000 Yen / (US)$236. The downside is, if you can’t finish it in 30 minutes, you have to forfeit your ‘entry fee’ – about (US)$26. And, if you upchuck your mega-bowl during or after tackling it, you’ll be charged a (US)$88 ‘penalty’. Well, somebody’s got to clean up the mess…
The bottom line…
It looks like a good deal, if you want to feed a family of eight and just pay the (US)$26. As far as we know, nobody has yet conquered the solo challenge and beaten the 20-minute or even the 30-minute deadline.
The real story, here, as I see it, is that any restaurateur anywhere can apparently cash in on the allure of a momentous eating challenge. No culture affluent enough to have a restaurant industry is immune to the fascination surrounding the notion excess. How long the Mega Ramen Bowl will remain a ‘thing’. I can’t help recalling the old maxim my mother shared with me when I was little and wanted the latest toy: “If all your friends have one, it can’t be that special.” The more restaurateurs champion gluttony to generate promotion, the less effective the technique will become. And there’s your life lesson for today, folks…
Many thanks to my Web-wandering sidekick, Peter, for the head’s up on this one!
~ Maggie J.