Instant noodles are my holy grail. I eat them day or night, rain or shine, wet or dry—anyway possible, I've eaten them. When I heard of this Fire Korean Noodle Challenge going around Facebook and YouTube, I told myself I would get my hands on these noodles (Samyang Ramen/Spicy Chicken Roasted Noodles) one day to try it and I now have my hands on them, thanks to my best friend Jordan.
I have always loved spicy foods due to growing up in an Asian household where Thai chili peppers were present at every meal and have always challenged myself to see how spicy I could go.
Since I have been away at college, I haven't gotten the chance to eat many Asian-level spicy foods, so I was very curious as to how I would do with these. I decided to ask my friend Brianna to join on this crazy endeavor (and I did not know what her spice tolerance was initially).
Being the Psychology majors that we are, I thought I'd include that I did receive informed consent from Brianna to do this study. She agreed to do it with me and here is what we found out.
The Review
First Bite
Jenny: "My first bite wasn't too bad. The noodles were very thick and chewy, which I enjoyed, I loved the taste, and the spiciness didn't hit me for about 30 seconds. Then my tongue tapped out because it started to burn."
Brianna: "At first I thought it tasted very good, and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Then a minute later, I started yelling "HOLYY..." and my mouth and lips proceeded to burn uncontrollably."
5 Minutes Later...
Jenny: "My tongue burned furiously, but I still continued to eat the noodles because they tasted so good. The noodles were not too salty or saucy—it was the perfect amount of everything. A very good balance. A lot of the times, spiciness is used to mask the lack of flavor, but that does not apply here."
Brianna: "I have resulted to fanning myself (moreso my mouth). It is definitely one of the spiciest things I have ever eaten. I continued to finish my noodles, though, because I was determined and it tasted really good."
(She is mouthing: "Can't take anymore.")
Brianna: "I need a moment."
Final Thoughts
Jenny: "Overall, I would highly recommend fellow spice and instant noodle-lovers to give this a try. The flavors were seriously so good. Regarding the spiciness level, I would say this is second on my list. It does not beat Tom Mak Hoong's spiciness."
"I would eat this again, but this time I would eat a whole pack to myself. The spiciness goes away after about 10-15 minutes of finishing eating which isn't bad at all in my opinion."
Rating: 9/10
Brianna: "This was a very interesting challenge. This was my first time eating instant Korean noodles and watching videos of the challenge beforehand. I did not know what to expect for how spicy this was going to be."
"It is definitely the spiciest thing I have ever eaten, I'd say on a scale of hot to absolute hell, it's absolute hell. I would do this again though, it was super fun and I would highly recommend."
Rating: 10/10