Country of Origin: South Korea
Spicy and Fun
Consumption
Oh boy oh boy oh boy; this was another hard-to-come-by ramen that had been on our radar for a while! Luckily a workmate – who was busy looking for ramen to replace ones he stole from our review-desk (horrible, horrible man) – spotted these babies at a nearby Korean deli and told me where to find it! Funny that; if he hadn’t have been a dirty, dirty thief we may never have found these. Clearly the universe wants us to continue our good work; so we will. Thanks for the props, universe!
We have read on various lists that these were the second hottest noodles in the world; now having eaten them we do not agree. It must be said, Samyang’s Buldak Bokkeummyeon are definitely spicier than these.
The block was impressive as usual from Paldo, the thick sauce as menacing as we would expect, and the dehydrated vegetables were a nice touch! I got the flavour of octopus on the first mouthful, accompanied by a glorious sweetness. Not much heat initially; to be honest, there wasn’t a lot of mouth burn until the bowl was finished. Disappointing after all this talk of them being the “number 2” spicy ramen.
There was a glorious afterburn with these; a first for any ramen we have reviewed. My mouth actually continued to get more heat once I had stopped eating; there was sufficient heat build-up for a good 5 minutes after. not too much headsweat, just a few dabs of a tissue, and all signs of heat were gone 10 minutes later. Delicious ramen, would definitely eat again but still can’t hold a candle in terms of heat to the glorious ‘Fire Noodle’.
Heat Level
Taste Level
The Aftermath
5.15pm and I had already let out a thunderous roar of wind from the nether regions; louder than usual, more precise and more purposeful. It seemed to be saying “hey guy, what did you do earlier? I’m gonna tell you I didn’t like this”. Maybe it’s unrelated; maybe it was the lemon soda I had been drinking…maybe that’s all it was. I was reassuring myself that things would be alright. Let’s wait it out and see.
I think if anything these just have a mild laxative effect; got home at 8:00pm and pushed out the quickest log I ever have. It was almost like it was covered in grease. Straight out, straight in the bowl. No sting. 10 minutes later I let out another loud, greasy fart. Definite laxative effect this one has. But no stomach cramps, and no sting. It’s a different kind of regret; albeit a mild one.
2 flames. Very mild regret, something to not worry too much about.
After eating this dish, I have reassessed the squid from ‘smug prick who will laugh at me while my bowels burn’ to ‘happy squid who hopes I enjoy this meal’. Beware with this – the preparation takes a bit of trickery – you need to add the dried veg while soaking, then drain (while not losing veg) then add the sauce. But the work is worth it! This was really delicious, with only a moderate mouthburn while eating, with nice afterburn up to an hour afterwards.
Regret wise this squid didn’t show up to the party, nice normal finish to the day, with a noticeable lack of stingyness, just a bit of rushing on the way to the throne.
2 flames for me as well, fear not the Kraken!
I like my colleagues enjoyed the crap out of this dish and was also quite disappointed when I found these to be less spicy than the cheesy fire noodles (which we have all tried; but are waiting on STEVE to finish up his review). Flavour wise, these bad boys were a 10; delicious sweet octoflavour and subtle, subtle tingles on the tongue. The after effect was an interesting touch; it somehow got hotter in the mouth after the bowl was bare. My theory is the sweetness of the noodle cuts through the heat maybe? Like sugar on a burned tongue.
Aftermath, for me, was very different to my friends here. A serious case of the hershey squirts; for a moment I thought I was simply enjoying a nice sit down wee. It was over quickly but I was burning; nothing a baby wipe to the butt couldnt fix however.
This was a 6 flamer of me, easily solved but shouldnt have happened in the first place with its lackluster heat on conumption.
Overall Porcelain Punishment Level
