Our latest 10,000 yen food challenge is downing 80 croquettes on top of noodles

Or, as we think of it, “P.K. Sanjun takes on the potatoes at Fuji Soba.”

Our Japanese language reporter P.K. Sanjun always devotes 110 percent to his hobbies. For example, he not only went to see the recent kabuki play based on Star Wars, but also made this epic, low-budget tribute video in celebration of The Rise of Skywalker‘s release. And when it comes to food, he never settles for just the bare minimum, instead opting to test his gastronomic limits by ordering laughingly gargantuan portion sizes. 

In the past, we’ve seen him tackle 10,000 yen (US$91) worth of toppings on Napolitan spaghetti, dishes at Saizeria, and even egg sandwiches at Subway. These 10,000-yen food challenges are quite popular among our readers, but P.K. states that in reality there’s not a lot of restaurants that are willing to comply with such an outlandish request when the available ingredients at any one branch may be quite limited. In fact, that lack of accomodation is really the only reason why he doesn’t attempt one on a weekly basis–not because of the money involved (remember, this is the same editorial team that once bought one million yen worth of lotto tickets as an experiment). Therefore, he always makes sure to contact the restaurant in question first to see if it’s OK rather than just assuming they’ll accept his request.

▼ P.K. prior to the infamous Napolitan spaghetti challenge

Today’s challenge led him to Fuji Soba, a nationwide fast-food noodle chain where the cheapest bowls of soba or udon cost only 310 yen. He was happily surprised with their quick response granting him permission to conduct his challenge at one of their shops. We suppose it wasn’t all that surprising though, given they let our other reporter order a bowl of soba with 1.2 kilograms (2.64 pounds) of meat on it just last month…

So what kind of topping should he spend the 10,000 yen on? Meat, wakame (seaweed), or fritters? In P.K.’s opinion, there was only one logical choice for Fuji Soba–their absolutely delicious vegetable croquettes.

One serving of Fuji Soba’s croquette soba cost 430 yen and a single croquette cost 120 yen. If P.K. were to order 80 side croquettes, the total for his food would come out to be 10,030 yen. But would 80 croquettes even fit inside of one bowl? P.K. designed a strategy to find out, which he dubbed “the petal plan.” He would line up the 80 croquettes like flower petals on the inside rim of the bowl, gently stacking them against each other to craft the most delicious potato flower ever known to man.

Even so, the delivery of 80 croquettes to his seat took him aback:

▼ The counter had disappeared!

After the shock had subsided he immediately set to work on his petal plan. The croquettes were surprisingly tough and everything was going smoothly…until that moment.

Shortly after he had laid the thirtieth croquette down, the base layer collapsed!

▼ Accurate portrayal of P.K.’s simultaneously crumbling croquettes and emotions

Apparently the bottom layer had absorbed too much soup at that point and become a bit too flimsy to support the rest of the croquettes. While P.K. had envisioned a soaring tower of 80 of the fritters, he had to settle for a meager stack of 27 (worth 3,240 yen). “The 10,000 yen challenge is now beside the point,” he thought miserably.

▼ A “meager” stack of 27 croquettes

Nevertheless, that setback wasn’t going to stop him from enjoying the croquettes themselves. Their smooth, potato interior was especially creamy, and he didn’t tire of their taste. By the time he finished his fourth croquette, he had all but forgotten that he was technically at a noodle shop–the croquettes had stolen the show.

▼ P.K.’s happy emotions bounced back

In fact, by the time he had worked his way down to the noodle soup, it tasted curiously delicious to his palate. Out of the countless times he had dined at Fuji Soba, the soba had never struck him as being quite this good before. Perhaps the secret to the best-tasting soba is to eat it after eating eight croquettes!

After eating until he was ready to burst, he was able to box the rest of them…

…and bring them back to some very happy coworkers:

What kind of ridiculously portioned food will P.K. tackle next? Will his stomach ever rebel? Stay tuned to our site for P.K.’s further gastronomic adventures!

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