Visit a pepper-packed tribute to spiciness tucked away in an Osaka food court

It might not be the spiciest food, but it’s the most spicy-loving food.

When it comes to spicy food, there’s often a trend to push the limits of human pain tolerance and make hotter and hotter varieties of chili peppers. But with so much focus on the brute force of capsaicin, its usefulness in creating delicately harmonious meals can often get overlooked.

This is a lesson our reporter Haruka Takagi learned recently at a restaurant in the food court of the Abeno Hoop shopping mall in Osaka. The restaurant’s name is Jinrui Mina Karasa ga Subete which is a little unwieldy to translate, but means something along the lines of “For All Humans Spiciness is Everything.” However, the word “karasa” can mean either “spiciness” or “suffering” in general, so there might be some kind of Buddhist proverb embedded in that name too.

Anyway, Haruka has been really into spicy food recently, but until now, when looking for restaurants she always has trouble finding places that really specialize in it. And “specialized” is putting it mildly here. This ramen restaurant’s love of chili peppers borders on fanaticism.

The entire restaurant seemed like it was decorated by Nine Inch Nails, with haphazardly hung framed close-ups of chili peppers.

The menu is super simple with two choices of ramen: Jinrui Mina Karasa ga Subete 30 and Jinrui Mina Karasa ga Subete 50 which both equate to different levels of spiciness. And from there you can also fine-tune the spiciness by choosing one of three sub levels.

Toppings like eggs and garlic are also sold for an additional charge, and it’s also possible to buy a side of rice and pork with your ramen. When Haruka arrived in late September, the menu also mentioned a Jinrui Mina Karasa ha Iranai (For All Humans Spiciness is Unnecessary) coming soon, which would presumably be a mild version of their broth.

Haruka decided to go all out and ordered a Jinrui Mina Karasa ga Subete 50 at level 3 spiciness for 980 yen ($6.60). Considering the décor of the restaurant, she was a little worried about it, but since she had built up a pretty good tolerance recently, she felt she could handle it.

A glowing red bowl of ramen appeared in front of her that matched everything else in the restaurant perfectly. Our reporter took one sip of the broth and enjoyed its smooth texture. Surprisingly it wasn’t spicy at first, but had a more distinct umami taste to it. The flavor could be described as equal parts umami and spicy.

Chili peppers are actually rather rich in glutamic acid, which gives them a bold umami taste that is often overshadowed by their spiciness. This restaurant seems to have tapped into the aspect of the peppers by combining them with a very umami-rich broth.

So it’s an extremely strong spicy soup, but the strength lies in the flavorfulness rather than just the spiciness. It reminded Haruka a bit of Taiwanese ramen but not quite as garlicky, and it heated up her body gradually rather than lighting her throat on fire right away.

The noodles were really tender and the meat was sweet and soft enough that you can cut it with a chopstick. So, while it might not have been the spiciest ramen Haruka’s ever eaten, it was certainly the most delicious spicy ramen she’d ever eaten.

She later learned that this was partly because it was a collaboration restaurant of two heavy hitters in the ramen world: Ramen Arata in Hokkaido and Osaka’s Human Beings Everybody Noodles, the latter of which should have been more obvious in hindsight.

In the end, Jinrui Mina Karasa ga Subete is well worth a visit if you happen to be in Osaka and visiting the tallest building in Japan. Just remember that Haruka is a seasoned spicy food eater, so you might not want to jump to maximum spiciness like she did. Always make sure you know your limits!

Restaurant information
Jinrui Mina Karasa ga Subete / 人類みな辛さが全て
Address: Osaka-shi, Abeno-ku, Abenosuji 1-2-30, Hoop B1 Food Hall
大阪市阿倍野区阿倍野筋1-2-30 Hoop地下1階のフードホール内
Open 11 a.m.-11 p.m.
Website

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