Tokyo ramen chain brings the heat with Carolina Reaper miso soup

Come on, baby. Don’t fear the reaper.

It is said that one of the cultural side effects of the pandemic in Japan has been a rise in spicy food consumption. It would seem that the increase in people dining alone has led to some becoming more daring with their food choices than they might normally in social settings.

And after those initial days of sweating, stomach churning, and other unpleasant side effects of chili pepper, people tend to build a tolerance to the sting of capsaicin and crave bigger burns. For these people, a chain that services the Greater Tokyo Area called Bankara Ramen has developed what they feel is the ultimate in spicy ramen.

The Mala Noodle Emperor is a pork bone broth with medium fine noodles topped with bean sprouts, two types of chopped green onions, minced meat, Japanese pepper, coarsely ground chili peppers, and last but not least two grams (half a teaspoon) of Carolina Reaper.

For those unfamiliar, the Carolina Reaper is the current Guinness World Record holder for hottest chili pepper in the world with an average Scoville Heat Unit ranking in the millions, which is on par with some forms of pepper spray and are roughly ten times the 100,000 SHU value for Habanero peppers that are often used in spicy food in Japan.

▼ To get a sense of what they can do, here’s a guy eating one teaspoon of Carolina Reaper sauce. It starts to kick in around the four-minute mark

If your taste buds can withstand that blast of spiciness, then you may appreciate the Miso Mala Noodle Emperor, which has all the same ingredients including the Carolina Reaper, but uses thick noodles and an added dose of the savory fermented soy bean paste that always goes well with ramen… and sometimes ice cream too.

Each one sells for 1,700 yen (US$15) a bowl, but availability and price may vary from location to location, so please check in advance. In addition, only 50 bowls will be sold at each participating location, making them a very rare treat.

But even if you can’t get out to try one in time, don’t worry. It’s fairly certain that we’ll be sending some poor soul on our staff out to face the reaper when they go on sale on 20 February.

Source: Bankara Ramen, PR Times
Images: PR Times
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