(intense music)
- Hey!
On the quest to find the spiciest ramen in Tokyo.
The first place we're heading up is a place called,
Kikanbo.
My friend Mark Wiens was here and showcased
and it looked like it was a fiery inferno.
Already sweating,
we haven't even eaten chili yet.
We're gonna go try.
Number one on our quest to find the spiciest.
Came here with Lexie Limitless,
who was hungry--
- I'm very hungry. - Not an avid spice fan,
but an avid ramen fan.
It looks like here we have Kikanbo.
And there's already a line.
So how normally these places work,
there's a machine,
you actually punch your order into the machine first.
It's almost like a vending machine.
You get a ticket.
Guess you stand in line,
wait for a seat and they bring you your food.
So step one is to go find spicy ramen on the menu,
press the buttons and wait in line.
(energetic intense music)
spicy?
- Very, very spicy. - [Mike] Very, very spicy?
- Very hot, very spicy.
(laughs)
- [Mike] Okay. - Crazy hot.
- [Mike] Crazy hot? - Yeah, crazy hot.
- And then...
No. - No spice, no spice,
okay, okay. - Thank you.
- Thank you.
- It's better we're getting one with no spice,
at all.
So we can actually taste what it tastes like
and then go for the one max Oni,
max chili to see what absolute nuclear ramen's like.
- Cool.
I hope it's worth this very long wait in line.
- You smell it already.
Let's pop this spot. - Good luck with that.
- I'll need it.
We are now first place in line.
The line has continued to grow behind us.
It's almost time.
The spiciest ramen experience.
How sweaty are you already?
- Pretty bad.
- Me too.
One person leaves.
Two people enter.
Hopefully.
- Two people please come in.
- Great.
Perfect.
And here we are.
Cool.
The place is beautiful actually.
The drum music gets louder,
the torture equipment just gets...
More intense.
They have masks on the walls.
Hungry Japanese munching down ramen
and you can smell the spice already.
You smell it?
- You can see the sweat dripping off everyone's face.
Everybody in here is sweating.
(laughs)
A lot.
- And there's a really nice AC,
so it's not.
- You should get a good macro shot of that,
just sweat beating down peoples faces.
- There's AC in here,
but everyone is still sweating from the ramen.
- No spice premium, no spice. - [Lexie] Thank you.
- [Mike] There is the non spicy.
That looks delicious by the way.
- [Lexie] Wow.
- [Mike] And here,
cover your eyes,
hide the children.
One of the spiciest ramens in Tokyo.
(dramatic drum music)
This scares me.
- You should be scared.
- This scares me.
There is some ominous drum music playing in the background
which definitely sets the mood,
because as you just saw that looks like an inferno.
We're gonna get it cool down literally fist,
because it is nuclear hot already,
heat wise.
Spicy wise I'm sure as well.
We're gonna try the no spice,
no oni, just straight up...
Ramen.
Vanilla ramen.
It's supposed to be good.
We'll try that first so I can actually taste it,
so we can taste it before we dive into the spice.
The Premium ramen.
Kikanbo with no spice.
Good starting point.
So ramen is wheat noodles with either a fish base
or a beef base.
We have some tomago egg,
we have the chashu,
I think this is chashu.
I know the circle ones are,
but roast pork and we have the broth.
Lots of oil,
you can tell already.
So some chive and some different things in there.
Some corn, some corn on the side.
We're not here for that,
we're here for the broth.
Broth is boss.
And it's really good.
Often it's mixed with miso.
This is definitely beef broth with miso paste.
Really oily, you can taste the garlic,
taste the chives.
It's not, I would say it's like maybe 2% spicy.
It's still a little bit spicy.
But this is definitely the soul of the dish,
with the broth it's like...
The noodles, there's not much taste.
My favorite is the tomago,
the soft-boiled egg.
Always my favorite part.
The beef is always,
Lexie's gonna get mad if I eat too much of it,
because it's always so soft.
It just...
Falls apart.
This one of the best ramens I've had in my life.
Definitely one of the best ramens I've had in Tokyo.
But we're not here for this one.
We're here for the spicy one.
- [Lexie] You're gonna take on that big boy?
You've been putting it off for a while.
- I have been.
So there's two types of chilies in this,
chili pepper which we're all familiar with, right?
It's spicy,
but the sichuan pepper.
Sichuan peppers are different
and that's why they separated them.
There're different because they're not just spicy,
they put your tongue to sleep.
So I learnt in China is,
you numb your tongue with the sichuan,
so you can eat even more spice.
You can see the broth.
We saw the other one,
the broth was like an off orange.
This is very, very deep orange
and it's completely cloudy.
The other one has a clear broth,
this is filled with spices,
so thick you can't even see through it.
I'm talking too much.
You're not here to hear me talk.
You're here to see this.
(dramatic drum music)
oh!
(coughing)
Yeah.
(intense tribal drum music)
This is (beep) up.
Dying
I wasn't prepared for this marathon.
Is it red?
Let's go try the spiciest ramen in Tokyo.
It'll be a good YouTube video.
And here we are like...
Dying.
- [Lexie] You're such a pussy.
- Oh, it hurts me,
but I love it.
Bring it on.
- [Lexie] Aren't you afraid that's gonna like hurt you?
- What do you mean hurt me?
- [Lexie] Like-- - It's already hurting me.
- [Lexie] Like burn through your stomach or something.
- Like make me sick?
- [Lexie] Yeah, just like damage your body.
- This is like the most healthy thing I've done today,
by the way.
This is healthier than your dish.
- [Lexie] I don't know about that.
- Spicy food is good for you.
- [Lexie] Why?
(laughs)
- All right, we can do this.
Three bites of spice,
one bite of normal.
Three bites of spice,
one bite of normal.
I have a strategy.
- [Lexie] I think you should just do it all in one go.
- No, I will die.
You'll watch my death.
My death will be captured on camera
and this video will probably never be posted.
- [Lexie] What kids will do these days for YouTube.
- My stomach feels like it's gonna explode.
Is this a bead of sweat?
Oh, it hurts so bad.
I feel anxious.
The drums, the drums don't help.
I can't sit still.
- [Lexie] Looks like you're on drugs right now.
- I feel like a crack head or something.
- Your whole body (mumbles). - If I stay still,
I feel like I'm, I dunno.
Oh, I shouldn't have wiped my eyes.
It got in my eyes.
There was some on the napkin.
I'm a mess right now.
I'm a sweaty...
Stinging, burny mess.
But I feel alive.
Even though I might look like a tweaking crack head.
We finished the spiciest bowl of ramen in Mexico city.
Where are we?
Tokyo?
(laughs)
I can't even remember.
And we're gonna take a little break
to wash some of the sweat off.
Let me have some water.
Maybe blow my nose.
And we'll catch back up in a second.
Once I get my life...
Once I get my life together,
because right now I'm a little scattered.
Oh.
Hey it's Mike Corey of Fearless and Far,
reporting in from...
Yeah, this is where I've set up shop for the next 24 hours.
As you can expect from eating the entire bowl of
the spiciest ramen in Tokyo.
I hope you enjoyed this first video in the Japan series.
There's a couple more adventures coming up next.
Let me know in the comments if you would try to tackle
the spicy bowl of ramen in Tokyo and if not,
why not?
Come on, isn't this indication that it's a fun time?
Remember, chase your fears dragons
and I'll catch you in the next episode here on Fearless
and Far.
(intense dramatic music)