Mike Chen: This may just be
the most wonderful thing
I have ever, ever put in my mouth,
and I say that....
Oh!
Ooh. Oh, that was a good memory.
Herrine: Hi, Mike, thanks for getting on Skype with me.
How are you?
Mike: Um, trying to keep sane, you know,
just like everybody else in the world.
Herrine: I know you don't know much
about what we're doing today,
so, I'm gonna tell you now.
Mike: OK. Herrine: I watched
all of your videos.
I...[laughs]
Mike: Really?
Herrine: I compiled a sequence of clips for you to watch,
and I was hoping you could provide us some backstory
and some fun tidbits.
Mike: OK, yeah, let's do it.
I'm excited to watch myself.
No way. No way!
Oh, I look so young. It's, like, three years ago.
Man, this was my first Wagyu beef experience in Japan.
Holy cow. [laughs] Holy cow is right.
I didn't know what a ryokan was.
And it's grilled right in front of me.
And you don't know Wagyu is expensive,
so when you go to a ryokan in Japan,
you're allowed to accept their dining option, which we did.
Piece of meat.
I'm just gonna put a little salt on here.
One night was $1,000,
and they provided a dinner
that had included Wagyu, Kobe Wagyu.
And this was it.
Rarely am I ever too surprised by food,
but I feel like somebody pelted me over the head
with a beef bat, and then later I ate that beef bat,
and I was never the same again.
I got my first bite of Wagyu beef.
You know what's going through my mind right now?
I'm like, all the times I've ever said,
"Melt in your mouth."
"This steak melted in my mouth."
Before this, like, I was thinking about all those instances.
It was just complete lie until this moment.
This was my steak-reckoning moment.
This was the moment I realized that God exists,
the food gods exist, and they live in Japan.
The outside feels like beef.
Then, when you chew it, I swear it was butter.
Like, literally catching the first snowflake of winter,
except for it tastes like beef.
Herrine: Is it still one of the best things
you've ever eaten?
The best steak you've ever eaten?
Mike: People always ask me,
what's the best thing I've ever had in my life?
And if I had to narrow it down,
what are the most incredible food experience,
I would always pinpoint to the first time I put that Wagyu,
A5 Wagyu in my mouth.
I'm pretty sure this curry is melting the spoon here.
I'm just eating, like, a whole mouthful of....
Yep. Oh, this was not a good day.
This was not a good week.
When you see a chef cooking your food with a gas mask,
you should not eat said food.
Ah, even watching it, oh, what have I done?
I look so young. Is this why I aged,
because of this one meal?
Oh, man, that was a bad bite.
The owner - that's the owner sitting behind me -
he's laughing.
[evil laughter]
Did you know I drank the entire restaurant's mango lassi?
They ran out of mango lassi 'cause I drank it all.
And that sneeze hurt me
because I think some of it came out my nose.
[Herrine gasps]
That's it.
Thank you, sir.
There we go.
Oh, my God, this is definitely
the spiciest curry in the world.
I'm gonna hang this up because this was not easy.
This was not without pain.
It was not without tears and sweat and a lot of more pain.
Man, I worked hard for this.
Herrine: Was it spicier than you thought going in?
Mike: It was definitely spicier than I thought.
So, when I ate it, like, I don't know,
five, six years ago before this,
it wasn't all that spicy to me. I just had it for dinner.
I went in for dinner, and I ate it.
It wasn't even a challenge to me.
But this time I go in,
and they started using Carolina Reapers.
That's a whole different ballgame.
There's a whole aftermath to what happened here.
And I walk out,
and I'm feeling all right for having finished the challenge,
then after I take five steps, all of a sudden,
like, it was like rocket-fuel-propelled vomit.
Projectile vomiting. Literal Godzilla.
Like this, I was like,
[roars]
Out comes, like, just bright red,
like, flame-colored substance
that's just spraying all over everyone's lawn.
Finally I was well enough to drive home
and then basically crawl to the bathroom
for the entire day.
And, literally, like, I was just like, I googled -
I googled this.
I googled, "Can someone die from eating spicy food?"
'Cause I thought I was dying.
They called me back.
He called me back, like, three days afterwards, he's like,
"Hey, the Travel Channel is here. They're wondering
if you wanna do that spicy challenge again."
I'm like, "No!"
Hell no.
Never again.
Herrine: I tried. I tried it. [laughs]
Mike: Yeah, I know you tried it.
I know you couldn't finish that. I know you.
There's no way you could have finished that.
Herrine: I think I took, like, two bites, and I was done.
Mike: Because there's, like, such a big bowl in front of me.
Holy crap, how come that looks bigger now?
Did that grow?
No.
Oh, that was a good day.
I finished that baby.
Yeah, I did.
That was not even hard.
I finished it in, like, half an hour.
I'm a little intimidated by this.
Herrine: Are you kidding me?
Mike: I enjoyed that challenge.
It wasn't even really a challenge to me.
It was, like, 4 pounds of noodles and meat.
So the bark is a lot worse than the bite.
And I was the first winner of this challenge.
It was good.
I never felt so good,
because I feel like my body
can eat an unlimited amount of pho.
I can do it.
[audience applauds]
Herrine: So, like, for a challenge video,
how do you prepare yourself?
Mike: I don't. I didn't.
I'm not a professional food eater.
I'm sure they prepare. I don't prepare.
I just, I'm hungry,
so I just go in and try to eat it.
I mean, afterwards, I need a lot of alone time,
but.
It got hard when I found a lot of beef tendon
and meatballs in the bottom.
Where are they coming from?
And those are really, really heavy stuff and dense stuff.
So when I found a lot of these things,
I was like, "Oh, my God, I didn't know
there's all these things sunk into the bottom."
That's when it started getting a little rough.
But at the same time, like, 30 minutes after eating that
I had ice cream.
This will be by far the best ramen plate
I've ever had in my life.
There's the documentary,
and there's the man himself.
Oh, I like that shirt.
Look at it! Look how - I just wanna cuddle it.
And then eat it.
I'm sitting down. I'm so excited.
I'm outside again. Don't be early, either.
This place is crazy, because it was a five-hour wait.
And I got there I think at, like, 9 a.m.
And you get a ticket,
and then it'll say, like, what time to come back by.
So I just went to McDonald's and ate
before I came here and ate.
So I sat at McDonald's for five hours.
And after I got my ticket, the guy told me
I have to be here at 12:30 sharp.
Like, I must be here.
Little he knows about me, I'll be here at 12.
And then they're like, "Yeah, you can't stand around here."
Thank you. Smooth, perfect ramen.
And this is chuka soba,
so it's made with wheat.
Oh, my gosh.
Ooh. That broth, when it's dipped into that broth,
it's just full of fish and pork flavor.
Yes, fish and pork go well in a broth.
Yeah, that was my bite. That was legit.
I was, like, shocked by how good it was.
The noodle texture is so springy and chewy.
I go in there, and I'm filming this.
I'm trying to be, like, as discreet as I can,
because it's so quiet,
and all you hear is just, like, [slurping]
And I'm like, "This is so good!"
And I'm, like, right in front of the chef,
so I didn't wanna be, like, a jerk,
you know, I didn't wanna talk loud,
so I'm trying to describe the flavor
and try to eat at the same time.
I cannot stress enough
how flavorful and smoky every single piece of meat is.
Herrine: So, this is the best ramen you've had, ever?
Mike: Mm-hmm.
Herrine: What is the best ramen place
in the States, in your opinion?
Mike: I think
there is a place that I really like in Los Angeles.
I forget the name of it.
Herrine: [echoing] Best ramen place in the States.
Mike: [echoing] There is a place
that I really like in Los Angeles.
Yeah, so, it's called Okiboru House of Tsukemen.
I feel like this is probably
one of the best actual noodles in the US.
I'm not scared of you!
If you've never seen mount lobster before, here it is.
Oh, oh, OK, this is the lo- oh, my God.
This is - that was expensive. [laughs]
This was one of the most expensive meals
I've ever paid for.
And right here, when I'm holding up the lobster,
that was tough for me. Each one was, like, close to,
I think over 25 pounds.
Literally the craziest thing I've ever done.
You know, it's not the weight, it's just slippery.
And when I saw this thing, when they brought it out,
they needed two people to bring out this mountain.
This was a 50-pound lobster tower.
Server: Enjoy, guys. OK?
Mike: Enjoy, or scare the crap out of me.
This both impresses and frightens me
and makes me hungry at the same time.
Those are really confusing feelings.
Initially I was getting the 25 pound.
And they were like, then the restaurant owner was like,
"No, you need a 30 pound. That's way more impressive."
I'm like, "Bring on the 30 pound!"
Even though it was, like, I think 800 US dollars for that.
But that did feed everyone on the table.
And then I took it out to a meetup,
and I gave it to people on the streets.
I mean, it's lobster!
Yo, whoever gives you lobster,
as long as it doesn't look like
it fell onto, you know, into a sewage pipe,
you eat the lobster, OK?
Herrine: So if somebody gave you a lobster on the street,
you would take it?
Mike: I would smell it first, and then I would take it.
[beeps]
Herrine: What did it feel like
when you first went into the restaurant?
Mike: First of all, I mean,
I'd never seen lobsters that big in my life.
I know big lobsters exist,
but I'd never been so close
to one of these monstrosities,
and just holding it, it was like,
I cannot believe I'm doing this right now.
It was like a surreal experience.
Herrine: The mountain was so big.
Mike: You couldn't see me, right?
Herrine: Like, how much were you able to put a dent into it?
Mike: I feel like, myself,
I ate at least
four or five regular-sized lobsters.
That was an expensive video to make.
I mean, 90% of the time I...
this is why I don't tell restaurants I'm going in usually,
so they don't, you know,
the owner doesn't hover near me
and be like, "Oh, hey, oh, you didn't like that?
Oh, you shouldn't say that about that."
So I don't want any of that.
I want my reviews to be completely authentic, so.
And this, they wouldn't -
I mean, obviously, this thing.
That's $1,000 -
nah, they wouldn't comp something like that.
I think that's the end of the video, right?
Herrine: Yep, that's it.
Mike: Wow, that was really fun.
Thanks for having me.
Hopefully you are keeping safe and sane.
And if you wanna see more of my videos,
more of my adventures,
Strictly Dumpling, my blog channel,
you can watch me on Facebook,
all the links are I think gonna be provided down below.
So thanks for having me.