Kikanbo ramen - DEVIL LEVEL!!

Much has been written about Kikanbo ramen and their spicy ramen.  I have been there a couple of times and even tried their double devil level spicy ramen once.  That time I finished all of the toppings and noodles but failed to finish off the soup.  The numbing spice (山椒), sansho, was too much for me.  Now there is one guy whose videos I always watch on youtube.  He does videos about food and travel.  His name is Mark Wiens and he loves spicy food.  He made a video about Kikanbo ramen where he attempted their double devil level ramen and finished it soup and all.  You can find his video about it here.  Watching this video motivated me to want to go back and try it again so recently I met up with good friend, and occasional blog companion, Jarrett and we made our way to Kanda to battle the beast again.

Luckily for us there was no line-up (go there between lunch and dinner times and you won't have to wait long) and we made our way to the ticket machine which (thank you Kikanbo) has English also.

After choosing which ramen and toppings that you want you  hand your tickets over to the staff and they will ask you what spice level you want.  You can mix and match both chili spice level (on the left of the photo) and the numbing spice level (on the right).

Of course I was here for the double DEVIL LEVEL (onilevel at the bottom) for which you pay an extra 100 yen each.  The staff gave me a smile and then the spice magicians went to work.

I had some time to look around and admire the decor as they went about their work.

Appropriate that the place is decked out in devil masks and clubs and the music is taiko (Japanese drums).  After a short wait, it arrived.

I had ordered the basic bowl with extra baby corn (I love corn!) plus double DEVIL LEVEL spice.  Just look at that craziness!  I started thinking already "What the Hell are you doing Jason!!".  It was too late to turn back, I had already written my own fate.  With Jarrett looking on in amusement I started.  From the first mouthful, the numbing spice was building.  After having attempted it before I welcomed the numb because that numbed the mouth against the chili spice.  It was because of this that I was able to keep going.  One thing I have to say is that this ramen is so incredibly delicious.  The stand outs are the miso based soup and the mouthwaterling (used too much but definitely true here) tender charsui (pork chunks)!  I didn't have much time to enjoy that as all too soon the mouth became numb and the whole inside of my mouth started tingling.  I soldiered on.

Halfway through and I was experiencing a personal heatwave.  Each mouthful of (refreshing?) water felt like a thousand needles were exploding in my mouth!  I had to continue.  I couldn't let Mark Wiens and the double DEVIL LEVEL ramen defeat me!  Bunkering down, I continued on.  I finally reached the barrier that defeated me the first time.

Toppings and noodles finished I had only the soup remaining.  With the memories of this point defeating me the first time I tried it, it now spurred me on.  Each mouthful of soup was like a furnace burning not only my mouth, but my nose and my entire face!  I had to keep wiping the sweat away to stop it falling into and contaminating the soup!  After what seemed like an eternity I took my final mouthful of soup.

Battered but not defeated I had won the battle.  Job done!

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the post.  You can find a little video of me eating the ramen here on Youtube  .Feel free to leave a comment below and add your email to the right side of the screen to get an update when I upload another post.  Also, if you know people who would like to read, you can share via Facebook and twitter from the dropdown box at the top left side of the page.  Feel free to share my pain!  See you soon.