Comments on: Brick Lane Curry House: After the Phaal

By: Jason Roth

Jason Roth — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 18:44:12 +0000

Yes – that was the challenge that I did, at the Cluck U that used to be in Newark, Delaware. The hotness plateaued midway through the wings. And you’re right, it’s not exactly “enjoyable” in the traditional sense of the term. It’s “fun” in the way the last mile of a marathon might be. The sauce they used was a habanero extract-based sauce, which I generally consider to be sauces that “cheat”. (For those who don’t know about them, these sauces, such as Dave’s Temporary Insanity Sauce, basically filter down the hottest part of the hot peppers and use the concentrate as a main ingredient in their sauce. As if a regular, old habanero pepper isn’t hot enough.)

By: Geoff

Geoff — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 02:32:09 +0000

I watched a friend try the 911 Challenge at a Cluck U in NJ, and their focus (Cluck U’s focus, I mean) really was more on the sadism than on any possible enjoyment of spicy food. It wasn’t too far from “We DARE you to drink this industrial grill cleaner! (And no washing it down with water, either!)”

By: Jason Roth

Jason Roth — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 15:25:54 +0000

Must have been a mango lassi. I ate plenty of naan bread. Brick Lane is actually kind in this regard. In some of these challenges, like one for spicy chicken wings I did in Delaware, they don’t let you eat or drink anything else. In the one in Delaware, I actually had to wait ten or fifteen minutes after eating the wings before I was “allowed” to drink anything!

By: Geoff

Geoff — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:35:53 +0000

Watching Food Network’s “Chefs Vs. City,” one of the challenges they just had to do was eat a bowl of Phaal at this very establishment. It sure as hell didn’t look easy (and they washed down every mouthful with some high-fat frozen mango beverage whose name I didn’t catch). Congratulations on your accomplishment and certificate!

By: Jason Roth

Jason Roth — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:35:12 +0000

Photo of official “Phaal Curry Monster” certificate added.

By: Jason Roth

Jason Roth — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:14:55 +0000

Here's a Wall Street Journal article about the Brick Lane phaal craze.

By: Jason Roth

Jason Roth — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:05:28 +0000

Jesus. It definitely didn’t kill me quite as bad, but there were, shall we say, consequences. But congratulations on joining our elite club. I guess you’re glad today is a Saturday? (And was it a few Friday night beers that got you into this situation in the first place?)

You’re right that having to consume the sauce was the catch that you’re not prepared for and what really makes things difficult. Still, I think the dish was the hottest I’ve eaten. You have to understand that I don’t count Dave’s as a legitimate food product. I’ve only had his Temporary Insanity Sauce, and I’m assuming “Ultimate” is hotter. I’m going to take a wild guess that your comment about using it “by the spoonful” was hyperbole, right? I’ve never met anyone able to use the stuff as an actual sauce. I have bitten into a raw habanero, and yes, that was hotter than the phaal.

By: Jack

Jack — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 10:36:04 +0000

I just ate it tonight and finished. It is now 6:20AM and I still haven’t even bothered trying to go to bed b/c I’m shitting my brains out every 30 minutes or so. In and of itself it was not the hottest thing I’ve ever had. I’ve had wings that were just as hot if not hotter and I’ve had fresh peppers that were definitely hotter. The difference is that I’ve never had eaten the sole source of heat in that volume before. Sure the wings were hotter, but it was only the very thin coating of sauce baked onto the skin and meat that was hot. Likewise, I never ate 16 oz of chopped fresh Habanero or Scotch Bonnet. The actual mouth burn isn’t beyond anyone who regularly eats really hot stuff. If you put Dave’s Ultimate Insanity sauce by the spoonful into your chili or on your pizza you’ll be fine. It’s the extreme dissatisfaction that your stomach registers within the first 10 minutes of the first bite that kills. The fact that the dish is not really meat or vegetables with a hot sauce on top, but rather 16 ounces of a very hot sauce with 4 bite size pieces of meat thrown in for good humor is the killer. Ok gotta go have another reckoning with the porcelain god.

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:32:21 +0000

I’m with Aaron on this. I imagine that the worst pain doesn’t hit until the next morning…