WonderPho Pho Eating Challenge

This past Saturday Peter, Gabe, Fiona and I went down to the Beaches to try and catch some of the Beaches International Jazz Festival. Unfortunately we were a bit too early. Queen Street was still open to traffic and none of the musicians were set up.

So we decided to grab a bite. I suggested Sunset Grill since we were parked nearby. We pretty much had the same thing - sausages and three eggs served with home fries and thick toast. Though Peter substituted bacon instead of sausage.

Afterwards we walked around a bit. Partly on Queen, partly along the boardwalk by the lake. Still we hard no music.

We had to leave by around 5:00 because we were going to meet Keith up at WonderPho at 6:00. He had entered himself in the Pho eating contest there.

The contest began the day before. The challenge was to eat a huge bowl of Pho containing 100 metres of noodles (1½ pounds), ½ pound veal brisket, ½ pound sliced rib eye, 120 oz (3.55 litres) of soup. It's garnished with a mountainous pile of bean sprouts, red onions, basil and cilantro. Time limit to finish: 15 minutes.

If you're able to finish the whole bowl (soup included) within the allotted time you're awarded a T-shirt, a photo on the wall of the restaurant and given bragging rights amongst your friends. If you don't finish in time you have to pay $38 for the bowl of noodles. Either way you end up with a massive stomach ache.

Our group got there early so we went over to the Korean supermarket Galleria to kill some time. When we returned to the restaurant Keith and Justin were standing out front. We went in at around 6:00.

When we got inside we saw a couple of young fellows who had just finished their attempt at eating the super-sized bowl. One fellow did it, his friend failed. Both were royally hurting.

The young guy who finished the bowl did it in only 10 minutes. Very impressive. The manager said that seven others, if I remember correctly, had already failed up until that point.

After they brought the bowl out Keith was allowed to let it sit for 8 minutes to cool off a bit. Then he dug in...

Of course things started off all right. For the first 10 minutes or so he was steadily plugging away. Keith downed most of the meat and the noodles, but now he was starting to feel the pain.

Once he reached that point it only got worse. One... two... three minutes passed with little more being eaten. It was about that time everyone realized it wasn't meant to be.

In the end he had about half a bowl of soup left with some noodles and other odds and ends. It was a valiant effort that's for sure.

Keith asked one of the waitresses how large the super bowl was compared to a regular large. She said it was like eating 3-4 large bowls. That's just plain crazy.