Just a look at the dish and you will feel shivers going down your spine. Marinated in bhut jolokia (ghost pepper) and red chilli paste for eight hours, the chicken wings are grilled and cooked in the same sauce before being served. Think you can finish an entire plate of this? Try the ‘Beat The Ghost Challenge’ and get your name on the restaurant’s Wall of Fame, plus a discount on your next bill.
Pocket pinch: Rs 209-plus (half), Rs 259-plus (full).
t2 verdict: 5 chillies out of 5
Oh! We should do something around hot dishes!” — Just this one sentence landed two t2 girls in hot sauce! The task was to find not just the hot but the hottest dishes served in the city. Thus began our quest.
What followed were numb tongues, flaming mouths and endless sweating. Seven hot dishes spread over two days later, we switched to one week of bland diet (very little spice and no chillies)!
PS: We have rated the dishes on a scale of five, purely on the basis of their hotness factor.
SURVIVAL TIP
Don’t drink water if you feel your mouth is on fire as the burning sensation gets stronger. Instead, sip from a glass of milk or keep a bowl of ice cream handy.
NUCLEAR NOODLES @ THE BLUE POPPY THAKALI
If you’ve come across the Nuclear Noodles Challenge, then you may have an idea of how hot this dish is. This bowl of fire will burn your tongue and still make you want more. With a hint of chicken flavour, the Nuclear Noodles comes with a sunny side up egg. The chilli flake garnishing takes the hotness level to a different level. The first bite and we were already sipping water.
Pocket pinch: Rs 250-plus.
t2 verdict: 4/5
MOMO SAUCE @ THE BLUE POPPY
Made with dry red chillies, the sauce is undoubtedly HOT. Don’t think your food is spicy enough? Try having it with this sauce and feel the heat!
FILO WRAPPED CHICKEN DRUMSTICKS @ WHAT’S IN D NAME
What puts this dish on our list is the fiery in-house hot sauce made with garam masala, chilli flakes, tomato sauce, Tabasco sauce and black pepper. The drumsticks are marinated in chilli sauce, garlic and Sriracha sauce and half-baked in an oven, and then wrapped in filo pastry and baked until cooked. Just when you start thinking the sauce is on the sweeter side, the hot devil comes after you!
Pocket pinch: Rs 230-plus.
t2 verdict: 2/5
GHOST PEPPER WINGS @ TGIF
These chicken wings are cooked in a hot bhut jolokia sauce and served with the same. To balance it out, there’s some tartar sauce on the side, too, but well, it doesn’t reduce the heat. One of us let out a scream after biting into one of these. It’s a challenge that you give yourself.
Pocket pinch: Rs 445-plus (six pieces), Rs 795 (12 pieces).
t2 verdict: 4/5
PRAWN CHETTINAD CURRY @ THE COASTAL MACHA
A traditional dish from Tamil Nadu, the Prawn Chettinad Curry catches you slowly, after a couple of bites. The simple yet flavoursome dish uses ingredients such as green chillies, crushed Malabar black pepper, Salem Gundu red chilli powder, roasted coconut paste and fennel. While the green chillies hit your palate, the pepper gets your throat and the red chillies fire up your belly. The prawns are well-cooked and juicy and when had with rice and ghee, there’s a desi punch. The only dish both of us found bearable.
Pocket pinch: Rs 330-plus (half), Rs 610-plus (full).
t2 verdict: 2/5
GHOST PEPPER SAUCE @ TGIF
A sauce made with one of the hottest chillies in the world — bhut jolokia. Need we say more? Try it as a dip with sausages, or your favourite fritters. Want to try making it at home? All you need is vegetable oil, ginger and garlic paste, bhut jolokia, soy sauce, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, red chilli powder, onion powder, honey, vinegar, butter, Frank’s hot sauce, salt and sugar.
FIERY WOKAHOLIC NON VEG WOK BOX @ WOKAHOLIC
This is clearly not for the faint-hearted! The spicy sauce made with ingredients like chilli oil, red chilli paste and dry red chilli is what makes this dish tick. You can choose from non-veg options like egg, chicken and shrimps and veg options like paneer and soya. Also pick from ingredients like broccoli, baby corn, mushrooms, spring onions and crushed peanuts. You can select your type of noodles too. It is indeed intense with flavours. While one of us went straight for the soft drink, the other settled in with some more sauce to make it hotter.
Pocket pinch: Rs 239-plus.
t2 verdict: 3/5
DALLE CHILLI PICKLE @ MAMAMOMO — Kitchen & Grill The supremely hot and spicy dalle chilli from Sikkim is perfect as an accompaniment with your daily rice and roti.
PAN FRIED CHICKEN MOMO IN HOT GARLIC SAUCE @ THE BLUE POPPY
With a hearty filling of chicken and a thick sauce made with spring onions, red chilli paste and tomato sauce, these momos will make your mouth (and your eyes) water at the sight of them. The momos are juicy, with the heat coming from the chilli paste that makes the dish delish. Try adding the red hot Blue Poppy Momo Sauce for that extra dose of spice. You go on having such tasty momos irrespective of how hot they are. We slathered some of the momo sauce (see below) on them and we loved it more!
Pocket pinch: Rs 150-plus.
t2 verdict: 3/5
Text: Nandini Ganguly and Urvashi Bhattacharya
Pictures: B. Halder and Pabitra Das
Do you have a super hot dish from a city restaurant to add to this list?
Tell t2@abp.in
