EURO DELI RESTAURANT
No.39 & 41, Jalan SS20/11,
Damansara Kim,
47400 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor, Malaysia
Tel/Fax: (603) – 7726 7495
A SAUSAGE as long as your forearm, wrapped in bacon, dipped in breadcrumbs and deep-fried. Packed in the bun are pickled mango, pineapple, bell peppers and lettuce. This jumbo hotdog is the last thing you would want to pick a fight with.
But the 12 blokes who dared step into the ring at the 12-Inch Wiener Speed Eating Challenge in Euro Deli Restaurant looked like they were bent on chugging this monster down and walk away with a RM300 cash voucher.
This is not the first time restaurant owner Santa Boon has called the big eaters to a chomping battle.
The Matterhorn burger, coming in with a three kilogramme patty is roughly the size of a watermelon, was one of the deli’s prize spark plugs. In three years, only six people managed to finish this beast.
The jumbo hotdog challenge – part of the restaurant’s 25th anniversary celebrations – is nothing compared to the Matterhorn, but having to stuff this train down your throat in two minutes flat is no joke.
There is a technique to speed eating, said Boon.
Euro Deli owner Santa Boon (2nd from left) and head chef Gunalan Ramadass with participants of the 12-inch Wiener Speed Eating Contest.
This challenge is termed as a “sprint”. In the world of speed eating, a time frame of eight minutes is categorised as a marathon.
It is a sport, and training is required. Japanese competitive eater and eight-time Guinness world record-holder Takeru Kobayashi, expands his stomach for a competition by eating larger and larger amounts of food, and then exercises to ensure that fat will not impede expansion of his stomach during a competition. Takeru, who has a six-pack, can down 110 regular sausages in 10 minutes.
Of the most popular strategies employed in speed eating for hotdogs is the Solomon Technique.
The competitor separates bun and sausage. He breaks sausage in half, stuffs it into his mouth, chews quickly and swallows. Then he dips the bread in water so it turns to slush and repeats what he has done with the sausage.
Point is to swallow fast and chew less. The pros are known to do two hotdogs and two buns at a time, but there is a higher chance of choking.
The champ chower who made Boon part with his cash that day was a very slim handphone dealer who put the oblong package away in three minutes one second. Tan Kee Yong Peng, 21, went over the stipulated time but he was the first – and fastest – to finish.
The others were still struggling with their wieners when Tan Kee went up to receive his prize.
“I’d like to have another bacon-wrapped wiener just to taste. I was eating so fast, I didn’t have time to enjoy the sausage,” the winner said afterwards.
Though Tan Kee Yong Peng did not finish in the two-minute time, he was still the first to finish, at a time of 301.
Incidentally, sausages are best sellers at this restaurant – about 160 pieces a day, according to its head chef Gunalan Ramadass.
Patting his flat tummy, Tan Kee admitted he was no newbie to speed-eating contests. Pinned on the restaurant’s Wall of Fame is an instant photo of Tan Kee with the Matterhorn. On the white borders of the photo, written in marker in his own hand is the word “focus”.
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Euro Deli is offering a 25% discount for all items in its menu, including alcohol, from July 1 to September. The speed-eating challenge for the Matterhorn and 12-Inch Wiener is perpetually on for any diner hungry enough to take them on.
