We went to Meet Burger and tried out all their food challenges

Down a small alley named Clay Pipe Jitty, there’s a niche little burger restaurant where the building is owned by none other than Looga’s answer to Lord Sugar, Raffaele Russo.

Lee, Meet Burger’s legendary chef, invited us down to try out their infamous food challenges. We proudly accepted and headed down there last Monday, with three strapping Lufbra finalists who felt their stomachs could handle anything Meet Burger threw in their direction. How wrong they were.

Sporting trendy Tab t-shirts, two of the contenders had to sign a disclaimer as both of their meals contained sauces which were made from the world’s hottest chilli, the Carolina Reaper – 440 times the heat of the hottest Jalapeño. The disclaimer ensured the participants were aware of what they were eating, as well as legally certifying they were at least 18 years old. It also said: “I agree not to hold Meet Burger, its employees or affiliates responsible or liable for any injuries I may sustain as a result of my participation in this contest.” Immediately, the boys knew they were in for a gruelling evening.

Challenge one: The Wing Challenge

Michael, an Industrial Design finalist, made it clear he wanted to do this challenge. How hard could eating six spicy chicken wings be? Especially with some delicious blue cheese dip on the side. He had to wear latex gloves during the challenge, as according to the chef, the spice has been know to make people bleed if consumed in excessive quantities.

Michael had a clever technique as he decided to shred all the chicken off the bones with a knife and fork as he didn’t want the spicy sauce to touch his face. Even though he proceeded to dip the chicken into the cooling dip, he went into some sort of delirious trance where he couldn’t speak, only eat. His eyes went bloodshot and he developed a rash on both cheeks.

Once he ate all the chicken, he was informed that to complete the challenge he had to eat two jalapeños and a whole Carolina Reaper, which he was advised to only chew a couple of times otherwise his mouth would have been on fire more than it already was. Even though his challenge didn’t have a time limit, he completed it within 10 minutes, which the chef rewarded him with whatever drink he wanted.

Challenge two: The ‘Reaper’

Jack, who studies Product Design, was the last out of the three contenders to choose a challenge, so arguably this could be considered as the hardest one as it consisted of three of the hottest chillies in the world to create three burgers glued together with chilli mayo, chilli coleslaw and served with chilli fries. Not one for the feint hearted. He spent the weekend preparing for The Reaper by eating endless amounts of spicy food, as according to Jack he is “more of a Korma kind of guy”.

As soon as the food came to the table, it was impossible to ignore the overwhelming smell of heat coming from his food: it was understandable when the chef asked him to also put on some latex gloves for his own safety. As soon as Jack took his first bite, his legs began to shake, yet he gallantly finished the majority of the challenge after about 30 minutes of excruciating pain and incessant sweating, leaving only one burger bun and a handful of fries. Similarly to Michael, he too had to complete his challenge by eating a Carolina Reaper, taking on the advice of the chef by proceeding to only bite the chilli enough so he could swallow it.

Challenge three: The ‘Big Deal’

This was the only timed challenge out of the three, as it required you to eat a 24 ounce burger (the equivalent of four patties) topped with macaroni cheese, hash browns, mozzarella sticks,  onion rings, all stacked with several brioche buns, with a sharing portion of fries on the side, in 20 minutes. As soon as Harry, an Economics finalist, started this challenge he knew it was impossible in the time limit, but decided to give it a go anyway.

He had a technique of eating the burger patty first, followed by the extras, incorporating the fries in where he could in the hope that he would be able to eat the buns at the end. Oh, how wrong he was. When the timer went off, signalling the end of the challenge, he had proceeded to eat the whole burger patty, nearly half the fries and the majority of the extras aside from the buns. By this point, even though he had undone his jeans and looked like a heavily pregnant woman, he continued to eat for several more minutes, determined to prove to himself he could eat all of the food.

The chef offered him a Carolina Reaper seeming the other two guys had eaten one. What was the worst that could happen? Instead of taking the chef’s advice, Harry chewed it several times unaware of how spicy it was going to be. His eyes filled with tears and he went bright red in a matter of seconds.

He began to uncontrollably cough and proceeded to throw up into the remainder of the fries, then running to the toilet to finish his food baby chunder. Poor boy.

At the end of the night, alongside the three boys being able to attempt to wash away the deathly heat with some of Meet Burger’s delicious milkshakes, Lee awarded them with £10 vouchers which they could use in the restaurant whenever they wanted. Such a babe. Even though Michael, Jack and Harry all agreed their food was ridiculously tasty and they would go back in a heart beat, the next 24 hours were some of the worst they have experienced. Michael spent the night on the toilet, while throwing up simultaneously. He said: “I felt like I was birthing a child of Satan. Despite the lovely taste of burnt flesh in my mouth, the blue cheese sauce was sensational.” Jack also spent his precious hours of recovery time of the toilet. When we caught up with him he said: “It was at that first bite, I knew I’d made an awful decision. Most unforgiving meal ever. My toilet still hasn’t forgiven me.”