Auckland Woman First to Conquer Restaurant's 'Giant Ramen' Challenge

An Auckland-based competitive eater became the first customer to conquer a “giant ramen” challenge at a local restaurant, finishing up a bowl containing 1.5kg of soup, 1kg of noodles, and 200 grams of beef and vegetables in just over 13 minutes.

Nela Zisser can often be found making her way through outrageous food challenges. This time out, the challenge set by King Made Noodles offered $50 in cash and a $50 voucher for anyone who could finish the huge bowl of noodles in under 30 minutes.

The prize also included a place on the restaurant’s “wall of fame”.

Footage shared by Zisser on July 20 shows her completing the challenge in 13 minutes and 13 seconds, with the restaurant congratulating her on being the first to finish the bowl in under 30 minutes in a July 28 Facebook post. Zisser said she was “over the moon” with her time.

Zisser’s YouTube account chronicles such food feats as wolfing down 10 Burger King Whoppers in 17 minutes, devouring a 1-kg burrito in just under 100 seconds, and consuming a 2.2-pound jar of Nutella in under four minutes. Credit: Nela Zisser via Storyful

Video transcript

[CHATTER]

NELA ZISSER: Hey, guys, it's Nela here. Today I'm going to be doing an epic restaurant challenge. Now, I'm about to head down to King Made Noodles on 4th Street in Auckland Central and take on their Giant Noodle Challenge. Now, this is basically just a massive bowl of ramen noodles. It's roughly 3 kilos, so it's around about 6 pounds. It's just going to be, like, a massive bowl of soup, noodles, beef, and vegetables.

And, yeah, I'm very, very excited. I just did a massive workout. It's 1:17 PM at the moment, and I haven't eaten yet today so I am starving. And, yeah, I only found out about this challenge yesterday, actually, from a fan on Instagram. So a massive shout out to Jayden. Thank you so, so much. I really appreciate it.

And, yeah, this challenge looks pretty cool. This is their Facebook post that they did. It's, like, a-- it's, like, $100 prize, which you get $50 worth in cash and $50 worth in vouchers. You have to complete the challenge within 30 minutes or it doesn't count.

And, yeah, basically you just have to be 18 or over. And it's free if you can complete it, but if you can't complete it you have to pay $54.99. So hopefully I can complete it. And, yeah, no bathroom breaks allowed, no sharing, all those kind of, like, normal rules for a restaurant challenge.

So, yeah, I'm very, very excited. I've never actually heard of this place before and I didn't even know they had a challenge. And, apparently, they've had it for, like, over a month. So, yeah, I'm very, very excited. I'm going to take you guys along with me. So, yeah, I hope you guys enjoy the video.

All right. So I'm here at the restaurant now and I'm about to take on a massive bowl of ramen noodles. Now, apparently there was a misprint on the, like, challenge flyer. So you actually do have to pay for the challenge. It's $54.99. So even if you do complete it and win, you do have to pay. But you do get the $50 voucher and $50 in cash if you can complete this in under 30 minutes. So, yeah, I'm about to tuck into it. So, yeah, I hope you guys enjoy it.

All right. 3, 2, 1, and go. OK. I do have my fork. This is very hot.

I'll tip the bowl.

The weight on this bowl is very heavy. Woo!

[BELCHES]

The girl who works here just came over and I think she was a bit shocked. Because I didn't think she-- I think that she thought that I couldn't do this when I came in. [LAUGHS]

Woo! Almost there.

- [NON-ENGLISH]

NELA ZISSER: Very good. Very good. This is the chef here. Very tasty.

- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

- [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

[ALARM CHIMING]

- [NON-ENGLISH]

NELA ZISSER: [CHUCKLES] Wow. That was a massive bowl of ramen. Oh my god. It was very tasty, though. It was very hot, and there was way more noodles than I was expecting. Like, from the top you looked at it and it looked like it was a lot of broth. But there was actually, like, a hearty amount of noodles under there.

[BELCHES]

Oh, pardon me. Woo! Yeah, I'm very happy with that. My time frame that I was aiming for was around about 15 minutes, so I'm super stoked. I did it in 13 minutes and 13 seconds, so I am absolute over the moon with that. I hope you guys enjoyed this video. I've got a little bit of green stuff just over here. Let me get that.

Yeah. I hope you guys enjoyed the video. Remember, if you haven't already, check out my merch. It's available online. Down below there'll be a link in the description. We've got t-shirts, we've got hoodies, it's all on Champion clothing and I designed it myself. So, yeah, go check that out if you guys want to support me a little bit further.

And, yeah, comment down below and tell me how long you thought it would take me to eat these or how long you reckon that would take you to eat them. Yeah, I'm very proud of myself. Hope you guys enjoyed the video, and I'll see you guys next time.