#trending: Japanese ramen shop ranks Singaporeans’ spice tolerance as ‘mid’; netizens agree

SINGAPORE — A viral post on online forum Reddit showed a ramen eatery in Japan tagging different spice levels according to nationality, with Singapore and Malaysia ranked in the middle of its index. 
The post has garnered more than 800 upvotes and more than 200 comments. On its menu, Gyumon Halal Ramen Asakusa allows diners to choose from 10 spice levels for their meal — with hotter options costing more. 
For patrons’ reference, the yakiniku restaurant in Tokyo puts various Asian countries’ flags on the suggested spice level. Level 1 is the least spicy, while level 10 is the spiciest. 
It recommends levels 3 to 5 for Singaporeans and Malaysians. Japan is ranked the lowest at level 1, while South Korea is ranked above at levels 6 to 8 and Indonesia is up top at levels 9 to 10. 
Reddit users largely agreed with this ranking. One who wrote the top comment said: “I think it’s true, our spiciness tolerance is nothing compared to the Indonesians.”
Others echoed this sentiment, with people sharing their experiences of being unable to tolerate the chilli in Indonesia. 
A Reddit user with Indonesian parents wrote in jest that they sometimes find it odd that they would find a meal bland when their friends and colleagues would say that it was spicy. 
“But later I will still laosai because while my tongue has been trained by my mother’s spicy cooking since young, my stomach somehow never evolved.”
“Laosai” is a Hokkien term that means having diarrhoea. 
One user commented: “There’s a reason why KFC (short for Kentucky Fried Chicken) never reintroduced its spicy Szechuan chicken, and that (McDonald’s) had to introduce non-spicy McCrispy chicken.”
Another person said that Singapore has many non-spicy food options such as wanton mee (pork dumpling noodles) and chicken rice that “probably pull down the average”. 
Some others questioned why Thailand was not included in the index, predicting that the Thais would be ranked on par with the Indonesians. 
TODAY has reached out to Gyumon Halal Ramen Asakusa for comment.