A ramen restaurant in Yunlin, Taiwan, recently unveiled its latest menu entry – Godzilla Ramen, a bowl of ramen soup with a braised crocodile leg sticking out of it.
Taiwanese ramen has been getting weirder and weirder in the last few weeks. It all started with the isopod ramen we featured at the end of last month, which featured a giant isopod as the main ingredient. Then it was the ‘Frog Frog Frog Ramen‘ by Yuan Ramen (圓拉麵), which featured a giant unpeeled frog, and recently culminated with another Yunlin area ‘delicacy’, a crocodile ramen aptly named ‘Godzilla Ramen’. The dish is reportedly made with 40 different spices, but the main ingredient literally sticking out of the bowl is a braised crocodile leg.
Photo: Witch Cat/Facebook
Announced in a now-viral Facebook post, Godzilla Ramen was allegedly inspired by the popular isopod ramen that everyone in Taiwan seemed to be talking about at the end of last month. Seeking the same crazy amount of attention from potential patrons, the owner of a ramen shop in Douliu City, Taiwan’s Yunlin County, came up with an even more shocking variety.
Having learned how to cook crocodile soup during a trip to Thailand, the owner of the Witch Cat ramen restaurant, devised the Godzilla Ramen recipe and began promoting it online, to great effect, so far. Photos of ramen bowls with crocodile legs sticking out of them spread like wildfire on Taiwanese social media and even abroad.
The crocodile legs for the Godzilla Ramen are reportedly sourced from a crocodile farm in Taitung, but the farm can only supply enough ingredients for a couple of ramen bowls per day, so the dish has to be ordered in advance to ensure availability. A bowl of Godzilla Ramen is priced at NT$1,500 ($48). Apparently, the restaurant also has an NT$100 ‘food waste fee’ for people who order the dish exclusively for photos, without actually eating the dish.
Godzilla Ramen has been getting a lot of attention online, but the feedback so far has been generally negative, with many people accusing Witch Car of shameless marketing.
“This is just horrific! Who would dare to eat this?! Just looking at this is terrifying!” one person commented.
