So, the last time I went to Brick Lane in Jersey City was end of July for an event celebrating the 1947 beer (check out my podcast episode with the founder and CEO of 1947 Craft Beer) and I was looking forward to going back there. And we did, eager to get my hand on that beer and also try their most famous dish: the phaal, a curry so hot that they cook it with a gas mask, the fumes of the peppers being so intense. I discovered this dish on Man vs Food and was always curious to taste it, knowing that you have to verbally remove the restaurant from any responsibility should you decide to eat it.

1947 beer at Brick Lane Curry House in Jersey City

And if you finish it, you get a free beer and your picture in their wall of fame…I do not know anyone who has been able to eat it fully and even our waiter told us that he never did and would not even try. What is great at Brick Lane is that you do not need to order the entire curry and can just get the sauce as a side for $6. That way it does not feel like a total waste. Still, you get a nice quantity of that curry that is topped with a pepper that is daring you to try. I dipped a piece of naan, making sure that there was enough sauce on it and took a bite. I then turn to Jodi and said: “Alright, that is not that…”. Yeah, this is the kind of treasonous spicy dish where you think you can handle it and then suddenly it hits you: Jodi said that my face was like in movies when people get stabbed. My mouth was on fire, I started sweating a bit and my eyes became watery. I was also laughing at the same time as this was unexpected and grabbed a glass of 1947 beer, some rice and some naan, to try to extinguish this intense fire. It worked but I could still feel a bit of it as I continued my meal, but there was no way I could have continued to eat the phaal.

At least the rest of the food was not that spicy or not spicy at all. We had:

Imli baigan that is like eggplant chips topped with yogurt, tamarind and cheddar cheese. Nice and crispy, I love the sweet and savory combination of the dish.

Paneer tikka, where the cottage cheese, cooked in a tandoor, came on a sizzling plate, accompanied with vegetable. I liked their paneer that had this nice char and kick.

It came with a tikka masala sauce as well as a naan.

On my side, being in a British curry house, I wanted to try their chicken tikka masala. I was not disappointed: creamy, with lots of chicken in it, I could not stop dipping naan in it!