Latin America's Hottest Curry: Star of India, La Paz, Bolivia

A week or so ago we made Phall, the curry that is reported to be the hottest curry available on restaurant menus. When I made this dish it reminded me of my experience in La Paz, Bolivia when Caitlin egged me on until I ate the 'hottest curry in Latin America'. This curry was a vindaloo and it was spicy. All day I had hummed and haahed about whether I would go through with it or not, but with my faithful Caitlin believing in my ability to handle the chili I found myself asking for this famous dish, with a beer, a mango lassi and a hefty plate of rice and naan on the side.  As I ate other diners looked on, watching the sweat as it ran down my forehead and whispering amongst themselves. Seems I was the only female attempting the feat that night and people were impressed. And they should have been. That was the single hottest dish I have attempted in my life, and I like it spicy. 

I had a plan to get me through: just keep going without stopping and giving my tongue time to react. When I couldn't hack it any more a nice big mouthful of creamy, sweet lassi was my savior, and then it was back to the punishment, and a punishment it was. For it was tasty enough, but to be honest I could barely tasty the flavour through the heat. But my real undoing was the size of the dish, and they plan it this way. See if you finish the meal you get a t-shirt and it was this I was aiming for when I ordered. That and the prestige. But I had not researched my folly thoroughly enough and had enjoyed a nice mocha milkshake with whipped cream that afternoon. I was a little hungry as we rolled up for dinner, but not the eating-itself-from-the-inside kind of rumbly tummy required to demolish this dish.

And so I was defeated. Caitlin enjoyed her meal across the table from me and we suffered no adverse affects from the meal, but then again we had had our fair share of stomach upsets in Peru so maybe we had built up immunity by now. I was going to go right out there and suggest you stop by if visiting La Paz, but given the recent reviews of this place I would suggest you ask fellow travelers on the road, and if it seems good then stop on by - everyone needs a British-style curry in Bolivia!