'Way beyond my threshold': Zermatt Neo admits eating 100 goreng pisang in an hour was a challenge

Competitive eater Zermatt Neo is well known for his monster appetite.

His most recent challenge was to down 100 goreng pisang (fried bananas) in an hour.

However, unlike many of his other challenges, this session was not just about breaking records.

"It's also about appreciating and supporting our local F&B scene," Zermatt said.

This brought him to Million Star Fried Bananas in Changi Village Hawker Centre to give the goreng pisang challenge a shot.

Last Sunday (Sept 24), the YouTuber posted a roughly 13-minute-long clip of his attempt at eating that many goreng pisangs in one sitting.

Zermatt picked this particular stall as he is a big fan of their craft.

Also, it's not easy to grab a goreng pisang from Million Star Fried Bananas as it is only open on the weekends.

"Uncle and the son are not here anymore so we are here to support auntie," Zermatt shared.

Auntie kept giving more

While Zermatt was keen to keep the challenge to 100 goreng pisang, auntie was rather generous.

He finally ended up with a mountain of 106 goreng pisang.

As if the challenge of gorging 100 bananas wasn't hard enough, right?

Despite being a competitive eater, Zermatt seemed a tad bit daunted by the quantity of food on the table.

The fact that the bananas came in many sizes was not to his advantage.

"Honestly, I don't think I can finish. Let's be honest, it's way beyond my threshold," Zermatt said.

However, he'd still give it a try and reminded viewers that the objective of the challenge was to support auntie and her stall.

A quick chat between the duo revealed that auntie was on the lookout for a helper and successor.

Zermatt urged those interested to reach out to her as he sees value in preserving this goreng pisang recipe.

A tray full of goreng pisang

That was the point he wanted to drive home.

All 106 goreng pisang were placed in a tray, so what the cameras could capture was just the "tip of the iceberg".

Zermatt estimated that there are about 30 or 40 hidden from plain sight.

First few bites and it's clear Zermatt wasn't kidding about loving auntie's goreng pisang.

"When you bite in, it's like eating custard," he said before likening the taste to candy.

Another impressive feature of the goreng pisang was the batter.

Zermatt likened it to the ones more commonly used for tempura or fried chicken. He also appreciated how auntie's goreng pisang was neither "banana-heavy" or "batter-heavy".

And to top it all off, auntie fries her bananas upon order.

Unfortunately, there were drawbacks too and Zermatt wanted to be fair in his review.

He felt the bananas' ripeness weren't consistent.

"There are some that are very ripe which is perfect, you bite [and] it's the kick. Some are less ripe. I don't know, maybe it's on purpose," he mentioned.

Regardless, Zermatt managed to eat 100 goreng pisang within an hour.

Maybe what's more impressive was how he could eat even more food right after the challenge.

A hawker presented him a plate of rice and it wasn't long before he had a few mouthfuls of the dish.

"I still got a bit of room. Let's finish this one."

ALSO READ: 'Snappy but not tough': Zermatt Neo thinks this street food is Michelin star-worthy

amierul@asiaone.com

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