YouTube Foodie Mike Chen To Judge San Diego Ramen Cook-Off

YouTube food enthusiast Mike Chen will judge an instant ramen-inspired cooking competition on June 2 in San Diego.

The cook-off will take place from 11 AM to 2 PM PST at the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum. Participants will include local chefs like Happy Sushi’s Tress Balch, Jeff Roberto of Sushi on a Roll, and Marcus Twilegar of Parq. It will cost $40 to attend the event, which will also feature beer from Duck Foot Brewing Company, according to San Diego Eater.

Eating three noodle dishes will be no challenge for Chen, who has repeatedly gorged himself on his YouTube channel, Strictly Dumpling, where he has over 1.2 million subscribers. It’s not uncommon for his videos’ thumbnails to feature Chen standing in front of an entire roasted pig or a full buffet.

In addition to Strictly Dumpling, Chen has seven other YouTube channels, some more active than others. His food-related channels include Pho the Love of Food, which has over 32,000 subscribers, Mikey Chen, which has over 404,000, and Eat With Mikey, with over 69,000 subscribers. Meanwhile, his channel on “mysterious phenomena,” Beyond Science, boasts over 2 million subscribers and his Chinese culture and history channel, The Chen Dynasty, has upwards of 370,000 subscribers. You could call him prolific.

Chen has a solid background for judging ramen-inspired dishes. In a video from October 2017, Chen takes viewers on a tour of his favorite ramen spots in New York City, a journey inspired by his enjoyment of ramen in Japan. You can watch the video below: