Fall River Crowns First-Ever Pho King Eating Champion [VIDEO]

There's a new foodie monarch in Fall River who was crowned the title of "Pho King Champion" on Saturday, May 8.

Manny Lindo of Fall River housed down three large orders of pho (a Vietnamese soup that's made up of rice noodles, bone broth, beef and various herbs) within the 30-minute time limit. Out of 10 contestants, he was the only one to suck down over five quarts of pho, earning him the title of ultimate champion.

"It was a great experience, I got to eat one more time which is something I really enjoy doing," Lindo said with a full belly and a broth-soaked beard, "I had some really worthy opponents."

I should know, I was sitting right next to him going slurp-for-slurp and just couldn't keep up. For the first 10-15 minutes, I was able to maintain the same pace as Lindo, but he pulled ahead and was able to hold down the piping hot (yet delicious) trough of soup.

This was the very first competition for Hong Meas over on Quequechan Street in Fall River and hopefully not their last. Out of every food competition I've tackled (or at least attempted to), eight pounds of rice noodles was the threshold for me, and I'm really good at eating. Believe it or not, this was the first time I've actually had pho and was very impressed with how tasty the broth and rice noodles were.

The winner received $200 for finishing and although it was a $30 buy-in, a portion of the money was donated to the Friends of Jack Foundation.