Indian Food Spice Levels: Our 1 to 10 Scale, Explained

There's no industry standard. Most restaurants use mild, medium and hot, and each kitchen calibrates those differently, so the same word can mean very different things in two places. Restaurants using a numbered scale are trying to solve exactly that.

If you've never had Indian or Nepali food, start at 3 on a 1 to 10 scale. If you like moderate heat, 5. If you use hot sauce regularly, 6. Order one level below what you think you want the first time, it's easy to go up next visit.

Noticeable heat in every bite, present but not challenging, and you shouldn't need a drink because of it. It's the honest middle of the scale rather than a cautious one.

Yes. It's made with the hottest chilies we use and it's meant to be difficult. It isn't a marketing number.

You should be able to. Heat is built with different chilies at different stages of cooking rather than by adding chili powder at the end, so the dish keeps its flavor underneath. If a restaurant's hot version tastes only of burn, that's a weakness in the kitchen.

Yes. Each dish is cooked to its own level. Momo chutney comes on the side, which makes it the easiest thing to share across different tolerances.

Level 1, which has no chili in it, or level 2. Steamed momo with the chutney served separately is usually the easiest first dish because the dumpling has no heat of its own.

Most can. A few can't, honestly, vindaloo and chilli momo have heat built into their definition, and cream-based dishes like korma stop working past a point. Anything where the sauce is made in a batch comes as it comes.

ogurt, lassi, rice or bread. Not water, capsaicin doesn't dissolve in it, so water spreads the burn rather than removing it.