Watch Padma Lakshmi Taste Test This Essential Kentucky Comfort Food: "So Good!"

Padma Lakshmi has been busy filming the upcoming Season 16 of Bravo's Top Chef in Kentucky, but she's not too busy — nor bothered by the 10 to 15 pounds per season that she tends to gain — to miss out on trying the essential dishes of the state. When she first landed, she headed to Feast BBQ in Louisville and ordered a table full of delights, including loaded tater tots, pork cakes, and ribs... plus a salad for balance, she joked.

This week, she hit Royal's Hot Chicken to try the famous hot chicken offered there. She shared on her Instagram Stories that she was afraid to get the extra hot version, but she devoured a regular hot chicken sandwich happily. "I didn't get the extra hot because... well I was a little chicken," she said. Zing! "But if this goes well," she added, "I'll definitely be back."

Before her food arrived, she ordered three amazing-looking drinks and had a sip of each. First, she tried Cheerwine, which is like a cherry cola without wine, then moved on to a Bourbon and Coke slushie, which gave her a painful (but delightful) "brain freeze." Next, she tasted a luscious chocolate shake even though she knew she should wait for her sandwich. That gave her brain freeze too!

But the hot chicken was the main event, and it didn't disappoint! Padma was generous enough to share her first bites with Instagram. "So good," she declared.

Her taste test led to one fan messaging her on Instagram to say that he wanted to be her recycled napkin, which she reposted with an embarrassed face emoji on Instagram Stories.

Please don't let that weirdness stop you from sharing your incredible extracurricular food adventures with us, Padma! 

Photo: Padma Lakshmi/Instagram