The 60kg Japanese downed 5.4kg of satay - which works out to 385 sticks of satay - in 12 minutes, winning the showdown against 102kg American Joey Chestnut, 24, who swallowed 4.1kg of the meat in the same time.

It was sweet revenge for Mr Kobayashi, who lost to his keen rival in a competition in New York on July 5.

Then, the two eating champs were tied after 10 minutes and 59 hot dogs; but Mr Chestnut won the tie-breaker.

Mr Kobayashi leaves for his home in Tokyo tomorrow with a crystal trophy worth $3,000. He plans to return next year for the same contest.

Referring to the earlier match in New York, he said he had lost by a small margin, and that he had been determined to win by a big margin this time.

He heads to a hamburger eating contest in the United States in September.

Yesterday's contest at Robertson Walk marked the end of the month-long Singapore Food Festival.

Major League Eating is also a feature in countries such as the US, Japan and England.

The local segment of the contest, with eight finalists from Singapore, may not have come anywhere close to Mr Kobayashi's feat, but it was still a noteworthy win by Mr Victor Lim.

The 28-year-old property agent ate 1.3kg of chicken satay in 12 minutes.

Other contestants chowed down burgers, curry puffs and otah in earlier rounds yesterday afternoon.