Would you have a deep-fried Mars bar? We did - here's the verdict
You can also have a fried pizza at this fish and chips shop.
I'd had a couple of drinks and a curry in Edinburgh, and I decided to treat myself to a chocolate ice-cream.
I couldn't find a convenience store, so I settled for the next worst thing.
At a fish and chips shop on the Royal Mile, signwriting on the window promised an encounter with a beast I had imagined to be as mythical as the Loch Ness Monster.
The tiny Clam Shell takeaway advertised deep-fried Mars bars.
"Do people really buy them?" I asked the guy behind the counter.
He swore that they did.
"You're in for a treat," he promised.
I wasn't. A deep-fried Mars bar generally costs about $8, but I paid an extra $4 to have it served with gelato.
I watched as the chip-shop guy lowered the chocolate into his deep fryer.
If I'm not mistaken, he fried it twice, finally raising the basket to reveal a dark-brown block coated with a weird yellowy film.
I was surprised that the Mars bar had maintained its structural integrity.
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I had thought it might melt into a flatter, sloppier shape, similar to a plump flounder or a small manta ray.
Instead, it looked like some sort of rectangular eel.
I was both reluctant and excited to taste it, and it turned out to be the stickiest thing I have ever put in my mouth.
More batter clung to the flat base of the bar than its wrinkled deck, and much of it ended up glued by toffee to the back of my teeth.
The gelato proved to be the perfect complement, although it added even more kilojoules to a dish that is generally estimated to contain about 5020.
Incredibly, however, the deep-fried Mars bar was not the unhealthiest item on Clam Shell's menu.
For roughly the same amount of money, I could've bought a whole fried pizza.
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