Prefer your evening meal to be a bit more testing? During the Fringe, pop-up restaurant Dirty Dug was challenging those who can handle the heat to try their extreme hot dog. The gourmet banger featured a selection of ghost peppers and Trinidad scorpion chillies, with each dish featuring more than one million Scoville Units (the internationally-recognised spiciness scale), but it’s not the only challenging cuisine on offer in Edinburgh.
If you like your meals to be more ‘Man vs Food’ than fine dining, take a look at some of these eating challenges right here in the capital.
The Ultimate Burger Challenge at City Café
This £30 burger features three homemade burgers, two marinated chicken breasts and two spicy bean burgers, topped off with two pineapple rings, bacon, mushrooms, gherkins, two types of cheese, guacamole and salad, all served in a plate-sized bun with a large portion of gourmet chips and coleslaw. If you can finish it off in 45 minutes your burger is free, you get a t-shirt and your name goes on the wall of fame so everyone can bask in your glory. Those who try and fail the challenge do have to pay, of course, but they get a small prize to say well done for having a go.
Suicide Challenge at Wings
Chicken specialists Wings offer up a menu of chicken wings in varying degrees of spiciness but if you’re feeling brave, you can also try their Suicide Challenge. It comprises six wings coated in their secret Suicide Sauce with no sour cream, and victors will secure a place on the ‘Wall of Flame’. But that’s not the only challenge: they’ve also brought in Armagedwing, a challenge so spicy that so far only three contenders have completed it to receive the prize of two free bowls of wings a day for life.
Giant Burrito Challenge at Taco Mazama
Burritos are often pretty hearty fare anyway but if you’re feeling hungry Taco Mazama can provide you with a supersized triple burrito. If you can polish it off in ten minutes, you’ll get the £14.99 burrito for free and your photo on the wall. The fastest time at each Taco Mazama restaurant will then compete in a head-to-head eat-off at the end of the year to try and win a year’s free burritos. Get practising.
The Chilli Challenge at Boozy Cow
This might seem fairly tame compared with some of the other challenges - it's just one chilli cheese burger, one chilli cheese dog, one portion of chilli cheese fries and one Oero milkshake. But you have to consume it all within just 15 minutes. Succeed and it’s on Boozy Cow, fail and you’re picking up the bill (which, as far as we can figure, is around £28). If you do make it through, you’ll get on the hall of fame but as of August 2015, more than 300 people had failed compared to just 85 who managed it.
The Killer Curry at The Killer Restaurant
It’s one of the world’s hottest curries, and it’s now got its own restaurant. Formerly located at the Kismot, the Killer Curry has long been popular for those looking for a challenge – and it has even led to people being admitted to hospital. The £19.95 Killer Curry can be served as either a chicken, lamb or vegetarian dish and if you finish it your curry is free and you’ll end up on the wall of fame. But think carefully being deciding to take it on as there’s a hall of shame for those who couldn't handle it. Not to mention a trip to A&E.
See Time Out's guide to Edinburgh's best cheap eats.