Eating this fruit in public can get you fined!

It's called durian and it looks ugly. Photo Courtesy: Twitter

When you go to a restaurant, the first thing that makes you like it is the aroma that wafts beyond the doors of the kitchen. You assume that is exactly how the food is going to taste like. However, now imagine this: you enter into a café and you smell gym socks. The pungent smell that makes you want to throw up. Would you ever eat there? Well, you most definitely would if you are at this restaurant called Mao Shan Wang cafe in Singapore's Chinatown district.

And the reason why it smells like gym socks is because the restaurant serves durian--a delicacy in South-East Asia. It basically is a spiky-looking fruit. Believe it or not, it smells so deadly that most resultants and hotels around the world have banned it!

Mao Shan Wang cafe in Singapore's Chinatown district. Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Mao Shan Wang Cafe

This got you interested, isn't it? Well, durian can be eaten alone or served in desserts. However, at this particular restaurant, the fruit is added to almost all the main dishes. This makes the food joint smell like gym socks mixed with onions. Not very pleasant, is it? But, this doesn't stop Mao Shan Wang café from generously using durian.

Durian can be eaten alone or served in desserts. Photo Courtesy: Mao Shan Wang Cafe

So, you can order chicken nuggets with a durian dip, pizza topped with durian flesh, fries with a side of durian sauce, and last but not the least--coffee with durian.

Durian topped pizza! Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Mao Shan Wang Cafe

But, despite the nasty smell, it tastes great. Interestingly, Anthony Bourdain, a famous American chef once said after reading it, "Your breath will smell as if you'd been French-kissing your dead grandmother."

According to a report published by Kevin Farrell in Eat Sip Trip, "Durian bans are the real deal across many parts of the world where the fruit grows. For example, it must be disposed of or consumed before passengers enter the Singapore Metro system, unless they want to pay a $500 SDG (Rs 24,000 approx) fine. A similar ban exists across Bangkok public transportation.

Eat durian at your own risk. Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia

Good lord! This really makes us want to try it. What about you?