London, July 6 (AP): It’s the kind of news that could put you off your food — confirmation that you are related to Genghis Khan.

But a London restaurant offering diners the chance to learn whether they are descended from the rampaging Mongol ruler — and win a free meal — has found the contest surprisingly popular.

“We’ve had Mongolian people who’ve travelled across London to give us their details,” said Hugo Malik, bar manager of Shish, which is giving away one DNA test at each of its two London branches every day through Friday. “They said, ‘grandad always used to tell us we were descended from Genghis Khan’.”

Grandad may have been right. Oxford Ancestors, the firm doing the testing, says 16 to 17 million men in Central Asia share a pattern of Y chromosomes within their genetic sequences that indicates probable descent from Genghis Khan, who conquered vast tracts of Asia and Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries and sired many offspring.

“He was an all-conquering tribal leader,” said David Ashworth, Oxford Ancestors’ chief executive. “He took their cities, he took their land, he took their women.”