Running Hot Pot in China

In this restaurant, the customer is not only the king, but also the chef at the same time. While everyone here is cooking their own soup, the ingredients rush past a conveyor belt. You have to be quick. I got it. Wow, old man. It's pretty hot. Wow. Sometimes the vapors of the pot touch you. But again from the front. We are in Xiamen in the south of China. Just like in the rest of the country, soups are a part of the daily life in the Million Metropolis. And they can't be missing on any menu. But the soup bars with a conveyor belt are also something special here. And thus our next big thing. Our reporter Anne Wang wants to test it all. So let's go to the restaurant. Can you tell me what this is? This is a self-service hotpot, with which you can grill or cook. Xiaolonghu has been working in the soup bar for three years. With more than 200 square meters, it is the largest in the city. The heart of the restaurant? A 12 meter long table with a conveyor belt that reaches up to a small window in the kitchen. It's only 9.50 a.m. It's still quiet before the storm. But if the guests cook here themselves, what happens in the kitchen? That's exactly what Chef Shan Lu wants to show us. He prepares 70 to 80 bowls every day. Including different types of meat, fish, seafood, noodles, various types of vegetables and much more. But when cutting, you should pay attention to one thing. Cutting is more convenient for the customers to eat. Cooked faster and there is no waste, because you only take what you eat. The restaurant opens in a few minutes at 10 o'clock. The lunch starts in China a little earlier. The hotpot, which is prepared on the table, has been a tradition in China for more than 2,000 years. There is always a large pot in the middle, which is divided into a group. Most of the time he has several compartments with different soups, in which his ingredients are cooked. Similar to our fondue. In the past, hotpot was particularly popular in winter, because it not only provided a meal, but also heat. Could that also be successful for us as a running hotpot? In our restaurant, Chan Lu is preparing the ingredients nicely. You put a little green vegetables underneath, so that the meat does not dry out and stays fresh. You also do this to make it look better. And then the bowls rush from the kitchen to the restaurant, where the first guests gradually enter. Our reporter Anne also wants to get started now. First, she has to decide on a basic broth. For this, she can choose between eight different soups, including pork broth, mushrooms, tomatoes and spicy chili soup. All hotpot soups have broth as a basis. Since the restaurant is part of a chain, it already gets a broth soup paste, similar to instant broth. But you can also make it yourself at home. If you want to cook the soup yourself, you have to buy some large pork bones, then put a little chicken in the pot and boil them together. From the soup you can make hotpot. For women and children, the broth with tomatoes is particularly popular, because it is not spicy. Anne, however, decides for chili. And now Xiao Long Hu is conjuring it fresh in the kitchen. This is mainly fat. When you eat hotpot, there is not always a layer of oil on it. This is fat. The hotpot soup contains ginger, onions, garlic, salt, glutamate and chicken broth. The pepper is indispensable for the spicy taste. And then a little powdered sugar. It smells really hot. And it looks really delicious. I love hotpot. And the great thing is, I think it's really cool that I get my own pot here. Because that solves two important problems. Normally, when I eat hotpot, I need four other people so that I can get a big pot like this. And now I can just get one for myself. And the second most important thing. I can only take what I want. With the soup on the small stove, it can start. It keeps the fresh liquid warm all the time, so that Anne can cook her ingredients in it right away. But that's not all at her little cooking station on the square. The great thing here is that I don't just have soup, but also a grill. That means I can get fresh food here. And this is also my own grill plate. Between the grill plate and the ingredients, there is a lot to choose from. Between the grill plate and the ingredients, there is grill paper. This ensures that nothing burns. It's similar to our baking paper. Now Anne has the choice. Which soup ingredients she wants. But there are so many things here. I don't even know where to start. I have the feeling that I have to wait a whole round first, so that I can see what's there. Then I'll just take what's best. On the menu, there are different types of meat, mini sausages, vegetables like water spinach, seafood, fish balls, stuffed dough bags, and much more. For the unique soup experience, the guests have to pay around 8,90 Euro. They can then take as many ingredients as they want. The drinks are also included in the price. But you have to pay for them yourself. Anne has decided on seafood first, stuffed dough bags, tofu pieces and mushrooms. I still got it. But the tape turns fast enough that even if I miss something, I know that it will be back in a minute. So not so much stress. Many of the restaurant guests are regulars, who see completely different advantages. There is a larger selection of dishes. The price is also affordable. There are dishes that both children and adults like to eat. An ordinary hotpot does not have room for so many ingredients. This one does. The one thing is that there are many ingredients that you can take. The other thing is that the hotpot is very good when you combine it with the grill. The overall impression is also very hygienic. So that not everyone has to sit around the table to eat. Anne has discovered something else in the restaurant. There are many different things where I can later drink my food. Vinegar, soy, sesame paste, peanut paste, ketchup. Why not? Garlic. I just love this do-it-yourself feeling in the hotpot. You can do a lot of things yourself and decide for yourself how the food tastes later. While the guests cook and grill in the kitchen, Xiaolong continues to prepare basic soups. Eating soup is good for the body because it is rich in nutrients. For example, the soup you cook yourself is very good for the body. It is said here that when you eat a hot soup, you not only fill your stomach, but also nourish your beauty, strengthen your physical health and even prevent diseases. Therefore, the soup is an important part of Cantonese food culture. Sometimes you catch a cold and then it burns everywhere. Anne gradually eats through the tissue and slowly loses sight. It's always a bit like a surprise because at the beginning you put so many things in and at some point you forget what you have. But you can get used to it and you find things that you have completely forgotten. After one and a half hours of eating on the treadmill, Anne is full. For 8.90 euros, you can pay by QR code. Standard in China. It was really, really delicious. I love soups. But it was also fun to cook a little myself. I can imagine that it works really well in Germany, but maybe a little less spicy. Spicy, but delicious. The Running Hot Pot has everything to get through and become the next big thing. You can find the recipe in the video description.