On the eve of Chinese New Year’s Eve we finished school at lunchtime so my team took Kevin & I out for a meal.

The Hi Hot Pot is an extremely popular venue and bookings are recommended well in advance to secure a table.

This is a restaurant with a difference. As well as the food you can also have your nails done as part of the price

And have your shoes polished

Some branches also give head and should massages at the table (but not this one unfortunately)

And as for the food itself it was a veritable smorgasbord. You basically choose a soup which is kept hot and you cook the meat, fish and veg of your choice in it. We had a tomato one and a chicken and mushroom one.

As you can see there was LOADS.

Here Kevin is eating the green one (which I thought tasted like grass) which is healthy for your skin.

Helen and Amanda had squid (not my thing)

And we all had hot soya milk with some fried dough dipped in

As well as all that I was fascinated by the robot trolleys which the kitchen dispatched from time to time to deliver extra dishes to a table. They stopped if anyone came near them.

And then we had a noodle making demo and dance. You can see the robot trolley waiting in the background.

What an amazing cultural experience! We are totally stuffed now. And we even received good luck charms as a gift.

We cannot believe our good fortune.