A hot pot restaurant is always packed, particularly in winter and spring, as people come to enjoy the warmth of spices and conversation.

A very helpful tray is kept next to your table. All empty dishes or dishes to be emptied into the hotpot can be kept here. Finally, the waiter counts the number of plates used and tallies the bill.

One of my favorite food items to have in China – hotpot. It’s a complete DIY experience, which makes cooking fun. The hot pot is at the center of the table, a boiling cauldron of water and chilli oil/many times meat broth in to which goes meat and vegetables. The heat can be regulated with...

After Kuangzai I went to have some of my favorite cold noodles. These are the most common ingredients in cold noodles. Clockwise from above, MSG, vinegar, something similar to soy sauce, salt, chopped green spring onions, soy sauce, stir fried onion bits, chopped red chillies and a red chilli sauce. Spicyyy!! And extremely delicious!

On the way back, as my ice numbed feet drag slowly, I notice more of these numerous spice shops that dot the sides. They had funny names, with some of them labeled as fungus even. The big mushroom at the center? That was one of the fungus labeled ones. It seemed quite popular, all these...