Hot pot restaurants seem to be springing up at a rate of knots in Edinburgh. Tian Tian recently opened on Gillespie Place in the premises that for years housed the French bistro Jacques.
The new place is just up the road from Hot Hot Chinese, the hot pot restaurant that opened by the Cameo last year.
The easiest way to explain a hot pot is that it is like a Chinese fondue. Diners choose what sort of broth they want and then select the ingredients that they want to cook in it. The staff put a big bowl of broth over a heater on the table and you then dip the ingredients in to cook them.
We foolishly tried to get a table at TianTian on Saturday night without having made a reservation and, not surprisingly, couldn’t get in. The ingredients on offer range from razor clams and crabs to beef, lamb and pork along with seaweed, tofu and Chinese mushrooms while the sauces include chilli and satay options.
A friend who works a lot in China usually returns with outlandish tales of his latest hot pot adventures. He has learned that it is usually a good idea not to ask too many questions about what might be bubbling away in the pot. He can handle his hosts dropping live eels and fish into the pot but was freaked out when a whole frog was plopped into the mix.