Hot Pot restaurant, Chinatown

Hot on the heels of Shuang Shuang, Chinatown welcomes Hot Pot restaurant this May, specialising in Chinese and Thai-style hot pot using more than 50 authentic ingredients. Hot pot restaurants in London have danced in and out of fashion, but could 2017 be their big moment?

At Hot Pot, the simple premise has guests choosing from five varieties of base broth, which is then served at table at boiling point, standing on a heater. Then dinner is then cooked as you watch: you choose from a range of ingredients such as king prawn, beef and pork balls, mutton or vegetables – or you could go left-field and opt for pig's intestines, cuttlefish or quail eggs.

When the food's cooked the dipping phase begins, so guests visit the dipping sauce bar to tailor-make sauces while the broth's boiling. Visit that again and again for as much sauce as you'd like, then you're left with an enriched broth: boil up some noodles for the ultimate homemade soup.

Inside Hot Pot, gold accents, woven panels and linen lamps complete an ode to Far East style and cuisine.