Quest for a hot pot Camelot

Hot pot - or "steamboat stew", in which thin slices of meat and vegetables are cooked in a pot of simmering broth at the dining table - is a traditional Chinese meal. But you don't have to assemble a large group to enjoy this popular dish.

Fifteen years ago, Man Chunlin invented Beijing's first small copper hot pot for individual use. The idea was inspired by a visit to a famous traditional Beijing hot pot mutton restaurant, where a lot of people ate from the same pot. Today his restaurant, Man Fu Lou, is one of the most celebrated hot pot restaurants in Beijing.

It has the best choice of mutton in Beijing, and is especially famous for its hind leg mutton, which is the most tender meat on a sheep's or goat's body. Cuttlefish meatballs are also very good at the restaurant. Other recommended dishes include mutton kebabs, beef slices prepared in soybean sauce, crispy radish peel and oil-fried green bean curd.