Spicing things up

Even the most popular restaurants feel pressure to refresh their menus. Haidilao will offer new dishes, and plans to update its offerings often, Liu Zhihua finds at a tasting.

China's largest hotpot restaurant chain recently announced it would update its main menu every three months starting from June, reflecting the fact that diners now have a much shorter attention span about new dishes, even though they are devoted to classics.

Haidilaou Hotpot - whose restaurants are hits for their service and delicious Sichuan-style hotpots - organized a grand tasting event for hundreds of loyal customers earlier this month. Guests were invited to sample and rate 20 new dishes and two new soups. It was the first time that Haidilao has held such a customer tasting party since it opened its first branch in Mianyang, in Sichuan province, in 1994.