And now, tomato hotpot

To the many innovative variations of the Beijing hotpot, the Tomato Hotpot Restaurant adds another.

Carrying the Chinese name Suan Tian Ku La, meaning "sour, sweet, bitter and spicy", it uses tomatoes boiled for 24 hours for its base soup.

One can choose either small individual stainless steel pots, or a two-pot contraption with both the tomato and spicy base soups, heated by an electromagnetic stove. Before putting anything in it, try a bowl of tomato soup to warm the body, and open up the appetite.

Besides the usual beef and mutton rolls, the restaurant offers fresh chicken slices, pork meatball with shelled shrimp stuffing, baby cuttlefish, and fresh slices of beef tenderloin. You can also try dried bean curd, black and white fungus, and yellow dried day lily.

The restaurant has plenty of other appetizing dishes as well such as pickled vegetables, preserved duck egg, and "five-spice" pork elbow. Wind up the meal with a kind of green called "chicken fur", Chinese cabbage, starch noodles, and frozen bean curd.

If you think you can go on, opt for Chinese yam, sugary crisp sesame cake, and Xiao He fried rice, or even the restaurant's signature deep-fried oily dough sticks.

The owner's efforts to create a beautiful and cozy place show. The tables and chairs are of original timber, and the walls are covered in lovely little stars and shells, evoking images of Greece's Santorini Island. Spend a little time to appreciate the small handicrafts on display. The average bill is 70 yuan ($10.5) per person.