14 - Sichuan Hotpot

The Chengdu region is situated in the middle of the famous Sichuan region. For dinner that evening, Frank had booked a table for a Sichuan hotpot feast, which I must say didn’t light my interest as I’m not a chilli fan. I could only think of the pain associated with the evacuation procedure the next day. But, nevertheless, we went & were served with a giant bowl of chilli hotpot with a small pot in the middle of it for cooking the meat & vegetables. Once cooked, you can then dip the meat/vege into the dark red chilli soup, then place in your bowl. In your bowl was some sesame oil, some oyster sauce & some fresh parsley leaves mixed around. The meat/vege then went into that sauce & was then ready to eat. Surprisingly, I became almost addicted to the food there. I was the one who dipped my stuff into the chilli sauce more than anyone else, but it didn’t really seem to be that spicy to me. Though simply by looking at the chilli pot you could see how hot it was meant to be. The others found it too hot & mostly refused to dip their food into it. Weird that I didn’t really experience it that way.