One of the first things I did in Chengdu was seek out the famous Sichuan hotpot at the recommended ChongQing QinMa Hotpot Restaurant.
This Sichuan meal is a broth of stock, oils, spring onion, Sichuan peppers with lots of chillies boiling in a hotpot usually resting centre of the dining table, while additional ingredients such as tender beef, shrimp dumplings, noodles and veggies are thrown into the boil during the course of the seating.
First bite – OMG. Delicious! Yum!
Second bite – Hot searing pain in my mouth.. But I like it.
Third bite – Everything taste like metal.
Fourth bite – My mouth has reached a numb nirvana.
I end the meal fully aware of a low burning heat that accompanies my gut out of the restaurant. The sensation intensifies during my walk through Chengdu town, and strangely creeps closer to the point of volcanic eruption with each passing hour.
My body was still hosting this inferno at 4am that morning, and my internal organs were so inflamed that I was wondering if I could still have children(?)
In hindsight, when the waitress asked me how I wanted my hotpot – Mild, Medium, or Hot – requesting ‘HOT HOT’ was way too ambitious.
Tiara in Transit 