Pee pals

Hotpot restaurants appeal to diners as they can choose the food they want to eat and cook it themselves. Two customers at the Aquatic Market in Tsuen Wan Plaza, Hong Kong, however, ended up in a confrontation with its staff on 28 September for literally trying to bite more than they could chew.

The restaurant’s CCTV caught the duo stuffing uncooked ingredients — seafood, beef, and instant noodles — into an eco-bag during their meal, The Standard reports.

The video was circulated on social media and went viral.

Simon Wong Kit-lung, chairman of the LH Group which operates all-you-can-eat restaurants, pointed out that stealing ingredients increases the cost of doing business and prompts operators to raise prices, according to The Standard.

Wong also cautioned against posting online information on diners who take out food and advised restaurant staff to confront the customers only after they had left with the unpaid food.

Meanwhile, two young customers at another hotpot restaurant are in hot water for tainting its good reputation.

The Shanghai branch of China’s biggest hotpot chain, Haidilao, sued the two teenagers after they posted a video of their drunken acts while at the restaurant in February.

Haidilao won the suit with the court on 12 September ordering the 17-year-old boys’ parents to pay it and another food caterer 2.2 million yuan for contaminating tableware with urine and causing public discomfort by peeing into a pot of broth at the restaurant.

After the incident, Haidilao said it gave more than 4,000 diners who visited the branch between 24 February and 8 March a full refund and cash compensation that was 10 times the amount of their bills, BBC reports.

Haidilao also replaced all the hotpot equipment and said they had conducted a thorough cleaning and disinfection of the restaurant, according to BBC.