The massive popularity of huajiao ji is evidenced by the countless diners posting photos of their meal on social networking sites such as Sina Weibo and Xiaohongshu. Many of these were posted from Having Luck Hotpot in Beijing's Chaoyang district.

But the restaurant is by no means the inventor of this special broth. It is widely believed that Market Hotpot in Mongkok, Hong Kong, was the first restaurant to pioneer this broth which later became a hit among television celebrities and online personalities.

This trend then spread to the Chinese mainland recently, with a host of Cantonese-style seafood hotpot outlets launching their own versions of the huajiao ji soup base. This month, the famous Taiwan-style hotpot chain Coucou jumped on the bandwagon, introducing the broth to its 40 outlets across China.

Established in October 2017, Having Luck Hotpot currently has two branches in Beijing, with a third slated to open in December. The restaurant started out as specialist in Cantonese-style soup bases - it has 23 broths on its menu - before establishing its name as one of the first in Beijing to sell huajiao ji. Such is the popularity of this hotpot establishment that it sells 200 chickens every day. On weekends, it is common for diners to spend up to two hours queuing for a table.