UK PM's visit vitalizes Sichuan restaurant

People enjoy the hotpot in a private room where British Prime Minister David Cameron once ate in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Dec 6, 2013. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Zhu Xingquan, a farmer-turned-proprietor of a hotpot restaurant in the suburbs of Chengdu, Sichuan province, is thrilled that his restaurant has become an overnight sensation.

“Ever since the news of British Prime Minister David Cameron dining in our restaurant was published on Thursday, a day after he came to our restaurant, many have called to order the private room he ate in. Some callers are foreigners in Sichuan,” said the 37-year-old from Dazu, a county administered by Chongqing, which neighbors Sichuan.

“We now offer a package of 11 dishes and one snack, the food the prime minister had,” Zhu said. The prime minister had bean curd, beef, mutton, potatoes, meatballs, skin of bean curd, bamboo root slices, green lettuce, cabbage, mushrooms, cabbages and glutinous rice cake with brown sugar.

It cost the British guest 877 yuan ($144), but now Zhu charges 888 yuan for the package because eight is an auspicious number in China, meaning prosperity.

Though the charge for the same food at any other hotpot restaurant in Chengdu would be about half that price, many diners are interested in tasting Cameron’s menu.

“People who want to eat the same food in the same private room have to wait till Dec 20, because the room has been booked up to that date,” said Cao Jing, a young sales manager who served Cameron during his half-hour visit to the restaurant.

Hao Jia, a young gourmet in Chengdu who ordered the same meatballs as Cameron did while dining in the restaurant on Friday evening, said: “What Cameron might not have expected is that his short visit to a hotpot restaurant in the southern suburbs of the city has created a business opportunity for its boss.

“Like many other diners, I have come to try his menu and have a look at the room where he sat,” she said with a broad smile.

According to Zhu, diners who ask Cao to wait on them will have to pay an additional 1,000 yuan because Cao will tell them episodes of Cameron as a diner.

“The 1,000 yuan will be accumulated in a fund set up by the restaurant to help the needy,” Cao said.

Cao said Cameron was very fond of the spicy flavor and loved the meatballs with coriander and even asked for a second helping.

“He was very good at using chopsticks, but he was not used to Sichuan pepper. When he bit beef with pepper oil, he frowned at once and stopped for about 10 seconds. After drinking some beer, he continued eating,” Cao said.

Leaving the private room at about 6:30 pm on Wednesday, Cameron said the hotpot was very good and said “Thank you” to Cao in Chinese.

Before his visit to China, some British children learning Chinese in the UK recommended hotpot to him. So he decided to taste hotpot in Chengdu, Cameron said.