The First in Europe – Hai Di Lao

Hai Di Lao is one of China’s biggest hotpot restaurant chains with over 300 restaurants worldwide. Tricon was appointed to take their brand-new Trocadero site, near Piccadilly Circus London, from detailed design to construction & handover. The restaurant, which is the first in Europe, was founded in the Sichan province in 1994 inspired by the popular practice of using hotpots at home to keep people warm in the winter months, with fresh soups made from easily foraged foods.

Tricon designed the main kitchen for the restaurant and also for their O2 Arena site which is due to open at the end of the year. The Trocadero site seats over 250 people in the building’s basement and even has a photobooth and nail painting service to keep guests entertained while they queue for an available table. Diners cook their own food in their in-table hot pot which can be divided into sections containing different flavoured stocks. Once the stocks are bubbling away, diners order from a personal iPad to decide which meats they’d like delivered to the table and can browse a cold counter of unlimited Asian-inspired salads, pickles and vegetables.