Long Shun Yuan will bring tears to your eyes. Beijing’s Spice King The chain Long Shun Yuan (龙顺园), with four branches in Beijing, is renowned as a ferociously authentic propagator of mala xiangguo magic. Diners choose their dishes hot pot-style, requesting quarter kilogram bunches of each preferred vegetable, seafood or cuts of meat, all of which are promptly brought out for inspection, then whisked off to the kitchen to be thoroughly spice bombed – stir fried with a diabolical mix of anywhere from 15 to 30 seasonings. Calling ahead is recommended, as adrenaline addicts and their brave, doomed companions fill the dining room and spill out onto the street, queuing for tables on a nightly basis.