Mo’s Chicken Hotpot, a rural restaurant in Foshan City, Guangdong province, southern China, has surged in popularity following a viral video posted on April 1 by food blogger Liu Yuxin [1]. The video features the restaurant owner jokingly warning that eating his herbal chicken hotpot may cause diarrhea due to its medicinal properties [1].
A red sign on the restaurant’s wall also warns customers that some may need to use the restroom after eating the soup, which the owner says is normal [1]. The TikTok-like video has attracted 1.4 million likes on Douyin and 100,000 likes on Xiaohongshu (RedNote) [1].
After the video spread, crowds began visiting in large numbers, causing traffic jams and some customers camping overnight in their cars to secure a table [1]. During the Qingming festival in early April, Mo’s Chicken Hotpot saw between 2,000 and 3,000 visitors daily from across China [1].
The owner commented, "Don’t make me too popular; I won’t be able to handle the business," and joked, "Eating (my restaurant’s food) may cause diarrhea." In response to a customer saying, "If I get diarrhea (from your food), that means it’s my own problem," the owner replied, "Well, it’s definitely not my problem!" [1]. Some viewers speculated the diarrhea warning may be a form of reverse marketing to attract attention [1].
To manage the crowds, the restaurant has built a new parking lot and installed cameras to livestream the scene outside [1]. The buzz around Mo’s Chicken Hotpot shows no sign of fading after the viral video and heavy festival traffic.