It may be a sizzling 40 C outside, but a hot pot restaurant in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality has come up with a unique way of firing up its summertime business by turning the thermostat way down. 

With the room temperature kept at just 3 C, guests are given a housecoat to wear as they dine out over a bubbling, steaming hot pot.

The restaurant is packed with customers swishing various delicacies in the hot pot while wrapped in a thick jacket.

A guest surnamed Liu said she wore sandals to the restaurant and her feet were numb with cold by the time she left. "But I felt warm while having the hot pot, " she said in a telephone interview with the Beijing News which posted a video of the restaurant.  

Decorated with a fake ski chalet and Styrofoam snowman, the restaurant received an avalanche comments from hot pot-loving netizens.

Some said they were jealous and couldn't wait to try a hot pot in the chilly room while the city outside broiled during the hottest days of the summer. 

The Beijing News