The cigarette butt found in the hot pot. Photo: screenshot of video posted by Pear Video

A man who found a cigarette butt floating in his hot pot at a well-known restaurant asked for some unusual recompense; he asked for a payment of just one yuan ($0.14) but also demanded the shop close for a week.

The man surnamed Lu was enjoying dinner at a Haidilao franchise in Baoji, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province when he discovered something he  didn't order floating in broth: a cigarette butt, according to the report of Pear Video.

Lu called the restaurant chain's headquarters in Xi'an, which refused to agree to Lu's proposed settlement, which would likely have cost its outlet in Baoji tens of thousands of yuan. The company offered him 1,000 yuan in compensation, which Lu rejected.

Lu and the restaurant are still trying to settle their differences.

The Haidilao Hot Pot chain had 466 direct-operated restaurants in more than 100 cities around the world at the end of 2018, according to the restaurant chain's website.

There have been other reports of nasty things being found floating in a Haidilao hot pot, including a menstrual pad what diners claimed to have found in their hot pot.

"If more people acted like Lu, restaurants would have fewer sanitary problems," another netizen wrote.