At Little Lamb Hot Pot, making something new for dinner, without shopping or dishes

Avoid if you're going to a restaurant to avoid making decisions about food

As a rule, I don't spend my money in chain restaurants. But pleasing my children is more important than my aesthetic aims. They get whatever their heart desires. 

Which is how I ended up at Little Lamb Hot Pot, the Mongolian-stylehotpot place on Sheridan Drive, stirring my chosen dinner ingredients into a bubbling vat of Sichuan broth, thinking: This is a hoot. 

So I decided to get over myself and offer you a tour. With stores on four continents (Australia, North America, Europe, Asia) Little Lamb is what a Chinese friend calls “the McDonald’s of hot pot.” That’s not as much of a putdown as a comment on their ubiquity.

In an earlier era, this Little Lamb’s karaoke rooms were a favorite because we could dial up our favorites and sing our guts out in private rooms. That ended when the system switched and the songs I knew by heart were only available in Muzak-y chiptune versions. Which will not do when you're itching to let loose on “Run to the Hills.”