Beijing Hot Pot and Chinese sauerkraut

I got the chance to try Beijing hot pot yesterday.  I knew nothing about it. We had a group of 9 people so it was a big table.  

The hot pot was two layers and fueled by charcoal in the middle. The top part was spicy and the bottom part was not. Basically, you just throw everything in and it cooks and then you eat it dipped in the dipping sauce.  The meat was mutton, which I didn't really like. But the dipping sauce was sesame paste and other things and I liked that on its own!

We were offered large paper bibs, which I wore with thanks.

One very interesting thing was the sauerkraut part - there were piles of it also thrown into the hot water.  It was pretty close to the German sauerkraut my family eats.  Up north in China, they also needed to preserve the cabbages.  Garlic was also pickled.

There were also some breads, but all contained meat. It's China, so they like a green vegetable too and threw some of that in the broth at the end.  Not a place for vegetarians. 

I'm told there is also Chaoshan hot pot and Chongqing hot pot (along with spicy Sichuan hot pot).  Hopefully I can try those. I do need help doing this, as you need a group and have to know what to order.