The hidden all-you-can-eat BBQ restaurant where you cook your own food at the table

I think it’s fair to say that you know you’re going to have a decent lunch when a man approaches your table wearing fireproof gauntlets and carrying a metal bucket full of flaming hot bricks. This is what happens at Emoji, a slightly ridiculous, but also ridiculously brilliant place tucked away among the halls of residences, sandwiched between Man Met and Man Uni.

The other week, after rolling out of the Peace Garden - where Peking roast duck reached new heights - this place appeared like a shining beacon of silliness on the other side of the road. It was yellow and black, and covered in cartoon emojis.

It’s a bold theme choice, certainly. Interest was piqued further on peering through the window, upon which you realise that each table has a barbecue pit sunk into it, and a retractable extractor snaking up into the ceiling, and everyone’s cooking their own food over it.

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You don’t pass something as novel as that and then continue on with your life as if you’ve never seen it. You go back and you try it out, so here I am a week or so later looking at a big open fridge groaning with skewers of lamb, beef and pork belly, chicken wings, peppers, mushrooms, tofu, all kinds of wonders.

Next to it, there are condiments, seasonings, spices, herbs, oils, vinegars and sauces, just waiting to be rubbed onto your chosen ingredients before being grilled, or slathered on liberally afterwards. There