An explosion at a Haidilao outlet in China has left a waitress from the popular hotpot chain injured.

Local media reported that a hotpot at an outlet in Yunnan province's Kunming city blew up, splashing what appeared to be scalding hot soup all over the waitress' face and clothes.

Footage of the incident has gone viral on Chinese social media, with the video shared thousands of times on microblogging site Weibo.

In the video, the waitress can be seen bent over the hotpot, stirring the soup and apparently fishing around for something.

Without warning, the hotpot explodes, sending its contents flying mostly onto her, and some of it onto a nearby customer.

News site Sina reported that the incident on May 15 occurred as the waitress was trying to fish out a customer's lighter from the soup.

The cause of the explosion was the lighter, and the waitress was taken to the hospital immediately for treatment, state media People's Daily reported.

In response to queries on whether it would be asking the customer to take responsibility for the incident, a Haidilao spokesman said: "A customer was also slightly burned. The priority for now is to take care of those injured."