Michelin unveils first-ever Beijing food guide
(CNN) — Foodie bible Michelin has unveiled its first-ever guide to Beijing.
The long-awaited restaurant guide was revealed on November 28 and awarded stars 23 restaurants in China's capital.
Stars and gripes
The
only one to score the highest honor, three stars, was the Beijing
outpost of Xin Rong Ji, a seafood-centric chain whose first location
opened in Zhejiang in 1995.
In its official announcement,
Michelin wrote of Xin Rong Ji: "From strictly selected ingredients to
impeccable skills and exemplary service, every detail has been delivered
to its best. It has been a complete and extremely enjoyable dining
experience made possible by comprehensive orchestration and thoughtful
arrangement."
Two other locations of the restaurant were awarded one star each.
Another
notable inclusion was Da Dong, a Peking duck restaurant whose chef,
Dong Zhenxiang, has become a celebrity in China. Other high marks went
to Mio, an Italian restaurant at the Four Seasons hotel (one star) and
King's Joy, which is famed for its vegetarian cooking (two stars).
Arguably,
Temple Restaurant Beijing, better known by its initials TRB, suffered
the biggest snub. The restaurant has received plenty of acclaim over the
years -- most recently winning the gong of most popular restaurant in the world by users of the US-based customer rating website TripAdvisor earlier this year.
Though Michelin did include TRB in its longer listing of recommended restaurants in Beijing, it did not receive any stars.
The Georg defines itself as "casual fine dining."
Courtesy The Georg
Dishing on the dishes
The
Michelin Guide has received a fair bit of reaction online in Beijing,
where locals have strong opinions about food. Beijingers took to social
media site Weibo to share their thoughts.
"Whether
a restaurant is good or not should be up to the individual's feelings.
So why do we need such Western formalism to speak out for our Chinese
restaurants?" asked one commenter, whose Weibo username is WuSir-ZhaFi.
But some people found the Michelin decisions more encouraging.
"In
general, I would say the guide met a lot of people's predictions,"
Robynne Tindall, a Beijing-based journalist and the former dining editor
at local website The Beijinger, told CNN Travel.
King's Joy celebrates meatless meals.
Courtesy King's Joy
"Beijing
cuisine, particularly Peking duck, was well represented, with local
heavy-hitters like Da Dong getting stars as expected. The restaurants
skew heavily towards Chinese cuisine and I think that actually
represents a strength of the Beijing dining scene -- you can find great
restaurants serving different regional cuisines from all over China."
Michelin
has also rated restaurants in other parts of China. The company
released its first Shanghai guide in 2016 and has been rating
restaurants in Hong Kong and Macao since 2009.
Beyond the book
The Beijing announcement comes at the end of a very busy week for Michelin.
Two
separate chefs -- one in France, the other in South Korea -- are
reportedly pursuing legal action against Michelin and encouraging the
notoriously secretive company to be more transparent about its rating
system.
French
chef Marc Veyrat, whose restaurant La Maison des Bois was docked one of
its three stars for what he claims is confusion over the exact
ingredients of a souffle, is suing Michelin, saying he and his staff
suffered emotional distress from the news. The trial opened on November
27 in the city of Nanterre.
Meanwhile, Korean chef Eo Yun-gwon went after the guide for a different reason -- giving him stars.
Eo, who runs Italian restaurant Ristorante Eo in Seoul,
called the food guide "a corrupt book" and is invoking a Korean law
against "public insult" in his bid to be removed from the Michelin
Guide.
The full list:
Three stars
Xin Rong Ji (Xinyuan South Road)
Two stars
King's Joy
Shanghai Cuisine
One star
Cui Hua Lou
Da Dong (Gongti East Road)
Da Dong (Dongsi 10th Alley)
Family Li Imperial Cuisine (Xicheng)
Fu Chun Ju
Huaiyang Fu
Il Ristorante - Niko Romito
In Love (Gongti East Road)
Jing Yaa Tang
Lao Ji Tang
Lei Garden (Jinbao Tower)
Mio
Poetry‧Wine
Seventh Son
Sheng Yong Xing (Chaoyang)
The Beijing Kitchen
The Georg
Xin Rong Ji (Jianguomenwai Street)
Xin Rong Ji (Jinrong Street)
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