Michelin Launches New Asian Guide

Michelin has announced the launch of a new Asian guide, confirming rumours sparked after inspectors were spotted visiting restaurants in Hong Kong earlier this month.

-- Restaurants and Institutions, 9/3/2008 11:59:00 AM

The following article comes from R&I's sister publication, Caterer & Hotelkeeper, Sept. 1, 2008.

Michelin has announced the launch of a new Asian guide, confirming rumours sparked after inspectors were spotted visiting restaurants in Hong Kong earlier this month.

The Michelin guide for Hong Kong and Macau will be released in December in Chinese and English.

Its launch marks the second guide in Asia after Tokyo, which last year became the world-leader in terms of Michelin accolades, with nearly twice as many starred restaurants as Paris and more than triple that of London.

The publication of the Hong Kong and Macau book brings the number of Michelin guides to 23 cities and countries across three continents including Europe, North America and Asia.

Hong Kong’s InterContinental Grand Stanford communications director Tina Di Cicco told news service APF the hotel was “really excited” about the launch of the guide.

“To have a Michelin guide for Hong Kong will help us measure the quality of our culinary experience and keep us up to the standard with international gourmet cities such as New York and Paris,” she said.

However, Hong Kong celebrity food critic Hugo Leung said he was concerned about having foreign palates judge Chinese cuisine.

“It's good to have a guide like that, but we can't take it too seriously,” he told the South China Morning Post. “Chinese cuisines have so many varieties and even a guide like Michelin can't represent everybody's tastes in food.”

View the top Michelin-starred restaurants here >>

By Kerstin Kühn