Michelin Guide China: where to eat in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu

Which cities in China have a Michelin Guide

Michelin doesn't publish one guide for all of China. It publishes regional selections, and the edition year runs ahead of the calendar, so the Beijing and Chengdu "2027" guides are already out. As of October 2026, these are the latest editions:

Michelin has also announced a first Hunan selection for 2026, covering Changsha, Hengyang and Yiyang. Popular first-trip stops such as Xi'an, Chongqing and Guilin have no Michelin selection.

If you searched for the Michelin Guide Guangzhou 2026: it is the joint Guangzhou and Shenzhen guide, Shenzhen's first. Guangzhou kept all 20 of its starred restaurants, and neither city has a three-star.

What Michelin stars, Bib Gourmand and Selected mean

Every restaurant in the guide carries one of five labels. Michelin's site describes them like this:

• Three Stars: "exceptional cuisine", the guide's highest honor.
• Two Stars: "excellent cooking".
• One Star: "high quality cooking".
• Bib Gourmand: "good quality, good value cooking". Michelin says it rewards simple, skillful food at an accessible price.
• Selected: "good cooking", a recommendation without an award.

Michelin says stars are given for the food on the plate only, not for decor, service or formality. That is how a dim sum room like Hongtu Hall in Guangzhou earns the same one star as a French tasting-menu restaurant.

Michelin doesn't publish a yuan ceiling for the Bib Gourmand in mainland China, and its China listings rarely show menu prices. Each listing shows a price band instead: ¥ ("on a budget"), ¥¥ ("a moderate spend"), ¥¥¥ ("special occasion") and ¥¥¥¥ ("spare no expense"). Every mainland Bib Gourmand is ¥ or ¥¥. The tables below give the band and the dishes each listing points to.

Michelin Guide Beijing: Peking duck and noodles

The Beijing half of the 2027 Beijing and Tianjin guide lists 107 restaurants: 2 with three stars, 5 with two, 26 with one, 32 Bib Gourmands and 42 Selected.

For Peking duck, the two one-star duck specialists above are the realistic splurge. Both Bib Gourmands are marked cash only on their listings. If your trip starts in Beijing, our 10-day first-trip route shows how the city fits with Xi'an and Shanghai.

Michelin Guide Shanghai: soup dumplings and Shanghainese food

Shanghai has 156 of the 409 restaurants in the 2026 Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang guide. Its listings lean on two local styles: Shanghainese home cooking, with braised pork and yellow croaker, and Huaiyang food from neighboring Jiangsu.

Nanxiang, founded in 1900 according to its listing, is in the City God Temple area and almost always has a queue. Lan Xin is a small, cash-only room where the line often runs down the street. Lao Zheng Xing traces its history to 1862. For more polished Huaiyang cooking, Huaiyang Delights (Jingan) holds one star; its listing singles out the braised lion's head meatball.

Michelin star Guangzhou: dim sum and roast meats

Guangzhou's 2026 selection has 117 restaurants, including 3 with two stars, 17 with one star and 52 Bib Gourmands. Many of the Bib Gourmands are noodle, congee and dim sum shops.

Hongtu Hall is on the second floor of the White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island. Its listing says only hotel guests can reserve, so everyone else joins the queue. Jiang by Chef Fei is in the Mandarin Oriental in Tianhe District.

Michelin Guide Chengdu: Sichuan food

The Chengdu 2027 edition lists 84 restaurants. Xin Rong Ji, a Taizhou restaurant, became the city's first three-star, and Yu Zhi Lan kept its two stars. Most of the 32 Bib Gourmands are Sichuan, noodle or dumpling shops.

Chen Mapo Tofu is a century-old shop that says it invented the dish. No.37 is cash only, and Ma's Kitchen, near Taikoo Li, draws a line from opening time. If you are cautious about chili, ask for "wei la" (微辣), meaning mildly spicy.

How to book a Michelin restaurant in China

The mainland listings we checked all say the restaurant handles its own reservations, so you usually can't book through Michelin. Each listing shows a phone number. In practice, these are the usual routes:

1. Ask your hotel. A concierge or front desk can call in Chinese, confirm the time and ask about set menus. This is the easiest option for starred restaurants.
2. Use Dianping. China's main restaurant review app lists English among its languages on the App Store. It shows hours, photos and dish names, and some restaurants offer table booking or queue numbers in the app. See our eSIM and apps guide for getting set up.
3. Message on WeChat. Some restaurants take bookings through a WeChat account. Your hotel can tell you if that is the case.
4. Ask about deposits and cancellation. Policies vary. Ask whether the restaurant needs a deposit, serves set menus only, or charges for no-shows.

Booking windows vary by restaurant, so contact the starred places you care about as soon as your dates are fixed. Order special dishes in advance where the listing says so, as with the baby duck at Xin Rong Ji in Beijing. For Bib Gourmands, arrive at opening time, when queues are shortest.

Ordering and table manners

Chinese meals are shared. Dishes go in the middle of the table and everyone helps themselves, so order for the group rather than one main each. A common rule of thumb is one dish per person, plus rice or noodles.

Peking duck. Most duck restaurants sell a whole bird, and many also sell a half. The duck is roasted to order, so ask for it as soon as you sit down. Wrap slices in a thin pancake with scallion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce.

Tea and dim sum. At a Cantonese dim sum meal, the first question is usually which tea you want. Guangzhou's morning tea regulation, in force since May 1, 2026, says a restaurant charging a tea fee must post the price, explain how it is calculated and offer a choice of teas, such as black, green, oolong, pu'er and chrysanthemum. Menus must also say whether each dim sum item is made the traditional way on site.

Tipping. It is not expected in Chinese restaurants.

Paying the bill

Most restaurants take Alipay and WeChat Pay, and both apps accept foreign Visa and Mastercard cards once set up. As of October 2026, a single payment of ¥200 (about $30) or less carries no platform fee, and larger payments cost 3% extra. Our guide on how to pay in China covers setup.

Check the listing before you go. Several Bib Gourmands above are marked cash only, and Yangzhou Fan Dian's listing says it does not take foreign credit cards. Carry ¥300-500 (about $45-75) in cash, including small notes.

Eating well beyond the Michelin Guide

The guide is a good shortlist, not the whole picture. It covers 17 mainland cities and lists roughly 80 to 160 restaurants in each of the four cities above, so it leaves out most street food and countless neighborhood restaurants. Cities with strong food cultures of their own, such as Xi'an and Chongqing, have no selection at all.

A sensible plan is to book one or two starred meals for the dishes you care most about, then fill the other days with Bib Gourmands and busy local places. If you'd rather have a local team build a food-focused trip and book the hard tables, tell us your dates. For daily budgets, see what a China trip costs.