Michelin is pleased to reveal on November 16th, the new 2021 edition of the MICHELIN Guide Beijing. With a new restaurant being awarded Three Stars,1 new Two-Star and 7 new One-Star establishments, this second edition of the MICHELIN Guide Beijing continues to be a perfect reflection of the vitality and increasing quality of the city gastronomic scene.
In total, 98 establishments have been selected by the MICHELIN Guide inspectors, including 2 Three-Star restaurants, 2 Two-Stars, 26 One-Stars, 17 Bib Gourmand and 51 MICHELIN Plates.
For the first time in China, the MICHELIN Guide also unveiled a brand new distinction: the MICHELIN Green Star, which aims to highlight role model establishments at the forefront of sustainable gastronomy with their virtuous initiatives.
“Despite the hard times we have been through in 2020, Beijing restaurateurs have demonstrated an incredible commitment in overcoming the crisis and recovering their activity with an unchanged passion and talent. This second edition of the MICHELIN Guide Beijing brightly continues to put the spotlight on more and more extraordinary establishments as well as on a wide range of cuisines. Indeed, Beijing, as the historic capital city and a cultural centre of China, sets the table for culinary habits, recipes and know-how from both all over China and the world. All these shape a culinary scene whose diversity, dynamism and richness have really impressed our inspectors,” commented Gwendal Poullennec, International Director, MICHELIN Guides. “Here, in Beijing, restaurants and chefs never cease to improve and to show their growing commitment to sustainable gastronomy as evidenced by the introduction of the MICHELIN Green Star for the first time in China.”
“The challenges in this special year did not prevent us from publishing the new edition for Beijing, by which opportunity we would like to show our desire to keep going with supporting the local industry,” said Kamran Vossoughi, President & CEO of Michelin China. “Sustainability is a subject that concerns every single one of us and is also a subject that Michelin, as a company, takes very seriously. The ‘Sustainable for all’ inspires and irrigates the whole Michelin strategy. Tomorrow, everything will be sustainable at Michelin. This is the Group's vision and the energy of all employees is devoted to it.”
1 restaurant promoted to Three Stars, 1 new Two Stars and 7 establishments get their first One Star
In this year’s selection, King’s Joy, awarded Two Stars in the first MICHELIN Guide Beijing last year, is promoted to the highest level with three MICHELIN Stars. King's Joy helmed by talented chef Gary Yin delivers top notch vegetarian dishes with seasonal ingredients, delicate cooking and refine twist of flavour every day. Menus are designed with reference from nutritionists. Try the tasting menu for culinary highlights, such as honeylocust, fox nuts and peas, as well as rice with assorted mushrooms and peach resin, which both deliver a nice contrast of textures. All worth a special journey.
For the second year, Xin Rong Ji (Xinyuan South Road) retains its Three Star distinction for its memorable well-crafted dishes and considerate service. This brings the number of Three-Star restaurants in Beijing to two.
One restaurant newly joins the list of Two Stars, named Jingji. The restaurant features imperial cuisine, but also captures the essence of regional cooking. The seasonally driven menu presented by Chef Shushuang Ye, focuses mainly on seafood and vegetables. Along with the double-boiled soups, try the air-dried mutton with shredded flatbread, and mapo tofu with sea anemone. A luxurious and attentive dining experience is assured.
Another Two-Star restaurant, Shanghai Cuisine, carries the distinction forward from last year with an astute understanding of Shanghainese cuisine by reinterpreting classics with a contemporary perspective. Their braised winter melon looks simple but delivers deep and lingering flavours. Stuffed field snails are also highly recommended.
7 establishments are also making their debut in the One Star selection, offering a dazzling array of cuisines. Among them, 3 restaurants are brand new in the MICHELIN Guide and impressed our inspectors with their excellent cuisine: Poetry‧Wine (Chao yang gong yuan Road) offers classical Beijing specialties, while The Tasty House focuses on Zhejiang-Jiangsu dishes and Vege Wonder serves vegetarian food in a natural, sustainable and artistic way. 4 restaurants are promoted from MICHELIN Plate to One Star, including Country Kitchen, serving dishes from the Northern China and modern Beijing cuisine, modern French restaurant Jing, Zhiguan Courtyard with Dongbei dishes in an art gallery, as well as Zijin Mansion with a good execution of Cantonese dishes. Alongside the restaurants which have kept their previous Star, there are a total of 26 restaurants in the new MICHELIN Guide Beijing offering cuisine worth a special —and gourmet — stop!
3 new restaurants awarded their first Bib Gourmand
Aside of the famous MICHELIN Stars, the globally popular Bib Gourmand distinction launched in 1996 continues to highlight establishments offering food of exceptional quality for a very interesting price (a three-course meal for generally below RMB300 in Beijing, drinks not included). The new edition lists many restaurants serving highly sought-after local specialities from across China. 3 new restaurants made their first entry into the Bib Gourmand selection, including Niujie Halal Man Heng Ji, which serves lamb hotpot on coal, Pang Mei Noodles, which offers Chongqing noodle and snacks and time-tested Tong He Ju (Yuetan South Street) which serves Shandong dishes such as braised cuttlefish roe in a spicy-sour glaze, cod fillet in distillers grain sauce and san bu zhan, all adhering strictly to old-time recipes. A total of 17 establishments are awarded the Bib Gourmand.
Since the launch of the MICHELIN Plate award in 2016, Beijing has been on the radar of the Michelin inspectors searching for thoughtfully prepared and very good food. The MICHELIN Plate offers foodies a wide range of options. The 2021 edition MICHELIN Guide Beijing contains 51 MICHELIN Plate restaurants, covering over 20 types of cuisines, including hotpot, dumpling, Beijing, Shandong, Hunan, Vegetarian, Japanese, French, Italian and innovative cuisines etc.
The first Beijing restaurant rewarded a MICHELIN Green Star
“In 2020, the MICHELIN Guide has launched a brand-new distinction - the MICHELIN Green Star - which aims to highlight role models establishments being at the forefront of a more sustainable approach to gastronomy. Following the footsteps of France, Nordic Countries, Germany, Slovenia, or Japan, Beijing is the first Chinese destinations to introduce this new distinction” explained Gwendal Poullennec during the Press Conference.
King’s Joy is the first restaurant in Beijing to be awarded a MICHELIN Green Star by the MICHELIN Guide., They have implemented a few policies on reducing energy and resources consumption. Community activities promoting sustainable lifestyle are also held by the restaurant.
All over the world, the selections of MICHELIN Green Star restaurants are the result of the return of the inspectors' long-standing fieldwork alongside complementary research. Therefore, restaurants awarded a MICHELIN Green Star are those which, for the MICHELIN Guide, have a truly virtuous global approach and implement inspiring initiatives in the management of their establishment dealing with many topics like the origin of the products, the respect for seasonality, the initiatives to reduce and valorise food waste, the capacity of the teams to sensitise the clients to their sustainable ethic, etc.
The MICHELIN Guide also wants to recognize the efforts of those working in progress towards more sustainable practices within the industry. That’s why its editorial highlights also include restaurants, which aren’t awarded a Green Star, but still take positive steps and have some involvements following this ethos.
Young Chef Award and Service Award for 2021 MICHELIN Guide Beijing
After Guangzhou and Shanghai, the MICHELIN Guide is pleased to announce the Young Chef Award and Service Award for the first ever time in Beijing. These distinctions recognize the men and women in kitchen or service teams, who put all their passion and know-how into their profession for an unforgettable gastronomic experience.
This year, the Young Chef Award goes to Julien Cadiou, the French chef of restaurant Jing that just received its first Star. Having stayed in Beijing for several years, Chef Julien has rooted himself in the city well. He is talented in cooking as well as generous in sharing his experience and skills with his fellow colleagues. A harmonious and professional team is born under his lead.
In recognition of her talent in offering attentive, friendly and responsive service to customers, this year’s Service Award goes to Ms. Liu Shiling. She works for the Three-Star restaurant Xin Rong Ji (Xinyuannan Road) as a supervisor, being able to offer appropriate engagement with good knowledge of the company. The Xin Rong Ji group has a good reputation for its quality control, which is not limited to a subtle but wholehearted human touch from the frontline staff.
The 2021 selection of the MICHELIN Guide Beijing at a glance:
- 2 Three Star restaurants (1 promoted)
- 2 Two Star restaurants (1 new)
- 26 One Star restaurants (3 new, 4 promoted)
- 17 Bib Gourmand restaurants (3 new)
- 51 MICHELIN Plate restaurants (2 new)
See the full list of Star restaurants selected in the MICHELIN Guide Beijing 2021 below:
Browse the full MICHELIN Guide Beijing 2021 restaurant selection here or click here to catch a replay of the MICHELIN Guide Beijing 2021 MICHELIN Star Revelation ceremony.
