Why a list is not the answer
Every restaurant recommendation on this site, or any site, has a shelf life measured in months. Places close, chefs move, a viral mention ruins a small shop in a fortnight, and the annual guides re-rank every January.
So treat our city pages as a starting point and learn the four sources below. It takes ten minutes and it works for the whole trip.
1. Dianping (大众点评) — the one that matters
China's restaurant review app, and the closest thing to ground truth. It is Chinese-only, which puts people off, but you barely need the language:
- Ratings are out of 5. Anything 4.5+ is genuinely good; 4.8+ in a big city is exceptional.
- Photos and prices need no translation. The per-head average (人均) is shown on every listing.
- Sort by rating, filter by distance. That alone beats any English list.
- Use your phone's screen translation on the menu once you are seated.
Its 必吃榜 ("Must-Eat List") is the mainstream annual benchmark — everyday restaurants rather than fine dining, which is usually what you want.
2. Black Pearl (黑珍珠) — China's own fine-dining guide
Published annually by Meituan and taken more seriously inside China than Michelin.
The 2026 edition lists 263 restaurants across 32 mainland cities, having added Nantong, Qingdao, Shijiazhuang and Shenyang, and now reaches 18 provinces. Beijing has 35 listed restaurants; Hangzhou has 20, fourth nationally.
Notably, the 2026 guide dropped Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei and its overseas cities to concentrate on the mainland. Diamonds run one to three, like Michelin stars.
It is better than Michelin at regional Chinese cooking — the 2026 list brought in Liaoning cuisine for the first time.
3. Michelin — useful, but narrow
Michelin arrived in mainland China in 2016, starting with Shanghai. It still covers only a handful of cities.
So its absence means nothing. There is no Michelin guide to Xi'an, Harbin or Lijiang, and that says nothing whatsoever about the food there. Do not use it as a national yardstick.
4. Xiaohongshu (小红书) — what is busy *this month*
Where young Chinese diners actually decide. Search a neighbourhood name and you get the last few weeks, not the last few years. Very visual, so it survives translation.
The trade-off: it rewards photogenic over good, and a place trending on Xiaohongshu may mean a 90-minute queue.
How to check a specific place is still open
Before crossing a city for somewhere we or anyone else recommended:
- Search the Chinese name in Dianping or on the map app. A closed business usually disappears or is marked 暂停营业.
- Check the most recent reviews are recent. Nothing since last year is a warning.
- Look at today's opening hours in Amap, which are more current than any guide.
- For anything that takes bookings, book through Dianping or the restaurant's WeChat account rather than turning up.
The practical ordering rules
- A queue of locals beats any list. A crowded place with no English menu is a better bet than an empty one with laminated photos.
- Most restaurants now order by QR code at the table, in Chinese — see our guide on ordering without Chinese.
- "What do you recommend?" — 有什么推荐的？ — reliably produces a better meal than the menu.
- Chinese restaurants specialise narrowly. The dish a place is named after is the dish to order.
If you have a dietary requirement
Do not rely on a restaurant list for this. Carry the cards from our survival kit, which spell out the things that actually catch people — stock, lard, peanut oil, oyster sauce — because "vegetarian" alone routinely produces a dish cooked in pork stock.