New stars

Tianjin wins its first Michelin star as Beijing gains two

27 October 2026 · Written up 15 November 2026 · The Starred Bill

Tianjin joined the MICHELIN Guide for the first time in the Beijing & Tianjin 2027 selection, revealed in Tianjin on 27 October 2026, and China Banquet became the city’s first starred restaurant. In Beijing, Chef 1996 and Old Tower won their first stars, and Shanghai Cuisine dropped from two stars to one.

Tianjin’s first star

Opened in 2023 on Xiaoxian Island in Hexi district, China Banquet (听潮华宴) cooks Huaiyang classics in mostly private rooms: spiced brine-marinated squab, crab meat and roe soup dumplings, and an eight-treasure duck that has to be ordered ahead. It hasn’t published its prices yet. Tianjin’s first selection lists 27 places in all: the one star, 16 Bib Gourmands and 10 in the guide’s plain selection.

Beijing’s two new stars

Down a bamboo-lined lane off Xinghuo East Road in Chaoyang, Chef 1996 serves Sichuan food in private rooms only, and was promoted from the plain selection; a meal there costs about CN¥469 (about $70) a head, an average spend rather than a set menu. Talib Hudda’s dinner-only Old Tower, in Taikoo Li Sanlitun, won a star in its first year in the guide, for a seasonal fish and vegetable tasting menu with no meat or poultry, at about CN¥1,888 (about $285) a head.

The one fall was at Shanghai Cuisine (屋里厢), on Workers’ Stadium North Road, which held two stars in the 2026 guide and now has one; a meal there averages CN¥413 (about $60). No Beijing restaurant lost its stars altogether.

What dinner costs at Beijing’s three-stars

Both kept their third star. Taizhou cooking from Zhejiang at Xin Rong Ji (Xinyuan South Road) averages CN¥1,017 (about $150) a head, and Teochew cooking at Chao Shang Chao (Chaoyang) about CN¥723 (about $110). The five two-stars, Blackswan, Jingji, King’s Joy, Lamdre and Lu Shang Lu, kept theirs too, and Jun Dai of Lamdre won the Mentor Chef Award.

How many Michelin star restaurants does Beijing have?

Beijing has 33: two with three stars, five with two and 26 with one, among 107 places in its selection. Its cheapest starred set menu is at Il Ristorante - Niko Romito, CN¥1,598 (about $240), though average spends start lower, at about CN¥230 (about $35) a head at Poetry‧Wine (Dongsanhuan Middle Road). Every one, with prices, is on our Beijing Michelin star restaurants page, and China Banquet is on our page of Michelin star restaurants in China until Tianjin has a page of its own.