Editor’s Note
The 2026 Black Pearl Restaurant Guide highlights a dynamic shift in China’s fine dining scene, with 263 restaurants from 32 mainland cities recognized. This year’s selection underscores trends toward greater culinary diversity and the elevated evolution of regional cuisines across the country.
The “Black Pearl Restaurant Guide,” which gathers high-quality benchmark dining brands in China, has officially released its 2026 selection results, with 263 restaurants from 32 cities in mainland China making the list. The current list indicates that China’s fine dining industry is showcasing new developmental characteristics, including diverse categories and collective upgrades of regional cuisines.
In the “2026 Black Pearl” guide, Liaoning cuisine made its debut on the list, with two restaurants in Shenyang each receiving a one-diamond honor. Hebei Province’s fine dining scene achieved a key breakthrough, with two Black Pearl one-diamond restaurants in Shijiazhuang. Jiangsu and Shandong provinces added Nantong and Qingdao to the list, welcoming two one-diamond restaurants each.
The 2026 Black Pearl Annual Dish Awards, for the first time, included local classic dishes in the selection. Dishes such as the traditional-flavor Duck Blood, Dried Tofu, and Pork Intestine from Quanzhou’s Qingyu Nian, and the Raw River Crab from Wenzhou’s Awailou successfully made the list.
Fu Yueliang from Hangzhou’s “Ruyuan” restaurant topped the list as the “2026 Black Pearl Chef of the Year.” Chen Zhiping from Shanghai’s Yu Waitan (Xintiandi store), Yang Yanbin from Chengdu’s Fumanlou · Hokkien Cuisine, and Lin Qi from Shenzhen’s La Tablée Fusion Cuisine received the Black Pearl Young Chef Awards.