China's best dining revealed in Meituan's 2019 Black Pearl Restaurant Guide

Meituan has unveiled its 2019 edition of the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide, China's Own "Michelin Guide". In this second edition of the guide, which maintains a focus on Chinese cuisine, 287 restaurants have been awarded diamond ratings. This includes 20 three-diamond restaurants, 77 two-diamond restaurants and 190 one-diamond restaurants. Chinese cuisine accounts for 70% of the total restaurants listed. 232 of the selected restaurants were located across 22 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao, Taipei, Chengdu, Shunde, and Shantou.  Out of these recipients, 55 restaurants were in Shanghai alone. However, the Black Pearl also recommends 55 restaurants which are sought after by Chinese foodies in five overseas cities including Tokyo and New York. Several traditional and well-established restaurants are nominated in the guide, which may encourage more youngsters to get acquainted with these restaurants online. For example, the Wang Bao He Restaurant in Shanghai, the oldest restaurant in the list, was founded in 1744 and is known for its special crab feast featuring "Ancestor Wine and King of Crabs". At the press conference for the debut of the 2019 Black Pearl, Meituan entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with the Macao Government Tourism Office to jointly increase the global influence of Macau. The company said that deep cooperation with local governments in the gastronomy landscape is one way to develop China's dining industry, according to the press release. At the press conference, Zhang Chuan, senior vice president at Meituan said, "When launching our inaugural Black Pearl Restaurant Guide in 2018, we were a fearless and new entrant trying to crack the quality catering market by leveraging our internet thinking. In 2019, we show more reverence. The Black Pearl is not only a restaurant guide, but is responsible for exploring and promoting the Chinese culinary culture, and propelling the development of China's dining industry."