Michelin’s First-Ever Taipei Guide Launches This Spring

Michelin — the French dining guide run by a tire company — is continuing its Asia expansion. The latest: a guide to Taipei, Taiwan, launching in 2018.

According to Bloomberg, Michelin is focusing its expansion efforts in Asia to increase brand awareness in the region and, ultimately, sell more tires. Later this year, the dining guide, which awards restaurants between one and three stars, will launch its first guide to Bangkok. Michelin also has guides to Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau, and Tokyo.

Michelin, which is famous for favoring French and Japanese fine dining for its starred designations, has begun to honor the street food that is integral to the dining cultures in the Asian cities it covers. The 2015 guide to Hong Kong and Macau marked the first time Michelin recognized street food, albeit in a separate category, and just last year, the Singapore guide awarded actual Michelin stars to street food hawkers for the first time.

Photo: Thitinun Lerdkijsakul / Shutterstock

There’s no word yet on whether Taipei, which is famous for its street food and night markets, will get similar treatment. But, Claire Dorland-Clauzel, a member of the Michelin Group Executive committee, says in a press release that Michelin selected Taipei for the “diversity and quality of the city’s culinary scene, combined with its strong potential for development in the years to come.”

Stay tuned for Taipei’s first Michelin stars when the guide launches next spring, and in the meantime, check out Eater’s 38 Essential Taipei Restaurants.

• Michelin Restaurant Guides Are Expanding in Asia [Bloomberg]