Saved! The List of the Best Restaurants in China Is All Here!

📍 Macau · 👁 7285 reads · ❤️ 32 likes

Last Friday, Miao Ma was honored to be invited to Macau for the 2021 Ctrip Gourmet List Global Restaurant Selection Awards Ceremony. Then I posted on Moments: the goal of this trip—to eat until it's a work injury. Haha.

Waiting for the food list release is actually quite fun. For example, are there restaurants I've eaten at (so I can brag later~ haha~), is there a top-tier one near my home, can I immediately book a delicious meal? Haha. Miao Ma understands it all! So right after, I made a code for you to directly book restaurants on the list, covering 58 cities nationwide!

Although everyone in the food world knows about "Michelin," honestly, what foreigners think is delicious is somewhat different from our tastes. Comparatively, Ctrip Gourmet List evaluates more based on Chinese tastes. Even if there are big differences between north and south, when it comes to delicious Chinese food, our taste buds are generally similar.

The awards ceremony was held at the Londoner Theatre in Macau. The whole scene was star-studded and grand. Miao Ma strongly recommends that if you have the chance, you must stay at the Londoner—it's super gorgeous and atmospheric!

This evaluation selected 301 platinum restaurants, 45 diamond restaurants, and only 9 black diamond restaurants nationwide!

Miao Ma took a look and saw that I had written an article before the list was released, and I actually guessed one of the black diamonds—Shanghai Nanxing Garden. Awesome, right? Quick, praise Miao Ma!

Let me tell you in detail about these 9 black diamond restaurants!

Shanghai | Nanxing Garden

Starting with Nanxing Garden, which I guessed last time, this high-end Sichuan cuisine restaurant on Hunan Road actually serves a branch of Sichuan cuisine called Nantang cuisine, which draws heavily from the experience of Jiangsu and Zhejiang chefs who lived in Sichuan. So, who says Sichuan cuisine is only spicy!

Speaking of Miao Ma attending this event, the most interesting part was the exclusive gala dinner on the night of the list release. In simple terms, they invited top chefs from many of the best restaurants nationwide (some were the founders themselves) to prepare their signature dishes on-site. Haha, let me boast a little: after eating over a dozen of the best dishes in the country, that night was definitely a work injury night.

I also got to eat several dishes from Nanxing Garden, made personally by founder Deng Huadong.

The most famous is their dry-braised fish maw, slowly simmered in broth over low heat with premium fish maw (the swim bladder of male croaker). It’s usually paired with Yibin sprouts for a soft, chewy, and refreshing texture. But since there were no suitable sprouts in Macau, Chef Deng temporarily substituted noodles. Honestly, I think the noodles that soaked up the rich fish maw flavor were truly exceptional.

Of course, I’ll go to their restaurant next time for the authentic version with sprouts!

At the dinner, I also had Nanxing Garden's fish-fragrant shrimp balls. With a mildly spicy fish-fragrant sauce, the huge shrimp balls burst in your mouth with a crisp texture.

Shanghai | Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet

It's really hard to describe what kind of restaurant Ultraviolet is. It's the world's first sensory restaurant, serving French cuisine. It only receives 10 guests per day. You don't know what you'll eat before you go. That night, all guests enjoy the same set of about 20 dishes at the same time.

Even more surprising, you don't know where the restaurant is. There's only a meeting point, and a special car takes you to a rundown warehouse near Suzhou Creek. Once inside, it's a completely different world.

With 5D technology, you move through different spaces from time to time. Some say it's more like a food amusement park than a restaurant. Well, I think what you eat doesn't matter; it's about the feel. If money is no object (I saw the average price per person is 6,521 RMB on Ctrip Gourmet List), it's worth a visit, haha.

Shanghai | Fu He Hui

It's interesting that among the three restaurants in Shanghai on the list, none serve Shanghai cuisine. Fu He Hui is another top vegetarian restaurant on Yuyuan Road.

Although Miao Ma loves meat, I have to admit that truly good vegetarian food is beautiful in form and color, with the purest original taste of ingredients. Ethereal~

Beijing | Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant (Nanxincang Branch)

Da Dong's predecessor was actually the Beijing Roast Duck Restaurant from 1985. This Nanxincang branch is Da Dong's culinary base. The "crispy but not greasy" roast duck is their signature. Nowadays, people prefer low-fat, low-oil food, and Da Dong has innovated to keep up with the times.

Miao Ma once ate Da Dong's food on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, and it was really delicious. Perhaps besides the plump, glossy roast duck, people now prefer artistic dishes—lifestyle aesthetics matter more.

Beijing | Xin Rong Ji (Xinyuan South Road Branch)

I tasted how good Xin Rong Ji is this time in Macau! Interestingly, a Jiangsu-Zhejiang cuisine restaurant made its name in Beijing and earned a black diamond. I wonder if this counts as the power of food's taste migration. By the way, the Shanghai Nanjing West Road branch of Xin Rong Ji made the platinum list this time.

Golden beltfish: They use hook-caught beltfish from the pure waters of the East China Sea in Taizhou. Only the two best middle sections of each fish are selected, then cured with Spanish sea salt. The oil temperature is crucial—the result is golden, translucent, crispy on the outside, and white, tender on the inside, with the taste of the sea.

Stewed yellow croaker meatball with matsutake mushroom is super special. The whole meatball is made from minced East China Sea yellow croaker. Apparently, no Xin Rong Ji branch nationwide serves this dish right now because all the quality yellow croaker was shipped to Macau for that night's dinner. Ah haha, am I too lucky? ~ Me ~

This time I also had a dish I absolutely love: sand garlic vermicelli with sea anemone! Incredible! The sea anemone is essentially a kind of sea creature, and the vermicelli is made from sweet potato starch. When the freshness of the sea anemone, over three times that of crab, infuses into the vermicelli, every bite is an earthy essence of freshness. Honestly, by the time this dish came out that night, I was already full, but what made me finish it all? Because it's too delicious!

Hangzhou | Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake ▪ Golden Sand Hall

This restaurant mainly serves state banquet-level high-end Cantonese, Shanghai, and Hangzhou cuisine. The best thing is first the Jiangnan garden environment by West Lake, with lush vegetation and flowing streams.

Braised pork belly with abalone is their signature. The pork belly is wrapped in a crystal-clear abalone sauce, mixing the umami of seafood and meat—rich and springy. This is the essence of Jiangnan charm.

Macau | Yu Long Xuan

Which restaurant must you eat at in Macau? Yu Long Xuan! I wanted to book a meal there this time, but was told reservations were already full until mid-July. Haha, it seems Macau's economy has recovered! This place is inside City of Dreams. If you plan to eat there soon, you need to book quickly.

It's said the restaurant cost 100 million to build. Some say it's a top-tier Cantonese restaurant, incorporating Western ingredients and culinary techniques. Ctrip Gourmet List's TOP1 recommendation is crispy fried French oysters.

There are two more black diamond restaurants in Hong Kong, but I can't go there recently. To save effort, Miao Ma won't say much, but I'll list them here for your reference.

Hong Kong | Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong ▪ Lung King Heen

Hong Kong | Good Wine Good Cai

Ctrip Gourmet List's evaluation criteria truly represent the majority of Chinese people. It's not about being high-end or expensive; many affordable restaurants made the list, covering 58 cities nationwide. I'll list the diamond and platinum restaurants here. Take a look and see if your favorite restaurants made it.

Diamond Restaurants (45)

Platinum Restaurants (301)

You can also scan the QR code below for more restaurants, including a large number of gold and silver medal restaurants, as well as many snack and dessert shops.

Long press to scan QR code

Check more listed restaurants

Let me teach you: after clicking, you can select a city in the top left corner, then choose based on location, cuisine, or black diamond/diamond, etc. Some restaurants have set meals. For example, the Nanxing Garden I mentioned earlier, you can click in and directly book or purchase.

Finally, let me take some space to talk about the most interesting dinner of this Macau trip. Later, I saw myself constantly taking photos in Ctrip Gourmet List's official album. Haha, can you recognize my dedicated self?

The menu was a very artistic black gold folding fan. Over a dozen dishes, each a masterpiece. Even if I couldn't eat anymore, I had to force it down! After all, there aren't many chances in life to eat the best dishes in the country in one meal.

Besides the dishes I introduced earlier, here are some others to share.

Beijing Tai Fu Hotel Bai Jing Xuan's "Tai" Shed: a vegetable salad using Beijing's Er Ba sauce, with a misty, ethereal presentation.

Many people said the most unforgettable dish that night was the secret smoked fish. Shanghainese should love it. It uses fried golden silver cod cubes, which are more tender and soft than traditional blue fish or similar fish. Especially in small pieces, each wrapped in crispiness, accented with a special black vinegar sauce, offering a unique burst of flavor.

The pomelo black vinegar crispy solid sea cucumber was also from Bai Jing Xuan. The sea cucumber, not overly soaked, coated in a crispy batter made with squid ink, paired with a slightly spicy black vinegar pomelo sauce. The contrast of crispy outside and soft inside made me, who doesn't usually like sea cucumber, finish it all!

If not for this feast, I might have been misled by the saying "Beijing is a food desert." They clearly have so many delicious listed restaurants!

Hong 0871 Selected Yunnan Cuisine is also from Beijing. They brought a very special broken crust bun, super huge—almost half the size of Big Face Miao Ma's face! I heard it sells for 12 RMB each at the restaurant.

The dough is wrapped with rich, fragrant lard, baked until crispy. Inside is a special Yunnan winter melon pork. I heard the pig grows to only the size of a winter melon at most, so the meat is exceptionally tender. Paired with local mushrooms, even though I really couldn't eat anymore, I struggled to finish half of the bun, haha.

For folks in Shanghai, you can enjoy Drunken Jiangnan. The Fu Dai June Yellow: tofu skin made from fish meat filled with abundant June yellow crab meat, paired with slightly tart fish roe—one of my favorites.

When the Jiangnan Lotus Pond Three Delicacies was served, it was covered with a small green lotus leaf. When gently opened, the fried lotus slices released the aroma of coffee beans below, with refreshing water chestnuts and lotus seeds—beautiful.

Macau's Parisian also brought two dishes. Miao Ma strongly recommends you try this trendy restaurant when in Macau. It's inside the Eiffel Tower Parisian. The window seats and the trendy corridor are extremely photogenic. (Don't worry, I'll write a Macau food guide later~)

Pan-seared wagyu with morel mushroom sauce was truly special—one of my favorites that night. They used A5 Japanese Kagoshima wagyu, with equal parts fat and lean, and a hint of pink in the middle. A light cut and it melted in the mouth, with a subtle greasiness dissolving on the tongue.

The final dessert was almond tea with bird's nest paired with molten black sesame balls. Fresh, smooth, moist, and fragrant!

After this meal, Miao Ma is pregnant with triplets...

But the journey of checking in at more restaurants following the 2021 Ctrip Gourmet List has just begun, haha~

Travel Guide Contents

1. Black Diamond Restaurants

2. Diamond and Platinum Restaurants

3. Ctrip Gourmet List Exclusive Gala Dinner

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