Michelin updates Shanghai food guide

Ultraviolet chef Paul Pairet (second from right) and Tan Shiye, chef of T'ang Court (left), accept awards at the launching ceremony of the Shanghai Michelin Guide for 2018 on Wednesday. Their restaurants were the only ones in the city given three stars.[Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]

Amid widespread speculation, French tire manufacturer Michelin updated its famed food guide for Shanghai on Wednesday.

First launched last September and attacked widely for lacking local flavor, the Shanghai Michelin Guide for 2018 comes out with few surprises or changes.

None of the 26 restaurants that were awarded one to three stars last year lost a star. Four new restaurants were added to the list, all in the one-star category but mostly were upgrades from the guide's less famous recommendation list, the Bib Gourmand.

Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, which offers innovative cuisine by combining food with multisensory technologies, joins Cantonese restaurant T'ang Court as the only two three-star restaurants in the guide, which are defined by Michelin as "exceptional" and "worth a special journey".

"The real big news is that Shanghai now has two three-star restaurants, which puts it in the same league as cities like London. It shows Shanghai is a globally recognized fine dining destination," said Michael Ellis, international director of the Michelin Guides.

Ultraviolet, founded by French chef Paul Pairet in 2012 at an inconspicuous location, sells the city's, and possibly the country's, most expensive meal at 4,000 to 8,000 yuan ($600 to $1,200) per person. Reservations are usually required three months in advance. Guests gather at Mr & Mrs Bund, another Pairet venture, and catch a shuttle bus to the restaurant after enjoying a sip of champagne.