Scribble

VEA —

A newly minted Michelin-star restaurant, VEA dishes feature globally inspired flavors and exquisite presentation.

Courtesy VEA

Lai Heen —

Located on the 51st floor of The Ritz-Carlton in Macau, Lai Heen snatched a Michelin star for the first time this year.

Courtesy Lai Heen

Lung King Heen —

Three-star Michelin mainstay Lung King Heen highlights Cantonese cuisine at its most luxurious.

Courtesy Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong

Ta Vie —

Japanese-French restaurant Ta Vie showcases local and regional ingredients and aims to create fine dining experiences unique to the city.

Courtesy Ta Vie

IM Teppanyaki & Wine —

Founded by chef Lawrence Mok in 2013, this one-star restaurant specializes in teppanyaki.

Courtesy IM Teppanyaki & Wine

Tim Ho Wan —

Restaurants like Tim Ho Wan make Hong Kong one of the most affordable gourmet cities in the world.

Maggie Wong/CNN

Beefbar —

Newcomers to the list like Beefbar reflect the diversity of Hong Kong's culinary scene.

Courtesy Beefbar Hong Kong

8½ Otto E Mezzo Bombana —

This haute Italian restaurant has retained its three stars, a category that no new restaurant managed to break into in Hong Kong or Macau this year.

Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2014

Sushi Tokami —

Following the original Sushi Tokami that opened in Tokyo's ritzy Ginza district in 2013, its Hong Kong branch opened two years later and soon earned a Michelin star.

Courtesy Sushi Tokami

Robuchon au Dôme —

With three stars, Macau's Robuchon au Dôme rivals Hong Kong's finest restaurants.

Grand Lisboa

Michelin launches 2017 Hong Kong and Macau guide

Story highlights

The 2017 Michelin guide to Hong Kong and Macau awards stars to 80 restaurants

Hong Kong continues to offer some of the world's most affordable Michelin dining

Hong Kong CNN —

Good news for fans of local Hong Kong cuisine.

The 2017 Michelin Guide for Hong Kong and Macau is out and more than a third of the Hong Kong restaurants granted Michelin stars are Cantonese.

These include Lung King Heen and T’ang Court, which retained their three stars – a pre-eminent and exclusive category that no new restaurants managed to break into this year.

Three-star restaurant Bo Innovation has menus that reimagine the city’s classics with dishes like “Fishing Village” and “xiao long bao” – a classic Shanghainese steamed dumpling in molecular form, made with a spherified coat and a smooth, full-bodied broth filling.

Meanwhile dim sum and Cantonese joints like Tim Ho Wan and Lei Garden, populating the one-star category, ensure Hong Kong continues to offer some of the most affordable Michelin dining experiences in the world.

A meal at Tim Ho Wan can easily cost less than $12. The humble Michelin mainstay has three branches – all of which have one-star status.

MORE: Hong Kong’s best dim sum: How to yum cha like a Cantonese

Contemporary and global

Several high-end European restaurants have found Hong Kong to be fertile ground for innovation, with the city attracting young foreign chefs who want to cater to cosmopolitan tastes.

Names familiar to the city’s gastronomes such as Amber and Caprice are already famed for infusing global flavors into their top-rated French fare.

VEA, a newbie in the 2017 Michelin guide, serves sea cucumber stuffed with langoustine and longan fruit as a palate cleanser, among other exquisitely presented and flavored courses.

Japanese-French restaurant Ta Vie also showcases local and regional ingredients, reflecting the diversity that thrives in Hong Kong’s culinary scene.

“I want to offer dinner experiences that [customers] can have only in Hong Kong, and in my restaurant,” chef and co-owner Hideaki Sato tells CNN.

Below is a list of several highlights from the 2017 Hong Kong Macau Michelin guide, which has a total of 80 restaurants – 61 in Hong Kong and 19 in Macau.

There are 53 venues with one star, 19 two-star establishments and eight three-star restaurants.

To see the full list of Michelin-star restaurants in Hong Kong and Macau, check out the guide’s website.