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The City of Mountain-Sea-Water, Seasoned with Stardust? How Taizhou Used “Food” as the Invitation for the 2024 Black Pearl Culinary Summit!

发布时间: 2025-10-29 21:36:00

If flavour is a city’s signature colour, Taizhou just added a new Pantone: “Black-Pearl iridescent.” To help Zhejiang’s restaurants raise the bar and to propel Taizhou cuisine to new heights, the 2024 Black Pearl Restaurant Guide Industry Summit was held on 28 April in the resort-style Phoenix Villa of Yuanzhou Group.

Launched by Meituan in 2018, the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide is an annual list compiled with culinary masters, celebrated gourmets and food scholars. Built on a “Chinese palate” benchmark, it sets out to crown “China’s own gastronomic chart,” scoring restaurants on three dimensions: cooking excellence, ambience and service, and inheritance-plus-innovation. Its clout now reaches far beyond the table, guiding discerning diners and turning each edition into a travelling showcase for a city’s culinary culture.


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In recent years, “Taizhou cuisine” has leaped from regional whisper to national buzz, turning food into the city’s tourism magnet. Nestled between mountain and sea, Taizhou has bred a style that distils both landscapes onto one plate: seafood kissed by brine, mountain herbs kept stubbornly fresh, all guided by the creed “cook simply, let the ingredient speak.” The result is the signature trio of tastes—fresh-umami, sticky-chewy, and honey-sweet.

Today the city already claims four Black Pearl restaurants—Xinrongji at Linghu, Xinrongji at Zhongxin Avenue, Kelong No.1 at Tengda Centre, and Laobian Restaurant. “Ultimate umami is the soul of Taizhou cuisine; reverence for original flavour is its aesthetic; harmony and inclusiveness are its culture; market recognition is its value.” says Cai Wenfu.


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Cai Wenfu—Party Secretary and Director of the Taizhou Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism, and Sports—took the floor to sell the city as both a destination and dining table.

At the summit, the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide released its 2024 China Fine-Dining Insight Report: Taizhou Edition. Fuelled by diners who now expect more than sustenance, Taizhou’s upscale segment has outrun the national pace: fine-dining outlets jumped from 14 in 2021 to 36 in 2023, posting both the fastest growth and the largest net gain among comparable cities.


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“The Black Pearl Guide is more than a list; it’s a toolkit for cooks to get better,” Tang Yan, director of the Black Pearl Guide said, “After six previous city stops, we chose Taizhou to unlock its food-city traffic, let Zhejiang operators decode our judging grid and help small-town fine-dining raise its game.”

During the summit, council member Chen Li, Duan Yu (operator of two-pearl Beijing banquet venue Jingyan and founder of New-Beijing cuisine), and chef Lin Zihan of one-pearl bistro Anxiang Wild Yeast gave keynote speeches.

A Taizhou food-industry match-making fair ran alongside the talks. Projects pitched to investors included the Xinhai Tiandi “Chinese Food Street” and Jiazi Ancient Street from Jiaojiang; Zhenshan Hotel, Yanyulou in Jiufeng Park, Ningxioguan Restaurant, Guanhe Commercial Zone from Huangyan; Shili Long Street from Luqiao, Zhexi Ancient Street from Tiantai, and the new terminal of Taizhou Airport. Investors in the room responded enthusiastically, and preliminary cooperation agreements were reached on the spot.


Translator:JingJing Shi