Meituan, a Chinese shopping platform for locally found consumer products and retail services, released the sixth edition of its Black Pearl Restaurant Guide recently. Among 304 restaurants recommended in the guide, six restaurants are located in Suzhou, and five of them are in SIP.

As China’s first food guide that sets standards for Chinese cuisines, the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide celebrates “delicate, high-quality and characteristic” cuisines. The Black Pearl restaurants are selected based on scores given by anonymous jurors. The evaluation takes into consideration the flavor of the restaurants’ food, their service and ambiance, and capacity to carry traditions and make innovations.

Among the five restaurants in SIP, HUA CHI 88 in Hyatt Regency Suzhou was rated as a two-diamond Black Pearl restaurant; while Xizhouxuan in Park Hyatt Suzhou, Jiangnan Delicacy, CHAO 27 and WUJIE were rated as one-diamond restaurants.

“These Black Pearl restaurants reflect the boom of catering services in the Jinji Lake area,” said Sun Jingxia, deputy director of SIP Bureau of Commerce. She said that SIP’s opening-up and inclusiveness had helped attract lots of catering businesses from around the world.

According to Sun, more than 100 international food brands have set up branches in SIP, offering a large variety of delicacies including Southeast Asian dishes and European food. In SIP, diners can enjoy specialties from Italy, Mexico, France, Spain, Japan, and Singapore.