Chef Tan Shiye poses in his kitchen at the T'ang Court restaurant in Shanghai on Sept 21, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

On the food rating website Dianping.com, users showed great fervor toward the newly starred establishments. T'ang Court, where the average bill is 539 yuan ($80), received hundreds of comments on the website in the hours after its three-star award was announced.

"I made about 50 phone calls to reach an operator at T'ang Court and finally made a reservation for Oct 3," a user named Kongtai said on Dianping.com.

Michelin's Clauzel said that finding appropriate reviewers proved to be the biggest challenge for the Shanghai project, adding that most of them are Chinese.