Top restaurants reach for the stars

However, according to the Dazhong Dianping platform, three of the city's vegetarian restaurants that won the Michelin Plate last year-Lin's Dining Lounge, Lotus.com (Jinchengfang Street) and Feast-had to close.

Dai Jun, 50, head chef at Vege Wonder, thinks vegetarian restaurants have a natural advantage in earning a Green Star, as they aim to be environmentally friendly.

With nearly three decades of experience in Cantonese and Chaozhou cuisine, Dai started to focus on vegetarian cooking eight years ago.

He thinks that making vegetarian dishes is more difficult than putting together those comprising meat.

"You have to master all the cooking techniques and you need to pay more attention to the ingredients," he said.

"Vegetables used to solely accompany meat dishes, but a vegetarian chef now needs a wide knowledge of their character and must know how to bring out the original flavor."

Dai said that since the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star last week, it has attracted more customers, especially during the weekend.

He added that before Vege Wonder opened last year, its goal was to win Michelin stars. He is not surprised the business has been awarded one star, but thinks there is room to improve-from presentation of the dishes to selecting the ingredients.