French tire company Michelin said Monday that it plans to launch a so-called red guide for Taipei-based restaurants in the first quarter of next year.

Bruno de Feraudy, regional president of Michelin, told a press conference in Taipei that he hopes the guide for the city will help "new chefs to emerge" and "more visitors to visit Taiwan."

Taipei will be the seventh Asian city to be rated by Michelin, following Thailand's Bangkok, the guide for which is scheduled for release next month.

Tokyo was the first Asian city to have a red guide, followed by Hong Kong/Macao, Singapore, Seoul and Shanghai.

De Feraudy said Michelin does not publish a guide simply because a city "pushes" it to do so, or it would not have published only 30 guides so far.

While Michelin guides mainly rate upscale restaurants, the 2016 guide for Hong Kong and Macao introduced an overview of well-known street-food establishments. The 2016 Singapore guide awarded the first Michelin stars to street-food locations.

As Taiwan is also famous for street food, he said such establishments will "for sure" be included in the forthcoming guide.

De Feraudy said Michelin inspectors are completely anonymous, unless they need to talk to the chef to obtain more information after dining and paying the bill.

Regardless of their cuisine style or cooking methods, he said restaurants worldwide are judged according to the same criteria, such as quality of ingredients, preparation skills, consistency in culinary standards and value for money.

Elements such as restaurant decoration and service do not affect star ratings, he said.

"We judge what's on the plate and only what's on the plate," he said.