HONG KONG -- Hong Kong looks set to become the second Asian city to have its restaurants put on the international culinary map by France's prestigious Michelin guide, hotels and a media report said Monday.

Reviewers for the famed red book that can make or break chefs have been spotted making discreet visits to some of the city' finer eateries in the months since Michelin launched its first Tokyo guide in November.

"I got a call a few months ago from two people who said they were from Michelin and would like to see our facilities. I showed them around the hotel," said InterContinental Grand Stanford communications director Tina Di Cicco.

Days later a European man dined at the Italian restaurant of the five-star hotel and showed his Michelin identity card when paying for his meal, she said.

"We are really excited. To have a Michelin guide for Hong Kong will help us measure the quality of our culinary experience and keep us up to the standard with international gourmet cities such as New York and Paris," she told Agence France-Presse.

The Mandarin Oriental has also been visited by Michelin, said the South China Morning Post. The report quoted sources saying the guide would be launched this year or early next, but that Michelin had refused to comment.

Some worried about having foreign palates judge Chinese cuisine.

"It's good to have a guide like that, but we can't take it too seriously," local celebrity food critic Hugo Leung was quoted as telling the Post.

"Chinese cuisines have so many varieties and even a guide like Michelin can't represent everybody's tastes in food."