Asia is to get its first truly independent restaurant guide, The Miele Guide, which heralds a new standard in the Asian culinary sphere and will set a benchmark for measuring the best restaurants in the region. The inaugural Miele Guide, 2008/2009, will be released at the end of October 2008.

Sri Lanka is one of the countries to be featured in the first edition of the guide. In addition to Sri Lanka, the guide will evaluate restaurants in 15 other Asian countries - Brunei, Cambodia, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Miele Guide will rank Asia's top 20 best restaurants annually. The guide will feature in-depth profiles of these top 20 restaurants in Asia and a select list of the other top restaurants in the region, categorised by country, city and cuisine. All this information will be published in a slim, elegantly designed and affordable book that every traveller, foodie and business person looking to dine in Asia will want to own.

The information in the guide will be compiled through several rounds of judging. The first round gathers input from 90 of Asia's most influential and respected restaurant critics. The second and third rounds will be conducted via online polls that will run from May 15 to the end of July 2008 which is open to everyone who registers to The Miele Guide.

Voters will be asked to vote on a specific number of restaurants from their own countries and a larger number of restaurants from outside their own countries. If a voter wants to nominate a restaurant that does not appear on the shortlist, he or she may do so. The final evaluation will be made by The Miele Guide's in-house editorial team and contributing editors who will visit all of the top-ranked restaurants anonymously in order to verify the voting results.

Voters also have the chance to win attractive prizes, an all-expenses paid meal at the top ranked restaurant in Singapore, Hong Kong or Tokyo, plus a stay in one of Asia's most luxurious hotels (upon registration, voters will be asked to choose the city they want to be eligible for). The result of the voting will be announced in October 2008 when The Miele Guide is launched.

The Miele Guide is published by Ate Media and sponsored by Miele, a German manufacturer of premium and innovative domestic appliances.