Michelin guide director Jean-Luc Naret said it was the "most affordable starred restaurant in the world". The star ratings, which range from one star to three, are a rare honour in the restaurant trade, with only a few hundred in the world deemed good enough.

Three-star ratings are even rarer – only 81 restaurants are on the list. Tim Ho Wan is headed by Mak Pui Gor, the former dim sum chef at Hong Kong's Four Seasons Hotel, where he worked at its three-starred restaurant Lung King Heen. During the economic crisis Mr Mak branched out on his own to offer his dishes at bargain prices. His most expensive dish, a plate of noodles, costs the equivalent of about $5.40, and he sells about 750 of his signature crispy pork buns each day.

Other dishes include a cheung fun, or steamed rice noodle roll, with pork livers and delicate jellies containing flower petals. At lunchtime, diners can expect queues of up to an hour on the street. "Since the news broke, we've been really very busy," said a waitress. "We really are very cheap, but I don't think we are planning to raise our prices."

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide co-editor Joanna Savill said Michelin had recognised that good food need not come with a high price tag. "I think it's fantastic to see a hole-in-the-wall canteen recognised," she said. "It shows that Michelin has woken up to the fact that you don't need all the trappings to create great food. "Michelin always used to be about the fine china, the glassware, the cutlery and the tablecloths, but people aren't always necessarily impressed by that. Sometimes all they want is great food."

Still, some of the better-known Michelin-starred establishments come with equally famous price tags. The three-star El Bulli in Spain charges $422 a person for a meal without wine. Customers spend an average of $400 a head at the three-star English restaurant Fat Duck, which was ranked the world's best restaurant until it was displaced by El Bulli .

Sydney's top restaurants do not come cheap either. Dinner at Quay, which was named the Good Food Guide's restaurant of the year, ranges from $155 to $210 a person, excluding drinks. Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar and Grill, named best new restaurant at the Good Food Guide Awards, is not for those on a budget. An entree of sterling caviar with toast and creme fraiche costs between $275 and $600, depending on the size, while lobster thermidor will set diners back $160.