Veteran food critic Egon Ronay is to include gastropubs in his new guide, which is due out in November.
The guide will list up to 300 gastropubs alongside nearly 240 restaurant entries. In all, 430 pubs were visited anonymously across the UK.
Ronay called gastropubs a "uniquely British phenomenon". "The standard of cooking is amazing - the British gastropubs are far, far better than the bistros in France."
Ronay defined a gastropub as a hostelry with a pub atmosphere, which served draught beer and very good food.
The gastropubs follow the same three-star listing as the restaurants - one star for good food, two stars for the "quite exceptional" and three stars for the best.
The new guide has no three-star gastropubs, but Ronay said this could change in later editions.
* Egon Ronay's Guide 2006 is published on 14 November.