TOKYO (Reuters) - Forget Paris, New York and Rome. The real home of gourmet dining is Tokyo, according to the new Michelin restaurant guide unveiled on Monday.

In its first ever Asian edition, the result of more than a year's research by five undercover inspectors, Michelin awarded more stars in Tokyo than in any other city in the world.

Eight restaurants, five serving Japanese cuisine and three French, were given the coveted three-star rating, which Michelin defines as "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey", and means a massive boost in business and profile for the chef.

The effect could be even greater in food-obsessed Japan, where many people think little of traveling and lining up for hours to eat the latest delicacies.

"We were so surprised by the quality of the cuisine here," Jean-Luc Naret, director of the Michelin guides, told a packed news conference in Tokyo. "Not only Japanese making French cuisine, but Japanese food in all sorts of genres."

He added that a star won in Japan had exactly the same significance as a star in Las Vegas or Paris.

Twenty-five Tokyo eateries got two stars and 117 were given one star, compared for example with Britain, where only three restaurants in the whole country have three stars and 12 have two.

Some critics and chefs had expressed doubts about whether Europeans were capable of appreciating the finer points of Japanese food, even though two members of the five-strong inspection team were Japanese. Continued...

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUST4322820071119

Beat paris!! ∑(O_O；)驚Shock！！


ヘ(^_^ヘ)(ノ^_^)ノ

go go japan

Akira SHOCK!

Ah, the incredibly snobbish awards.

Great..... :fiddle:

(Population differs among Tokyo, Paris, and NY. Therefore, it is not compared simply).


Tokyo (AP) - Paris, eat your heart out.

The creators of the famed Michelin Guides have bestowed a virtual galaxy of 191 stars to 150 restaurants in Tokyo _ more stars than in any other city in the world, including Paris.

Eight restaurants in the Japanese capital, including two sushi eateries, received Michelin's highest three-star rating, according to the new Tokyo guide announced Monday, the first outside Europe and the United States. But Paris can still claim to have the most top-rated restaurants, with 10.

The 191 stars were the most awarded to any city. Paris previously had the most, with 65.

Michelin also crowned 82-year-old Jiro Ono of Sukiyabashi Jiro sushi restaurant in central Tokyo as the world's oldest three-star chef.

"Tokyo is a shining star in the world of cuisine," Michelin Guides Director Jean-Luc Naret said at a news conference. He declared Tokyo "the world leader in gourmet dining."

Clutching his Michelin plaque as he mixed with other chefs at a cocktail party later Monday, Ono said he was stunned by his three-star rating.

"I never dreamed this would happen. I've just always tried to make good sushi using the freshest fish," Ono said. "But with global warming, our catch is going down. From now on, I will make the best of what resources we have left."

A team of three undercover European and two Japanese inspectors spent a year and a half visiting 1,500 of Tokyo's estimated 160,000 restaurants to decide on the ratings, according to Michelin. The famed guidebook series rates establishments on excellence in cooking, service, decor and upkeep.

There were so many good restaurants that all entries in Michelin's Tokyo edition have at least one star, a first for any city, Naret said. Five of the eight awarded top honors served Japanese cuisine, while three served French.

In another first, two restaurants received top ratings despite getting rapped for their service, which the guidebook rates separately.

Sukiyabashi Jiro and Sushi Mizutani were awarded three stars even though their "Category of Comfort" rating was just 1 out of a scale of 5. Even the top sushi chefs here tend to serve their fare in small, starkly decorated eateries with minimal table service.

"That doesn't mean the cuisine is anything less than first rate," said Taku Suzuki, spokesman for Michelin in Japan.

On top of formal Japanese "kaiseki" cuisine, the guide includes shops specializing in puffer fish, deep-fried tempura, grilled eel, teppanyaki-style barbecue and soba noodles.

The entries in Michelin's Tokyo edition appeared to have eased local skepticism that the French can be the best judge of Japan's culinary traditions.

"The French do not understand anything about sushi ... how can they judge us?" Yoshikazu Ono had told The Associated Press in March when the Tokyo guide was announced. Ono, a chef at Sukiyabashi Jiro and son of Jiro Ono, beamed at his father's side at Monday's party.

Toru Okuda, who won three stars for his modern Japanese restaurant, Koju, said it was about time the world recognized Tokyo's culinary brilliance.

"Tokyo is delicious, whatever you eat, wherever you eat," Okuda said. "I wonder why Michelin didn't come here earlier," he said.

The first Michelin guide was published in 1900 as a handbook for French motorists. Guides to 23 countries are published by the Clermont-Ferrand-based tire company of the same name.

Michelin will announce a guide to a second Asian city next year, according to Naret.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5314167.html

Suprised, Tokyo but not Hong Kong?

They dont have one for Hong Kong.

And I hope they never have one. Restaurant guidebooks are kind of bs imo, since people have such a huge variety of tastes, something that may be culinary heaven to one person might be complete rubbish to another.

Anyway, it makes sense for Tokyo to have more, it has like 35m people, its bound of have more restaurants and a greater chance for a restaurant to be selected.

But still, congrats to Tokyo (though if I was ever there, I wouldn't go eat by the book, lol)

deathscar sums it up nicely :)

More stars than Paris or London....bullshit.