Dozens of magazines and about half of all prime-time television in Japan is in some way related to food and eating. Many shows exist simply to keep viewers updated on the staggering number of new restaurants opening in Tokyo every week.
The delay may also be down to the gargantuan task and cost of actually visiting the restaurants. The compilers said that the most surprising discovery was not the quality of the food in Tokyo but the sheer number of restaurants. The 150 establishments that achieved a star grade were whittled down from a starting lineup of 190,000.These were cut to a shortlist of 1,500 by a team of five European and Japanese inspectors. There then followed 18 months of anonymous visits by the Michelin inspectors and the rigorous application of the guide's arcane judgment.
The one-star list includes a famous grilled eel restaurant that sometimes has queues more than 200 yards long during the summer eel-eating season.
British and British-based chefs had nothing but praise for Japanese cuisine. Jean-Christophe Novelli, who has won four Michelin stars, said: "They have been waiting for this recognition for a long time . . . the Japanese are very conscientious, very committed cooks. They pay the most detail to food of anyone on the planet. They are also the best in terms of sourcing ingredients."
Thank you SO much for this site and list: we are coming to Japan in March primarily to become absorbed into Japan, and to properly experience food and pottery, so will be very interested.If you want to have the whole list, have a look here : Secret Japan - Michelin Guide 2008 - Tokyo
I started to translate the name of the restaurants, but this is really long (if someone wants to help...)
sanji
Thank you SO much for this site and list: we are coming to Japan in March primarily to become absorbed into Japan, and to properly experience food and pottery, so will be very interested.
We were planning on using the recommendations from LP, Frommer's, RG, DK etc, as well as just "winging" it as we walk past places: not sure we COULD book if we tried!!!
As they have stars, are they more expensive???
That is a safe bet! There will be exceptions, of course, but Michelin is not a guide that is marketed to the average person.
No, Michelin has stars for the quality of food (0 to 3), "forks and spoons" for the luxury (1 to 5), and other symbols for cheap eateries.
So, don't fret if you can't go to these three-star restaurants. There are lots of restaurants that escaped Michelin's attention and still offer good food! Ask a local or search the Guru-Navi website (sorry, Japanese only) to find good eats!
Not the guide for Tokyo. This edition only lists 1, 2 and 3 stars restaurants, without the other symbols found in some Michelin guides.
sanji
While Guru-navi has a huge number of restaurants in its database, it is mostly relying on visitors' comments to grow. The problem is that people can be more influenced by outside factors (price, surroundings, service) than by the food itself, unlike a professional guide.
As a matter of fact, there was no such professional guide for Tokyo restaurants so far. It is a pity that a foreign guide had to be written first...
sanji
Michelin just barely managed to come up with its first edition, so it wasn't able to do what it does for its guides to cities in Europe, for instance.
Tokyo restaurants come and go very quickly, with some touted as top restaurants disappearing (due to top chefs leaving to set up their own restaurants, financial issues, or even just because of their whimsical Japanese clientele) in just a few years.
Plus, many Japanese have commented that the Michelin inspectors seem to have tastes very different from the Japanese. Michelin still has a long way to go to arrive at a better study of restaurants in Tokyo.