Michelin Guide Tokyo version

[epigene]

Can't wait to get a copy, but probably will be sold out by the time I get to the bookstores... ☝

Michelin Guide gives Tokyo record stars

Hope to start visiting them! (I've been to a couple already! )

 

[A ke bono kane kotto]

I was going to post the same thing.

I saw it on Times online.

I found this funny :

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.

and this surprising !

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.

190,000 restaurants in Tokyo @!!!

but that is not over

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.

Can you imagine a 200m queue in the street ?! That's the distance between some metro stations in Paris !

a well deserved recognition, no doubt

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."

 

[epigene]

Yeah! A ke bono-san!

It's already hard getting reservations to many of these who won stars with Michelin--it's going to be nearly impossible!!

Last night, I was checking on the Web the three-star restaurants I didn't know, searching for their addresses. And, most of their websites were down! I guess people all over Japan are checking them out right now!

Well, I'll stick to my local favorites for the time being!

 

[A ke bono kane kotto]

Anyway, with 190,000 restaurants you can't complain you cannot find a place to eat ! If I count well, it would take 520 years to try them all if you go to a different one everyday !! So if you live on a goldmine and can afford 3 restaurants per day (and can digest such a meal for breakfast), it would take 173 years to go around all of them ! Jeez, that makes me dizzy ! Why don't we live longer ?

 

[sanji]

The list is, indeed, impressive!

Here are the three stars restaurants (8 in Tokyo) :


*** 3 Stars

ﾂ神窶彡 (Kanda) (Japanese food) in Roppongi
ﾆ谷ﾆ停?愴弾ﾆ探ﾆ停?愴湛 (Quintessence) (French food) in Shirokanedai
ﾂ渉ｬﾂ十 (Koju) (Japanese food) in Ginza
ﾆ淡ﾆ停?｡ﾆ竪ﾆ停?ｹﾂ・ﾆ陳哉置ﾆ歎ﾆ停?｡ﾆ停? (Joel Robuchon) (French food) in Nihonbashiﾂ・Ebisuﾂ・Roppongi
窶堋ｷ窶堋ｫ窶堙｢窶ｹ'ﾅｽﾅｸﾋ弸 (Sukiyabashi Jiro) (Sushi) in Ginza
ﾃｩﾂｽﾂ絶?ｦ窶價 (Sushi Mizutani) (Sushi) in Shimbashi
ﾃ?_窶彡窶ｰﾃ (Hamadaya) (Japanese food) in Nihonbashi
ﾆ陳哉棚ﾆ淡ﾆ竪 (L'Osier) (French food) in Ginza


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

 

[ifjames]

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.
BUT
As they have stars, are they more expensive??? 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!!!

 

[sanji]

Although Michelin guide is almost sold off, I do not think that this guide will have such an influence on those restaurants, so no, prices are probably not going to go up...

In fact, I just reserve a restaurant for tomorrow night, so I don't think that reservations would be so hard to get... except perhaps for the most famous restaurants, that are already fully booked.

sanji

 

[A ke bono kane kotto]

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.

Food and pottery ? That is unusual to hear that someone's interest in visiting Japan is pottery.

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!!!

I wouldn't trust Lonely Planet or the likes on restaurant recommendations, except for the cheap backpackers joints. Their style of travelling and dining are a world apart from Michelin. Not the same clientele anyway.

 

[SushiShin]

Why i'm always the last one to know this precious information? I hope i can get that Michelin Guide of Tokyo.

 

[Anohito]

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.

 

[A ke bono kane kotto]

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. Some starred restaurants are cheaper than others without stars, just because the decoration is less gorgeous.

 

[epigene]

Since the Michelin Guide for Tokyo came out, the book has been under close scrutiny by Japanese food critics and media. It appears that Michelin didn't have time to cover the entire city of Tokyo and focused its attention on the "upscale" areas and restaurants for its first edition, depending heavily on recommendations. So, the first three-star restaurants are predominantly expensive and popular mostly among expat executives stationed in Japan.

This is just a start, and I'm pretty sure Michelin is working right now to cover other areas and restaurants for its future editions. I won't be surprised if some of the restaurants that earned 3 stars in the first edition fall in the future.

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!

 

[sanji]

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.

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

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!

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

 

[epigene]

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. The latest info comes from locals, although it may lack professionalism.
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.

 

[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.

Sure, but they still visited more than 1000 restaurants, so you can guess that they put quite a lot of energy in this first edition.

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.

This is very true for restaurants in Tokyo in general, but not so much for high standing places. Those ones tend not to disappear that fast. Michelin guides are usually quite reactive, all restaurants are visited every 18 months - earlier if there are complain from customers - and new editions are usually published every year.

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.

The opposite is true, too: Japanese amateurs have a very different taste compared to Japanese professionals. The important thing is that all guides you find in book shops written by Japanese are more advertisements than critical reviews: you always have gorgeous pictures taken with the owner and the cook, and obviously those places were not visited anonymously. Look at the TV programs dedicated to gourmet tours: it is a pure joke, and I am pretty sure the persons visiting those restaurants are not paying their bill...

Will Michelin guide has obviously some flaws, it must be underlined that they are the first to make the effort to write a serious guide. And that 50% of the people testing the restaurants were Japanese.

sanji

 

[sanji]

A new edition is available for the Michelin guide... I started a thread about it here : Michelin Guide 2009 - Tokyo

sanji