Tokyo Beats Out Other World Cities in Michelin Restaurant Guide

It was a huge big deal when the Michelin Tokyo guide came out late last year for the first time in ages. First of all, everyone has much respect for the little green book that rates restaurants with stars. And second, it quickly became clear that the reviewers at Michelin believed Tokyo to be the city with the best food in the world by a far shot. Until the Japan edition came out, Paris was the cuisine leader with 65 stars. Tokyo got 191, including eight that got the highest 3-star rating.

I remember my mom telling me about this a while ago, and the AP has a good story about it this week.

Link

Comments

[Dragonfang18]

I never knew a tire company did this sort of thing.

[Jeff]

The funny thing is supposedly a lot of Japanese chefs refused to even participate in this. They saw it as devaluing their food, and didn't believe that a French guide understood Japanese cuisine. (This was in the NY Times). I've read that the guide itself is not all that popular in terms of sales either.

There may be some xenophobia in that, but I've looked at the New York guide and I'm inclined to agree with them. French cuisine definitely has a major advantage in the Michelin guide, and despite New York having some of the best Asian restaurants in the world, hardly any of them made it into the guide at all, let alone got any stars.

This despite all the plugs the Michelin guide used to get on the original 'Iron Chef'!