Michelin Guide Unveils Top Tokyo Restaurants

[dimwit]

Hold the phone here. Dropping a grand at a restaurant. That sounds familiar. Has anyone noticed whether Jack and Gomi have been online at the same time?

[Samurai_Jerk]

Michelin's latest dining guide dished out heaping servings of three-star reviews to restaurants in western Japan—raising objections from Western and Japanese chefs alike and sparking grumbling over whether the high ratings are merited.

In a 511-page volume published Friday, the restaurant-review arm of France's Michelin awarded its highest rating to 12 restaurants in the Kansai region, a cradle of Japanese cuisine that encompasses Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. That gives the three-city area more three-star ratings—haute cuisine's answer to the Oscar—than any place on the planet, ahead of Tokyo's 11, Paris's 10 and New York's five.

Though France overall still has the most of Michelin's highest-rated restaurants—26—that is likely to shift next month when Michelin publishes its 2011 Tokyo guide, said a person familiar with the matter. Soon, it will be official: Japan is the world's new gastronomic capital.

Or is it? The generous distribution of stars has prompted a snarky backlash among some Western critics and celebrity chefs, whose collective egos can be larger than a croquembouche. Some have said Michelin is showering stars upon Japan in an attempt to gain favor in a brand-conscious, France-loving country where it wants to sell not only culinary guides, but automobile tires. .........

"It's easy: You win over the hearts of the Japanese by saying nice things about them, you get access to their wallets and you sell tires," said Pascal Rémy, a former Michelin inspector and author of the 2004 book "L'Inspecteur se Met à Table" (The Inspector Spills the Beans). .........

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303738504575568442015009552.html

[Mulboyne]

I think there is a degree to which restaurants in Japan are being held to a different standard. There aren't many places in the West which would pick up stars if only a dozen people could dine there because Michelin's concept of fine dining doesn't really include them. Once you accept that sushi is a top-end offering, however, then you take the best chefs on their own terms. As the disgruntled guy quoted in the WSJ says, that can mean basement locations and toilets more in keeping with street food.