Tokyo takes world gourmet title

Tokyo has unseated Paris as the world’s culinary capital.

Michelin Guides, the French bible of gastronomy, announced a Tokyo edition today, its first outside Europe and the US.

It awarded 191 stars to 150 restaurants in the Japanese capital, the most number of stars awarded in any city. Previously, Paris led with 65.

Eight restaurants in Tokyo, including two sushi places, received Michelin’s highest three-star rating. But Paris can still claim to have the most top-rated restaurants, with 10.

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

“Tokyo is a shining star in the world of cuisine,” Michelin Guides Director Jean-Luc Naret said.

“We found the city’s restaurants to be excellent, featuring the best ingredients, culinary talents and a tradition passed on from generation to generation and refined by today’s chefs.”

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 rates restaurants on excellence in cooking, service, décor and upkeep.

There were so many top restaurants that all entries in Michelin’s Tokyo edition have at least one star, a first for any city.

Five of the eight awarded top honours served Japanese cuisine, while three were French restaurants.

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