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[tnw]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7103255.stm

The home of haute cuisine just got taken down a peg with an authoritative judgement that Paris is not the world's top city for good eating.
That distinction now goes to Tokyo, according to the bible for foodies everywhere, the Michelin guide.

In its first ever edition devoted to an Asian city, it awarded restaurants in Tokyo a total of 191 stars.

That was nearly twice as many as Paris can boast, and more than three times New York's total.


Tokyo is becoming the global city with the finest cuisine, the city in the world with the most stars

Eight of Tokyo's restaurants won the maximum three stars - only two fewer than Paris itself. Another 25 got two stars and 117 one star.

To add to Paris's embarrassment, three of the top eight restaurants in Tokyo serve French food. Three more offer traditional Japanese fine dining, and the other two are sushi houses.

"Tokyo is becoming the global city with the finest cuisine, the city in the world with the most stars," said Michelin guide director Jean-Luc Naret.

Michelin's plans to assess Tokyo restaurants had caused controversy in Japan, where some commentators had doubted whether it would be up to the job.

 

[Juice]

I don't trust tire manufacturers to make my dining selections for me. Simple as that.

 

[Dead]

The tire company?

edit: ...fuck

 

[Lelielle]

That's not surprising, they love the haute cuisine over there, you can even see signs of it in fancy snack foods.

 

[Tamanon]

I don't trust tire manufacturers to make my dining selections for me. Simple as that.

Tire Company....or frozen dinner manufacturer....either way tough to trust!

 

[Vic]

I can already hear the Parisians yelling.

 

[Phoenix]

I would absolutely agree with that. Tokyo's chefs are the best in the world IMO. After hanging out in Tokyo and eating at a variety of their establishments, I can definitely agree with this rating.

 

[tnw]

I would absolutely agree with that. Tokyo's chefs are the best in the world IMO. After hanging out in Tokyo and eating at a variety of their establishments, I can definitely agree with this rating.

The thing is, you don't even need to go to an expensive resturant to eat decently. Places like family resturants and diner-ish places like tenya have good food. You can even eat pretty decently at Denny's here.

Japan in general has a very high bottom line in a lot of different areas, and food is a good example. They may have the best resturants or whatever, but even the cheapest food here is palatable.

 

[seanoff]

The Michelin guide is and has been for a long time a bible of eating.

It is a huge honour to even get a rosette in the Michelin guide and it's usually pretty right. If they say the food is exceptional, it's exceptional.

 

[HomShaBom]

The tire company?

edit: ...fuck

Thought the same thing, I'm like "what?".

 

[medrew]

To add to Paris's embarrassment, three of the top eight restaurants in Tokyo serve French food. Three more offer traditional Japanese fine dining, and the other two are sushi houses.

Hardly surprising. A lot of top French chefs end up going overseas because of the French employment restrictions.
Wouldn't have picked Tokyo though. Thought New York would have been the one to knock Paris off.

 

[Bezz]

Paris>Tokyo....for everything.

except for delusional GAF nerds who think its cool to live there.

 

[Fuzzery]

Everyone knows there are only 120 stars total

 

[Kuroyume]

Enjoy the fermented beans and mayonnaise sauce pizza.

 

[tnw]

Paris>Tokyo....for everything.

except for delusional GAF nerds who think its cool to live there.

Get over yourself. Yeah Paris has a lot of awesome stuff, but Tokyo and Japn excels at many things. Most people on this forum only enjoy the lame otaku part of Japan. Food is one thing that Tokyo absolutely excels at.

 

[nitewulf]

the top stuff is enjoyable only by businessmen with a lot of money though, lets not kid ourselves.

nyc is the best city in the world for reasonably priced world class cuisine.

 

[BudokaiMR2]

Hell I thought Tokyo's food wasn't as good as Osaka, or even Fukuoka personally.

Still good, but Osaka is still my favorite with a couple of exceptions for Fukuoka.

kyushu yakitori > rest of the country.

 

[BudokaiMR2]

the top stuff is enjoyable only by businessmen with a lot of money though, lets not kid ourselves.

nyc is the best city in the world for reasonably priced world class cuisine.

Have you even been to Japan? The small family places are absolutely amazing no matter where you are in Japan. They don't joke around with cuisine here. Every damn city or small town has some kind of delicious specialty.

And Japan automatically wins because you don't have to tip, even at the expensive places.

 

[Rentahamster]

Yep, eating good food in Tokyo sure is expensive.

 

[GilloD]

FYI: The Michelin guide is THE be all and end all of dining. It's teh Zagat's Zagat. I realize they're a tire company, but it's a French tire company with a 100+ year history. The founder was a major gastronome.

 

[tnw]

the top stuff is enjoyable only by businessmen with a lot of money though, lets not kid ourselves.

nyc is the best city in the world for reasonably priced world class cuisine.

not true. as I said earlier, even the cheap places here are decent. Even the fucking convenience stores sell passable food.

Last night I had a bakudan donburi with negitoro (ground raw tuna with green onions) with natto, tororo, takuan, and okra (yeah 90% of you don't have any idea of what any of that stuff), all for 500 yen, about $4.50 US. Cheap, delicious, and good for you.

 

[fobtastic]

Read up on the history of the Michelin Guide and it makes perfect sense why a tire company publishes them. Interestingly, the criteria for the Michelin Guide has always been a secret. I kind of wonder if it has changed over the years.

 

[medrew]

nyc is the best city in the world for reasonably priced world class cuisine.

how do you substantiate this claim?

I'm not saying NYC isn't the best for cheap food, but this is a very stupid absolute statement. (Besides which from my experience it didn't compare to Singapore in terms of food for the select cases I had.)

 

[SickBoy]

My expectation is that most of the starred restaurants in the Michelin Guide are way out of my price range.

Two stars: http://www.aqua-sf.com/aqua/menu/dinner1.html

$150 before drinks for two. I'm sure the food is great, though. Special occasion, I'd consider it...

EDIT: (BTW, one of my co-workers went there on vacation, apparently it is great)

 

[GilloD]

Read up on the history of the Michelin Guide and it makes perfect sense why a tire company publishes them. Interestingly, the criteria for the Michelin Guide has always been a secret. I kind of wonder if it has changed over the years.

Marco Pierre White's autobiography and the biography of, uh, fuck. The book The Perfectionist provide a sense of the kind of thing Michelin looks for. In Pierre White's case, it was a comprehensive coffee service of all thing.

Also, as for "Why a tire company?", it started out as a road guide, to get people out and about and using tires.

 

[GilloD]

how do you substantiate this claim?

I'm not saying NYC isn't the best for cheap food, but this is a very stupid absolute statement. (Besides which from my experience it didn't compare to Singapore in terms of food for the select cases I had.)

I'd second that claim. It's just hyper competitive and when you're in that kind of market, there's a race to provide great food for low cost. Also, the number of truly great, genuine ethnic spots provide low cost eats (Think: Middle Eastern, Indian, Asian) with high quality know-how.

 

[Blimblim]

I was surprised by how cheap a very decent meal cost in Tokyo. It sure is way cheaper than anything you can find in Paris.

 

[Phoenix]

how do you substantiate this claim?

I'm not saying NYC isn't the best for cheap food, but this is a very stupid absolute statement. (Besides which from my experience it didn't compare to Singapore in terms of food for the select cases I had.)

Singapore definitely had a much better variety and to a large extent I would even offer that the quality of the marquee restaurants of each city were measurable with seafood and the ethnic cuisines of Asia definitely being better in Singapore.

Drinking in Singapore is awful though. Stupidly expensive.

 

[Operations]

the top stuff is enjoyable only by businessmen with a lot of money though, lets not kid ourselves.

nyc is the best city in the world for reasonably priced world class cuisine.

I'd say Mexico City is better in that regard, and cheaper. Absolutely no food or cuisine unrepresented.

 

[rollingstart]

wow, I heard people talk about how Tokyo has better food than where that food is from, but I didnt know that its apparently this good.

 

[Troidal]

Since I'm not like a gourmet or anything, despite having eaten many delicious foods here, I've always had my doubts when a Japanese media/food critics touts certain restaurants like "it is one of the world's finest" just because the chef studied or worked in a restuarant in France or wherever.

Hrm....maybe Japan does deliver...

 

[way more]

Japanese chefs are notoriously good. This just makes sense statistically.

 

[Blimblim]

wow, I heard people talk about how Tokyo has better food than where that food is from, but I didnt know that its apparently this good.

Maybe I was unlucky, but I was invited by MS 3 years ago to a very (very) expensive restaurant during TGS. Since some of the people there were allergic to fish it was an Italian restaurant and it wasn't exactly what I'd call properly done Italian food. It wasn't bad tasting at all, quite the contrary, but it sure wasn't what that dish was supposed to be like if you eat it in Italy...

 

[Battersea Power Station]

And my city also has the best sports team!

 

[teruterubozu]

And yet they line up for hours to eat at Krispy Kreme. Go figure.

 

[muttyeah416]

Everyone knows there are only 120 stars total

lololol

 

[M3wThr33]

I laugh at the people not knowing about the Michelin guides.

 

[tnw]

And yet they line up for hours to eat at Krispy Kreme. Go figure.

:lol so true.

*sigh*

 

[Rentahamster]

wow, I heard people talk about how Tokyo has better food than where that food is from, but I didnt know that its apparently this good.

I haven't found any place that has good Vietnamese food though. I find the lack of basil disturbing.

Any tips?

 

[john tv]

I've lived in NY, Chicago, CA, and Tokyo in my life, and in order, quality of food goes something like this:

1. Tokyo
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2. NYC
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3. California
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4. Chicago

 

[OnkelC]

I've lived in NY, Chicago, CA, and Tokyo in my life, and in order, quality of food goes something like this:

1. Tokyo
.
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.
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.
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2. NYC
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3. California
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4. Chicago

Dunno, the stuff that heavy liquid has posted from the greater Chicago area was looking extremely good, even on an international scale. Not that I have been to any of the places you mentioned, but I was just wondering.

 

[sprsk]

Guys, its the Michelin guide. They are right.

Simply being an internet guy named nightwulf doesn't give you more credibility than the most esteemed food guide on the planet.

YO GUYS IM FROM THE INTERNET, THESE MICHELIN TIRE GUYS DONT KNOW SHIT FUCKIN' JAPANOPHILES!

 

[PS2 KID]

*Adds touring Japan for the fucking awesome food on top of the to do list.

 

[Kuroyume]

Guys, its the Michelin guide. They are right.

Simply being an internet guy named nightwulf doesn't give you more credibility than the most esteemed food guide on the planet.

YO GUYS IM FROM THE INTERNET, THESE MICHELIN TIRE GUYS DONT KNOW SHIT FUCKIN' JAPANOPHILES!

So what?

It's in a book, it must be 100% true!

 

[OnkelC]

So what?

It's in a book, it must be 100% true!

Guide Michelin has more influence than the bible nowadays. At least within the ranks of people who can afford dining in the reviewed places. And they write about stuff that's "proven" and verifiable.

 

[Ceb]

I don't find it surprising that Tokyo offers more high-quality restaurants than Paris simply because Tokyo is a bigger city. I'd like to know more about the results though. It says Paris has more three-star restaurants. What about two-star ones? And how many of Tokyo's one-star restaurants got that award based on ambience?

 

[Smiles and Cries]

must be all that whale meat



I kid... I kidding

 

[Crayon Shinchan]

Didn't Chef Gustav recieve 5 stars at one point?

 

[seanoff]

The Michelin guide expressly does not give rosettes for ambience.

"Michelin stars are awarded to restaurants offering the finest cooking, regardless of cuisine style. Stars represent only what is on the plate. They do not take into consideration interior decoration, service quality or table settings. "
http://www.michelinguide.com/ratings.html


and Crayon, only if Michelin change their rating system. You get from 1 - 3 stars.

 

[OnkelC]

The Michelin guide expressly does not give rosettes for ambience.

"Michelin stars are awarded to restaurants offering the finest cooking, regardless of cuisine style. Stars represent only what is on the plate. They do not take into consideration interior decoration, service quality or table settings. "
http://www.michelinguide.com/ratings.html

surely not, but Beef Bourguignon from a cardboard plate won't gain any chef even one star, no matter how good it is.