When you think of Japanese food, it’s impossible to ignore classic staples such as sushi, ramen, and fish, in general. And it seems that one of the biggest fans of this country’s capital, Tokyo, is the prestigious Michelin Guide. It officially has more stars than any other city.
This isn’t a new achievement for Tokyo. However, this shouldn’t undermine the incredible achievement that the capital city of the Land of the Rising Sun managed to retain its status as the most heavily Michelin-starred city in the world.
Recently, the tire company revealed how many stars it had awarded to Tokyo’s restaurant in 2018. Restaurateurs around the world were not surprised in the slightest when it was revealed that a staggering 230 restaurants received the coveted star.
And the incredible feats don’t stop there, as far as Tokyo is concerned. Not only does it possess the highest number of Michelin star restaurants, but it also has the most restaurants that possess three stars. The closest competitor is Paris, which has 10.
The disparity between Tokyo and Paris is even more evident when you take into consideration the ratio between one-star and two-star restaurants in each city. Paris has a respectable 92 one-star restaurants and 16 two-star ones.
However, Tokyo completely blows Paris out of the water seeing that it has an incredible 165 one-star restaurants and 52 two-star ones – a stunning difference. This pretty much means that Tokyo is the very best city in the world to visit and eat at.
“Tokyo’s restaurant scene is unique in having a richness of culinary variety seen nowhere else,” Michelin Guide International Director Gwendal Poullennec said. “Here in Tokyo, we tend to forget how incredible it is as a gastronomy destination because the city has so many three-star restaurants.”
One French restaurant joined the coveted list of three-starred restaurants in Tokyo. This was L’Osier, which specializes in French gourmet cuisine and has been around since 1973.
Here are the 13 Three-Star restaurants of Tokyo:
1. Kagurazaka Ishikawa 2. Usukifugu Yamadaya 3. Kanda 4. Quintessence 5. Kohaku 6. Sushi Saito 7. Joël Robuchon 8. Sukiyabashi Jiro Honten 9. Makimura 10. Azabu Yukimura 11. Sushi Yoshitake 12. Ryugin 13. L’Osier