Definitely no bad choices — Japan’s food website picks the 28 most delicious restaurants

▲Cuisine from Matsukawa in Japan. (Photo / from Tabelog website)

Reporter Huang Shiyuan / Taipei reporting

Japan’s food website “Tabelog” (tabelog.com) holds an annual best restaurant selection. In 2016, it was divided into categories for restaurants, ramen, and desserts to select the 50 most delicious eateries across Japan. However, in 2017, the format changed to awarding gold, silver, and bronze prizes to restaurant establishments, with a total of 512 winning restaurants, including 28 gold award winners. These include Michelin three-star restaurants such as Kanda and Quintessence, as well as “Matsukawa,” which is ranked by the Japanese as one of the hardest restaurants to book.

Although the 2017 Tabelog Annual Awards did not rank restaurants like the previous year, receiving a gold award is equivalent to the highest honor. In other words, the 28 gold award-winning restaurants are arguably the 28 most delicious restaurants in all of Japan. Among them are those that have earned three Michelin stars, such as Quintessence, Kanda, and Saito. If you want to treat yourself, consider choosing one of these restaurants on your next trip to Japan.The full list is right here.

2017 Tabelog Annual Gold Award Restaurants
●Restaurant l'Equateur (French cuisine / Tokyo)
●ESqUISSE (French cuisine / Tokyo)
●Quintessence (French cuisine / Tokyo)
●L'Effervescence (French cuisine / Tokyo)
●Matsukawa (Japanese cuisine / Tokyo)
●Ogata (Japanese cuisine / Kyoto)
●Kimoto (Japanese cuisine / Hyogo)
●Kyomi (Japanese cuisine / Tokyo)
●Ginza Shinohara (Japanese cuisine / Tokyo)
●Kanda (Japanese cuisine / Tokyo)
●Shinbashi Hoshino (Japanese cuisine / Tokyo)
●Tomura (Japanese cuisine / Tokyo)
●Hirayama-so (Japanese cuisine / Shiga)
●Arai (sushi / Tokyo)
●Sushi Kii (sushi / Tokyo)
●Saito (sushi / Tokyo)
●Sushi Yoshino (sushi / Aichi)
●Nihonbashi Kagutsuchi Suginaka (sushi / Tokyo)
●Tenshousushi Kyomachi Branch (sushi / Fukuoka)
●Chou Yang (Chinese cuisine / Tokyo)
●Nishibuchi Restaurant (Chinese cuisine / Kyoto)
●Furuta (Chinese cuisine / Tokyo)
●Torishiki (Yakitori & Izakaya)
●q<肉 ジャンボ はなれ(烧肉／东京都)
●SATO Briand (Yakiniku / Tokyo)
●TACUBO (Italian cuisine / Tokyo)
●PELLEGRINO (Italian cuisine / Tokyo)
●L'evo (International cuisine / Toyama Prefecture)