The Happiest Taste of Tokyo！The 2010 Michelin Guide Adds More Shine

The globally coveted red guidebook, the “Michelin Guide,” released a summary of the “Michelin Guide Tokyo 2010” in mid-November. This year, Tokyo’s dining scene earned a total of 261 stars, with as many as 11 restaurants receiving the highest honor of three stars—surpassing France, the birthplace of the Michelin Guide—and making Tokyo the city with the most three-star restaurants in the world, reclaiming the top spot for total star count.

The “Michelin Guide Tokyo 2010” features a total of 197 restaurants, with the number of three-star establishments increasing by two from last year to 11 in total. Last year’s two-star restaurants “Esaki,” “Saito,” and “Koyama” were all promoted to three stars, and this year new categories were added, including yakitori (grilled skewers), izakayas (Japanese pubs), kushiyaki (grilled skewered food), and shojin ryori (Buddhist vegetarian cuisine). As a result, 24 more restaurants received stars compared to last year. The 2010 Tokyo edition of the Michelin Guide is now on sale, priced at 2,415 yen.

In addition to Tokyo, the Kansai region also released the “Michelin Guide Kyoto & Osaka 2010,” which focuses on central Kyoto and Osaka, featuring a carefully selected list of 203 restaurants and hotels, including 147 dining establishments and 34 hotels. While Tokyo boasts the most Michelin stars in the world, Kyoto and Osaka are not far behind. The three-star restaurants include “Kikunoi Honten,” “Kitcho Arashiyama Honten,” “Chihana,” “Hyotei,” “Tsurutokame,” “Mizai,” and “Hajime”—a total of seven. Six of these are traditional Japanese restaurants located in Kyoto, while the sole Osaka entry, “Hajime,” is a French restaurant run by a young chef that has been attracting considerable attention.

Both Kyoto, a preserver of 1,200 years of Japanese culinary tradition, and Osaka, known as the nation’s kitchen, boast rich food cultures and are geographically close to each other. The decision to combine both cities into one guide was made for convenience, and the guide is priced at 2,415 yen.