The World's (New) Culinary Capital

I had blogged about Michelin's first venture Eastwards. But who could have guessed the result? Tokyo has unseated Paris as the world's culinary capital. Michelin's Tokyo guide awarded 191 stars to 150 restaurants in the Japanese capital, the most number of stars awarded in any city. Previously, Paris had the most stars, at 65.

Eight restaurants in received Michelin's highest three-star rating, and this included two sushi eateries. But Paris can still claim to have the most 3-star rated restaurants, with 10 (France overall has 26).

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

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 series rates establishments on excellence in cooking, service, decor and upkeep.

Read more details here. This has certainly silenced all those who thought the French cannot be impartial when it comes to food!

Other Michelin posts in my blog:

• Michelin Arrives Early in LA and Vegas
• Michelin Stars in the Bay Area
• And Now Tokyo