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In case you hadn't noticed
In its first Asian guide, announced on Monday, Michelin has awarded more of its famed stars to Tokyo restaurants than any other city, with a total of 191 stars compared with 64 for Paris and 42 in New York.
This is not seigniorage, we are told:
Anyone who complains about this has never travelled to Tokyo, because if they do, they can see for themselves the fantastic quality of restaurants here,” added Mr Naret.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on November 20, 2007 at 09:25 PM in Food and Drink | Permalink
Comments
There are some fantastic cheap restaurants in Tokyo too, if you can believe it. (And I'm sure that you can.) Certain yakitori places, for example.
Posted by: John Thacker at Nov 20, 2007 9:54:23 PM
This does not surprise me in the least. The sheer quantity of quality restaurants in Tokyo just can't be described.
Posted by: tim at Nov 20, 2007 10:24:55 PM
While I am not too fond of Tokyo as a city, the food there is amazing. It's probably reason #1 that I look forward to my annual Tokyo visits.
Posted by: Deepak at Nov 20, 2007 10:49:37 PM
I'm a native Californian turned happy resident of Japan, and it would be dishonest of me to say that the food here doesn't play some part in that.
In my conversations, it's a common perception of Japanese people that all American food is, to put it succinctly, "gross". I think this can be explained quite easily. In Japan, you can walk into nearly any restaurant and enjoy your meal. If you are a traveler in the U.S., it's best to have a local show you the good places to eat. It's not that there's no good food, it's just harder to accidentally stumble upon.
Posted by: Gavin at Nov 21, 2007 12:00:25 AM
And the fact that Japanese people are crazy perfectionists (watch them buy fruits - they'll only choose the most perfectly flawless fruit they can buy) has nothing to do with it?
Posted by: Chewxy at Nov 21, 2007 1:30:31 AM
Honestly, all those news are a bit too much flattering. Yes, Tokyo is delicious, but we still smear our breakfast toasts with inches of margarine, and lament bad cholesterol exam results. Paradoxically, there is no down-to-earth Mexican / Jamaican restaurant with lots of grease, but all of those here are fashionably Tokyo-nized, similar to spankingly-clean apples. We are the nation of neurosis …
I personally think Michelin’s announcement could be another external pressure on Japanese traditional industry. Especially in Kyoto, the most awed restaurants are “invitation-only” where, normally, one time visitors (like, yes, foreign tourists) are literally rejected and an invited person is expected to be a regular. The owner-managers of those premises are proud of their hundreds years of generation, and new entry is not so easy; i.e., the combo of oligopoly and monopsony, Freemason style. Now, here comes Michelin “brutally” introducing evaluation system of "Western" competitive market, annually checking their peers in Tokyo. Let us see.
By the way, this weekend, there is an opening of a small stall in our suburb of Tokyo. They do 5-yen (about 3 pennies) sale for 8 pieces of Takoyaki (er, a sort of, well, savory muffinette with pickled ginger and a piece of octopus in it; sounds grotesque for some of you :)). We are seriously looking forward to it, Yummy!
Posted by: Hi at Nov 21, 2007 3:13:56 AM
Even the McDonalds are better in Toyko (Teryaki McBurger needs to be sold in the USA!)
Also I wish we had fried squid croquette places.
Posted by: Mr. Econotarian at Nov 21, 2007 3:15:16 AM
Does Tokyo have all you can eat Indian buffets. mmmm, off to lunch.
Posted by: thehova at Nov 21, 2007 10:56:44 AM
"Asian" is a ridiculous adjective when used to describe food, people, or anything other than a continental land mass.
Posted by: Caped Crusader at Nov 21, 2007 3:35:18 PM
I've never heard "seigniorage" used quite that way - is this a new use unrelated to coinage, or some extended metaphor that is over my head?
Posted by: jens fiederer at Nov 21, 2007 4:16:58 PM
Umm, let us not forget that Tokyo is by far the world's largest conurbation. I was privately
told in person by Tokyo's housing minister that the actual population of the total metro area
is about 40 million people, although I have not seen that in any official figures. But it is
not an unreasonable estimate. Tokyo is simply way huger than any other metro area, certainly
including Paris. Indeed, on a per capita basis the population number I just gave would put
Tokyo and Paris about on the same level in terms of stars per capita.
That said, it is still a pretty impressive performance for Tokyo. My own view is that Japan
and France have the world's two best cuisines, period, although Tyler kind of shies away from
them because they are so expensive, and he likes those hole-in-the-wall obscure ethnic joints
in shopping malls in Fairfax, which may indeed be better values in terms of quality per dollar.
Finally, I would bet that on a stars per capita basis Kyoto beats Tokyo, although I have not
seen the Guide. It is generally recognized within Japan, if not by the Guide, that Kyoto has
the absolutely best restaurants in Japan. And, for what it is worth, Kyoto also has the
absolutely most expensive restaurants in the world, although I have not had the kaiseki at
those really top of the line in terms of cost joints (I have had kaiseki in Kyoto, and it does
beat what I have had in Tokyo for about the same very high price), so cannot comment on them
personally.
Posted by: Barkley Rosser at Nov 21, 2007 4:33:59 PM
I am also thoroughly confused by the usage of "seignorage" here -- in any case, Michelin is a French company -- but being an aspirational MR blog consumer I'll just smile and nod thoughtfully.
Posted by: anonymous at Nov 21, 2007 7:32:53 PM
> there is no down-to-earth Mexican
Good Mexican food in Tokyo is hard to find but Junkadelic in Naka-meguro is pretty good.
Posted by: Gen Kanai at Nov 21, 2007 8:54:42 PM
I was pleasantly surprised by how inexpensive cuisine in Japan was. Granted, I wasn't eating at 5 star restaurants, but the quality was excellent everywhere I ate, even sushi at a small family-style restaurant in Takadanobaba. I loved ducking into Ramen-ya for a quick meal of beef gyoza and a bowl of ramen.
My favorite meal was a tonkatsu restaurant in the Roppongi Hills tower, where you mixed your own katsu sauce.
I love Japanese food though-- I can't even recall how many umeboshi onigiri I purchased from various 7-11's. You need the energy for all the walking you'll do.
French food, though? Meh. I'd rather have my hole-in-the wall "ethnic" food from Fairfax County.
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