How to Eat in Tokyo, Michelin Capital of the World
When it comes to New York restaurants, the Gobbler’s views on the addled Mandarins at the Michelin Guides are well known. But when news came, the other day, that the first-ever Michelin Guide to restaurants in Tokyo had awarded our distant sister city a mind-boggling total of 191 stars (compared to 65 in Paris and 54 in New York), the Gobbler had to admit that those crazy fools might be on to something. Not long ago, we spent a week rampaging through Tokyo in a kind of epicurean daze. The Gobbler still isn’t sure exactly what he consumed (fugu sperm sacks, possibly; grilled chicken uterus, definitely; a very nice chocolate éclair flavored with bamboo), but one thing’s for sure. It was all pretty damn good. Here are a few rules for eating yourself silly in that great restaurant mecca, Tokyo, Japan.
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Michelin Declares Tokyo’s Restaurants Four Times Better Than New York’sTurns out those Japanese food bloggers up in arms about Michelin casting its critical gaze on Nippon for the first time had nothing to worry about. The guide everyone outside of France loves to hate served itself a big dose of humble pie in awarding Tokyo the most stars (191) of any city — far above Paris with its 65 stars and New York with its 42. No fewer than 25 Tokyo eateries got two-stars compared to six here at home. This really puts that Zenkichi disclaimer — “for Japanese and adventurous eaters only” — in perspective.
Related: Tokyo Eateries Voted World’s Best [Reuters]
Earlier: Michelin Virus Spreads, Delighting Ducasse, Krauts; Angering Gordo, Japanese
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Famous Rock Writer Delivers a Sushi SummaNick Tosches, a writer best known for his books about the tormented inner lives of Jerry Lee Lewis, Dean Martin, and Sonny Liston, seems on the surface to be a weird choice to write about Tokyo’s Tsukiji seafood market and the world sushi trade. But Tosches’s article in this month’s issue of Vanity Fair should be required reading for anyone with even a passing interest in the subject. From its portrait of the market, which handles literally 4,000 times the amount of fish as the New Fulton Fish Market in the Bronx, to the elevation of bluefin tuna from its once-lowly status as an uncommercial “garbage fish,” to Tosches’s own twisted desire to eat the weirdest-looking thing he can find, the piece is wildly informative and has that slightly bent Tosches touch too.
