Michelin is about to launch a first: its inaugural red guide to the restaurants and hotels of Tokyo. Michelin Tokyo 2008 is the French food bible’s exploratory foray into Asia. Introduced in France in 1900 so motorists need never be without a decent meal on their domestic travels (not to mention having their cars serviced), the guide created its Michelin star system 26 years later, becoming the benchmark for high achievers in the restaurant world. Well, in Europe, anyway. The guide now reaches beyond the borders of France to a dozen or so European countries and, since 2005, to the US (Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco and New York City); remote countries such as Australia have chefs with Michelin stars (garnered elsewhere) but no red guide. Japan’s hottest city lures the guide down roads previously uncharted. Japanese and Western critics have done the eating and testing, and there is a substantial list of French establishments as well as the (predominantly) Japanese list (whose subheadings include Teppanyaki, Soba and Kaiseki, and Fugu). There are a few Chinese and Italian restaurants, and two each under Spanish and Steakhouse. All the listed restaurants have stars: 118 singles, 25 two-starred and eight with three, including Joel Robuchon and Hamadaya, a 1912-founded geisha house that serves strictly orthodox Edo-style cuisine. The Australian. December 15.
Dec 19
