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A SHINTO MAIDEN LEADING THE MICHELIN MASCOT BIBENDUM into the Kanda Myoujin shrine in Tokyo on Wednesday where prayers were offered for the success of the new restaurant guide. -- PHOTO: AFP
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TOKYO - IF YOU want to try a new restaurant, you might think twice before dining at some of the establishments awarded three stars in Michelin's latest guide featuring Tokyo's best.
Yahoo Japan's gourmet portal saw a rush of largely negative comments after the French tyre- maker named Sukiyabashi Jiro, or Jiro for short, one of two three-star sushi restaurants in the city.
The shop is named after its 82-year-old sushi chef Jiro Ono, hailed by some food critics and diehard fans as a 'national living treasure'.
'Jiro is nice to regulars but cold towards first-timers,' said one exasperated writer. 'I am astonished at their attitude, given the prices they charge.'
Another said that while Jiro does not serve the best sushi in the world, as Michelin claims, it is undoubtedly the most expensive.
One businessman said he had to fork out over 100,000 yen (S$1,330) for just himself and his client for a brief 20-minute meal at Jiro. He vowed he would never go back.
Mizutani, the other three-star sushi shop on Michelin's list, is also accused of making firsttimers feel uneasy.
Michelin refuses to list its criteria for choosing restaurants. But it says that a team of five 'inspectors' - three Frenchmen and two Japanese in their 30s - spent 18 months dining at nearly 1,500 restaurants in the city.
Although the inspectors are said to go about their business incognito, it was reportedly not all that difficult for experienced restaurant managers to identify them, especially as they insisted on speaking French and making a show of scrutinising menus, checking where the crockery was from and trying to take notes on the sly.
While the guide has been selling well since its launch on Thursday, Japanese media questioned whether the inspectors were competent enough to judge Japanese food.
'What do they know about Japanese cuisine?' the tabloid Nikkan Gendai asked.
The influential Asahi Shimbun daily reported that some Japanese restaurants had declined to be included in the guide because of scepticism over Michelin's rating system and the expertise of its inspectors.
Michelin apparently awards stars only for the taste and quality of the food, whereas Japanese cuisine is also judged on the basis of its presentation, the crockery on which it is served, the restaurant's atmosphere and the service.
Significantly, Kiccho, a long-established restaurant that is one of the most hallowed institutions in Japanese cuisine, failed to make the Michelin list.
But then, Michelin's inspectors may have been kept away by the policy of many of Japan's most exclusive establishments to refuse reservations from people they do not know unless they are recommended by a regular patron.
In any case, the Michelin guide appears to be aimed as much at foreigners as at the Japanese. Of the 150 restaurants it gave at least one star to, only 60 per cent of them were Japanese restaurants while as many as 30 per cent of them serve French cuisine.
The list also includes no fewer than five teppanyaki restaurants, a category that appeals far more to foreigners than the average Japanese diner.
Michelin's decision to award a record 191 stars to Tokyo, making it arguably the gastronomic capital of the world, is also viewed with some derision.
Television writer Kundo Koyama was full of praise for the food served at one of the French restaurants given the highest honour by Michelin.
'But three stars was unexpected. It's star inflation,' he was quoted by the Asahi as saying.
That Michelin's choices are different from what the Japanese themselves regard as good is all too apparent. The Zagat Tokyo 2008 guidebook, which ranks establishments based on input from local diners by popularity, food, decor and service, ranked three-star French restaurant L'Osier as the most popular, but yakiniku (roast meat) restaurant Jumbo came out tops for food.
Michelin apparently did not consider yakiniku restaurants even worthy of a visit.
However, Michelin's own reputation has been dented in recent years. A 'tell-all' book, written by former Michelin inspector Pascal Remy in 2004, criticises Michelin for lax standards and its tendency to rate some three-star French chefs as above criticism.
wengkin@sph.com.sg
'What do they know about Japanese cuisine?'
TABLOID NIKKAN GENDAI, voicing similar sentiments as other Japanese about Michelin's Tokyo picks
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