9dec2009

MICHELIN guide Tokyo 2010: 11 restaurants with three stars, 42 with two stars and 144 with one star

In November, Michelin announced the third MICHELIN guide Tokyo 2010, which offers a selection of the best hotels and restaurants in the city. The guide introduces a total of 234 establishments of which 197 are restaurants and 37 are hotels. Available in Japanese and English version, the MICHELIN guide Tokyo 2010 goes on sale in Japan on November 20th and from beginning of February in Europe.

In the 2010 selection:
* Esaki, Sushi Saito and Yukimura promoted from the two-star to the three-star category.
* 1 restaurant newly joins the selection with two-star (Seisoka) and 8 restaurants promoted from one-star to two-star.
* 42 restaurants newly join the selection with one-star.

With 261 stars in all, Tokyo strengthens the position of world leader in gourmet dining with more “stars” than any other city.　With 11 restaurants with three stars, Tokyo becomes No. 1 in terms of the number of three-star restaurants for a city.

Michelin updates MICHELIN guides every single year in order to provide readers most reliable information possible. All the restaurants and hotels selected in last year’s edition are re-examined, and establishments which are not selected and which could be interesting for their readers are also inspected.

In the MICHELIN guide Tokyo 2010, Japanese cuisine keeps majority with 67% of the selected restaurants. The major culinary styles are represented, including fugu, soba, sukiyaki, sushi, tempura, teppanyaki and unagi. The 2010 selection enrich categories of the cuisine: shojin ryori, izakaya, kushiage and yakitori restaurants newly joined in the selection. The remaining is comprised of French, Chinese, Fusion, Italian, Spanish and Steak house.

Jean-Luc Naret, Director of MICHELIN guides commented, “we are very pleased to present you our third selection of MICHELIN guide Tokyo. 3 restaurants promoted to 3-star and 43 restaurants newly joined in the guide. As it is our role to discover new talents and introduce them to our readers, we are particularly happy to see this beautiful selection. Our methodology is always rigorous and same in everywhere in the world. So we would like to toast to chefs in Tokyo who offer such excellent and dynamic cuisine. We hope our dear readers in Tokyo and in Japan enjoy cheerful lunch and fantastic dinner in the restaurants we introduced.”

Amongst the hotels featured in MICHELIN guide Tokyo 2010, is The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo, for its contemporary Japanese restaurant Hinokizaka. "This year, third time is a charm indeed and we are very pleased to have been awarded the Michelin Star for Hinokizaka for 2010," said Troy Clarry, Executive Assistant Manager, Food & Beverage. "Receiving this award for the third consecutive year validates the work that our talented culinary team produces on a daily basis, and also further enlivens our service value of continuously seeking opportunities to innovate and improve The Ritz-Carlton experience."