Michelin's latest dining guide dished out heaping servings of three-star reviews to restaurants in western Japan—raising objections from Western and Japanese chefs alike and sparking grumbling over whether the high ratings are merited.
In a 511-page volume published Friday, the restaurant-review arm of France's Michelin awarded its highest rating to 12 restaurants in the Kansai region, a cradle of Japanese cuisine that encompasses Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. That gives the three-city area more three-star ratings—haute cuisine's answer to the Oscar—than any place on the planet, ahead of Tokyo's 11, Paris's 10 and New York's five.
Though France overall still has the most of Michelin's highest-rated restaurants—26—that is likely to shift next month when Michelin publishes its 2011 Tokyo guide, said a person familiar with the matter. Soon, it will be official: Japan is the world's new gastronomic capital.
Or is it? The generous distribution of stars has prompted a snarky backlash among some Western critics and celebrity chefs, whose collective egos can be larger than a croquembouche. Some have said Michelin is showering stars upon Japan in an attempt to gain favor in a brand-conscious, France-loving country where it wants to sell not only culinary guides, but automobile tires.
"Is that good marketing for the guide, or what?" asks chef Daniel Boulud, whose Manhattan restaurant, Daniel, is one of New York's five three-star restaurants.
Many Japanese chefs, especially in the Kansai region, say they never courted this attention. Even a single Michelin star can be seen as a curse by the Japanese: Their restaurants are for their customers. Why cook for a room full of strangers? Even worse: crass foreigners.
"It is, of course, a great honor to be included in the Michelin guide. But we asked them not to include us," says Minoru Harada, an affable young Osaka chef. His Sakanadokoro Koetsu, a fish restaurant with a counter and 10 seats, just earned a single star, its first. Loyal customers have sustained the restaurant over the years, he says, adding: "If many new customers come, it is difficult."
There is nary a Philippe Starck chair in sight at Mr. Harada's homey restaurant. During lunch late last week, customers' bento boxes shared counter space with an enormous bunch of fresh maitake mushrooms, simmered vegetables left to cool in a giant Tupperware container and a newspaper-wrapped fish.
For a Michelin-starred restaurant in France, this could be perceived as an unhygienic assault on the senses. But customers here couldn't care less, chatting quietly with Mr. Harada while popping delicately seared bonito slices into their mouths.
"This is really amazing," chirps a middle-aged suited executive, a regular.
Amazing it may be, but detractors say the global tire giant has been generous with its ratings to pump up its primary business.
"It's easy: You win over the hearts of the Japanese by saying nice things about them, you get access to their wallets and you sell tires," said Pascal Rémy, a former Michelin inspector and author of the 2004 book "L'Inspecteur se Met à Table" (The Inspector Spills the Beans).
In an interview, Mr. Rémy alleged that since 2002, the guide has been increasingly used to raise Michelin's profile in foreign markets as its standards have fallen. Mr. Rémy's contract with Michelin was terminated in 2003.
Michelin says Mr. Rémy wasn't privy to its strategic plans and was gone well before the first Japan guide was launched in 2007. "It's ridiculous. It's not true at all," a spokeswoman said. She declined to provide reasons for Mr. Rémy's termination.
Jean-Luc Naret, the director of the Michelin guides, says Michelin's interests are purely gastronomic. "We never give stars to a restaurant just to sell a book," he said in an interview this week in Tokyo.
Top Western chefs are nearly unanimous in praising the quality of Japan's food and the unparalleled devotion of its chefs. But they say that while many Japanese chefs are innovative, they are best known for recreating their own ancient traditions or imitating the great international cuisines. Many U.S. and European chefs point out that they face challenges Japanese chefs often don't: Their restaurants are expected to break new culinary ground, and serve the result to a relatively large number of patrons.
Philip Howard, whose London restaurant, The Square, holds two stars, points out that some of Japan's top ratings go to small spots. Running a larger establishment, he says, "is a different kettle of fish."
Guy Job questions whether Michelin applies the same standards world-wide. Mr. Job, the deputy managing director of the Collège Culinaire de France, a group that promotes French gastronomy, recalls his disappointment at one Michelin-starred spot in Japan.
"It was next to a subway entrance. You couldn't even sit down properly," Mr. Job said of the restaurant, which he declined to name. "I know that I am a bit old school—but still, there are limits."
A Michelin spokeswoman said comparing Japan and France is impossible. "More stars in Japan does not mean that food here is better than that in France," she said, adding that Tokyo has 160,000 restaurants, compared with Paris's 15,000.
While Tokyo is known for its sophisticated international fare, Osaka has long been regarded as the country's culinary belly, featuring everything from street fare such as takoyaki—grilled balls of batter and octopus—to traditional kaiseki cuisine, with its multiple carefully presented courses that incorporate freshest seasonal ingredients.
Until Michelin released its first guide to the Osaka area a year ago, stars have meant little here.
"I had heard about the Michelin guide from friends who had studied in France," said Chef Hideaki Matsuo, who has served local cuisine, such as squid with apricot-pulp sauce, for 30 years. Last year, he received his first Michelin rating, two stars. Last Friday, Michelin upgraded him to three. "To be honest, I never thought I would be awarded with this honor."
Mr. Matsuo says his bookings have increased 10% to 15% since his inclusion last year. Now, he's bracing for more.
"One of my friends in Kobe said his phone was ringing off the hook after he was awarded three stars," he said. "I can see how chefs might be worried about that—because it gives you less time to focus on the food."
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