Top Chefs Tokyo

Tokyo has been described as one of the most interesting tourism destinations of the world. The area has come a far way from its previous times as a small fishing village, now occupying more than 8 million people within its 23 wards (Wikipedia). It is a very diverse destination, acting as an international financial hub. Besides its flourishing economy, Tokyo, as Japan’s capital, may be one of the most food-crazed cities on earth, introducing new trends and flavours at an alarming pace. After a throughout investigation, our group has come up with the top ten restaurants, based upon a ranking system, in Tokyo:

1. L’atelier de Joel Robuchon
2. Restaurant L’Osier
3. Sukiyabashi Jiro
4. Restaurant Qunitessence
5. Genyadana Hamadaya
6. Sushi Mizutani
7. Ginza Koju
8. Kanda
9. Raku-tei
10. Yugi

The system that our group employed to come up with the top ten restaurants was a three tier system. The first tier was where a majority of the restaurants’ points were accumulated. They included national and international awards from recognizable affiliations such as Michelin, Zagat, and the World’s 50 best from the current year and previous years. The second tier included local and regional recognition while the third and final tier was based upon individual favourable reviews. We did have the occurrence of a tie for 6th place, between Sushi Mizutani and Ginza Koju, and seeing as both carried the same amount of rewards, we based our decision on the individual reviews, and Sushi Mizutani’s appeared more favourable.

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon – Chef Joel Robuchon

The name of this restaurant may be world renowned to some; it is a gourmet French restaurant with locations in Tokyo, Paris, New York, London, and numerous other large cities. His restaurants, all bearing a part of his name Joel Robuchon, pride themselves on haute cooking. French dishes are elaborately prepared, with much precision and care, ending with a mouthwatering result.

Born in Poitiers, France, Robuchon began his culinary career at the ripe age of fifteen as an apprentice chef at the Relais of Poitiers Hotel. At the age of 28 he was promoted to head chef at the Harmony-Lafayette Hotel, before opening his own restaurant shortly after.

Chef Joel Robuchon has won a combination of 17 Michelin Guide Stars from his restaurants, more than any other chef in the world. He has been described as one of the most influential chefs of the post nouvelle cuisine era mentoring such well known chefs as Gordon Ramsay and Michael Caines.

The entire dining experience does not only revolve around the food at Chef Robuchon’s restaurants. Many of them have seating that allow guests to see their food being prepared and enjoy the unique atmosphere. This speaks volumes about the cooking style of Robuchon. Chef Robuchon has tried to get away from the fascination with “nouvelle cuisine”, which is essentially a simple, reduced method of cooking and preparing French cuisine. Many chefs have tried to avoid the elaborate and extravagant ingredients and preparation methods required in French cuisine; while Chef Robuchon thrives on it. Chef Robuchon has earned an excellent reputation for his precision and care towards the preparation of his dishes, and is often described as a perfectionist. It is not difficult to get lost in watching Chef Robuchon prepare a dinner – some of his dinner menus (which change every day) are nine courses! As you might have guessed, Chef Robuchon uses some of the finest quality ingredients, and often his dishes contain many ingredients that are very unique to one another. One of his dishes, for example, is caviar with green asparagus, served with melissee leaves as a garnish. This takes over twenty minutes to prepare, all of it individually by hand. Dishes such as this are common for Robuchon, which demonstrates the quality of chef that he truly is. Few can match this chef’s ability to create, prepare and present dishes at such a high-level of quality.

L’ Osier Restaurant - Bruno Menard

Chef Bruno Menard, the executive chef of L’Osier Restaurant in Tokyo was born 1962 in Tours, France. He grew up in a family known for their various culinary interests with two of his brothers amounting to a chocolateir and pastry chef. As well, his sister is also the manager of a small hotel in Paris and his grandfather is a butcher.

Chef Bruno began his career at the age of 15 as an apprentice at Domaine d'Orvault. He subsequently served at Charles Barrier, a restaurant that rose from its "2 Star" rating to "3 Star" standing, and is revered by chefs throughout France. Menard also accumulated experience at Jean Bardet, the most popular restaurant in his home city of Tours, and stints at other establishments as well. The sum of all this experience led him up to his great expertise.

At one time in his career, Bruno also helped run his father's chocolate boutique, a pioneering presence in France. He first came to Japan in 1995, where he compiled an impressive record as chef at Tatou Tokyo in the exclusive Roppongi quarter of Tokyo, as well as at La Baie in the Osaka Ritz Carlton in Osaka. In 2005, while in charge of the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead in Atlanta, Menard earned the Mobil Five Star, AAA Five Diamond ranking; an honour equivalent to a Three Star rating under the Michelin system. In the same year, with the hearty commendation of Jacques Borie, Bruno was named the new chef at L'osier.

Chef Bruno says:

“It is a tremendous honour for Restaurant L’Osier to have received a three-star rating. My culinary style was inspired by the traditional cooking methods of Auguste Escoffier and could be described as “neo-classic.” Yet at the same time, the ingredients and cuisine feature a modern, novel style that suits the contemporary palate. I am confident that this style perfectly complements L’Osier’s modern and elegant character as a place for fine dining. L’Osier has explored tradition and innovation since its birth in Ginza in 1973, and I will strive to ensure that the restaurant remains an original and crowd-pleasing establishment for years to come.”

Sukiyabashi Jiro - Jiro Ono

Sukiyabashi Jiro is one of only a few Tokyo restaurants ever to get a Michelin three-star award. The master behind the restaurant is sushi-master Jiro Ono, whom which the restaurant is obviously named after. Sushi-master Jiro Ono is the oldest chef ever to have their restaurant awarded three-stars by Michelin. At 82 years old, he might also be the oldest sushi chef ever named a Sushi-Master.

Chef Jiro Ono began cooking at the age of nine, where he began to hone his skills and eventually developed his cooking hobby into his craft. After years of learning, he decided to become a proprietor of his own restaurant in 1965. Chef Jiro is one of those men that you feel like you have known for a long time, even if this is the first time you have even heard of him. He is a kind man, and a simple man, and this can be portrayed by the exterior design of his restaurant. Sukiyabashi Jiro is literally located in the basement of an old building in Tokyo. One of the first things you will see at Sukiyabashi Jiro is the men’s bathroom. The restaurant does not have a menu and they still do not accept any credit cards.

Instead of worrying about menus and electronic payment methods, Chef Jiro instead focuses on providing the highest-quality sushi to his customers, which he has been able to do for over 50 years as a result of his true passion for his work. Chef Jiro takes pride in being a Sushi-Master, and despite the fact that he is 82 years old and already world-famous, continually yearns for greater knowledge and ways to further his cooking skills.

Chef Jiro follows the traditional methods of many Japanese sushi chefs in that he will often calculate each customer’s bill from memory, by adding up the prices of the ingredients he used in his head. Chef Jiro has admitted that he will often forget to add more expensive items into the price. He estimated that forgetting to factor in more expensive items probably costs him $8,000 per year!

Chef Jiro feels so much stress in trying to exceed customer expectations that he does not necessarily worry about which ingredients he uses. He says that since there are over 30 different ingredients that can be used in sushi, why worry if one is unavailable? He is not afraid to instinctively change an ingredient in one of his sushi dishes, so long as he feels that the former ingredient is of inferior quality. Chef Jiro recently noticed that a type of tuna he often used in one dish started to get smaller in size. He thinks that because of global warming the fish cannot grow as large. Ono will not stress himself to find the most superior Tuna. He believes there isn’t any “good” tuna anymore, anyways.