Essay Tokyo: The city of culinary dreams By Steve Ford	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
東京はグルメの夢の世界 東京は、美食の本場・フランスが発行する『ミシュランガイド』に認められる以前から、世界でも有数の食の都であった。 和食はもちろん、いろいろな国のさまざまな料理を楽しめる。 ただし、調査の対象をもっと広げれば、1つ星クラスのレストランはいくらでもあるはずだと筆者は言う。

At long last the world is beginning to recognize what Tokyoites have known for ages. Namely; the capital of Japan is home to the most appealing collection of restaurants in the world today.

At least that's the word from France's Michelin guide, the star-struck gourmand's bible. The guide evaluates establishments based on their food, service and ambience. If a place makes the grade, the guide awards one to three stars ("★ a very good restaurant in its category, ★★ excellent cooking, worth a detour, and ★★★ exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey.")

When the first Tokyo guide came out in 2008, the city's restaurants garnered a total of 191 stars. The culinary mecca of Paris, in comparison, was deemed worthy of a mere 65 stars. The trend looks set to continue with the 2009 edition awarding 227 stars to Tokyo.

What I find fascinating is that the French guide's look at Tokyo is only the merest glance, no more than a quick wink in the direction of the local food scene. A more comprehensive gander could easily ferret out several thousand one-star restaurants that meet the criteria of being "a very good restaurant in its category."

Japan is the birthplace of sushi, chanko nabe, kaiseki ryori and er, monjayaki, so it goes without saying that one can find venerable masters turning out perfect renditions of these and other Japanese classics here, in the capital. The surprise is that no other city hosts such a wide variety of high quality cuisine from the ends of the Earth.

While the bright lights and appreciative gourmands of Tokyo have drawn some of the brightest talents from abroad, there are also a number of Japanese cooks who have heard the siren call of foreign kitchens and gone abroad to study — and not just to France.

Some of these intrepid culinary voyagers have traveled to Naples to learn how to make perfect pizzas in wood burning ovens. Another one I know studied Arabic and Turkish cooking and cooks a cous cous that would make a Tunisian weep with joy. And still another came back from Thailand to open a closet-sized restaurant underneath an apartment building where he dispensed shockingly good food from the Land of Smiles.

Restaurants and food trends come and go with astonishing speed here, but like one local wag once told me: "You can find almost anything in Tokyo if you know where to look."

And over the years, without leaving town, I've been able to dine on Belarusian goose, Burmese fermented tea salad, Sri Lankan string hoppers (rice noodles), Romanian polenta, Uighur fried noodles, Tibetan dumplings, English shepherd's pie, and Mongolian khorkhog (steamed lamb), to name just a few.

If I could just find a New York style corned beef on rye sandwich, a Mexican taco stand, and a southern barbeque pit, then Tokyo would truly be the city of my culinary dreams.

Shukan ST: Jan. 30, 2009

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