The MICHELIN Guide Kyoto - Osaka marks its milestone 10th anniversary with the addition of the Tottori prefecture. Three restaurants have held three stars in 10 consecutive years in Kyoto and Osaka while two restaurants earns two stars in Tottori for the first time.
"Kyoto is the central city for Japanese cuisine, and Osaka is the gourmet city so they were always obvious choices for a MICHELIN guide," says Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the MICHELIN Guides. "Consistency remains the foundation of our selection and it is heartening to see restaurants retaining three stars for 10 consecutive years. These areas are also dynamic so there have been plenty of new additions to the guide this year."
In Kyoto, seven restaurants retain three Michelin stars from last year, three of which celebrate the astonishing achievement of holding the vaunted status for 10 consecutive years. They are Kikunoi Honten, Kitcho Arashiyama Honten and Hyotei. Thirty-nine restaurants have been added to the selection, with 15 new one-starred restaurants and 24 Bib Gourmands. The selection now includes classic Kyoto-style ryokans, restaurants that serves Japanese breakfast and sushi-yas specializing in mackerel sushi.
Osaka: A Selection Covering 16 Cuisine Categories
The four restaurants in Osaka, Hajime, Kashiwaya, Koryu and Taian, retain their three-star status while 10 new restaurants have been awarded with one Michelin star.
Osaka’s vibrant food culture is represented in the guide which covers 16 different categories of cuisine ranging from spicy curry to pressed sushi. One of the new one-starred establishments is Maeshiba Ryoriten in Chuo-ku, which has been awarded a Bib Gourmand accolade since 2016 for its affordable French bistro cuisine.
In addition to the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the publication of the MICHELIN Guide Kyoto - Osaka, and with the joining of the Tottori district, the guide is even more comprehensive, with a variety of different cuisines and many different styles of hotels and ryokans.
Tottori: First Crab Specialty Awarded Two Stars
A total of 76 restaurants have been selected from the latest prefecture to be added in the guide. There are four new one-starred restaurants while two restaurants in Tottori City have been awarded two stars: Japanese restaurant Mitsuki, where the chef creates elegant dishes from seasonal ingredients, and Kaniyoshi which specializes in crab. The Tottori Prefecture is located in the west of Honshu Island, bordering the Sea of Japan where the largest catchment of crabs in Japan comes from—this is the first time a crab specialty restaurant has been awarded two Michelin stars in the country.
The latest guide, which will go on sale on Friday, October 12, also contains 58 new Bib Gourmands, including 10 from Tottori. This distinction recognizes restaurants offering quality food at a maximum of 5,000 JPY.
