Originally Posted by
5khours
Bottom line for me, there are a lot of really outstanding restaurants for all kinds of cuisines in Japan. I would never consider ruling them out just because I'm in Japan. Number one in the world maybe not, but world class...definitely. Maybe no place else in the world is there such a smorgasbord of really great choices. On top of that the creativity, ambiance, variety of decor and the incredible service is fantastic. For me the thing I love about eating in Japan is the choice and the variety.
Sure, you can find pretty much every kind of cuisine in Japan to varying levels of accomplishment. In that continuum, with French and Italian towards the more accomplished, at the bottom of the barrel are, to me, Chinese and Mexican food. Is there any place to have decent or good Chinese or Mexican food? Yes, there is, but it isn't something I would seek out willingly, or recommend to anybody else that they do. In this category lands the Chinese restaurant in the Peninsula.
In the same way, in New York, you can find some damn fine Italian and French, some pretty good Mexican, some excellent Chinese, and besides one or two select places, some incredibly mediocre and expensive sushi.
I don't eat sushi in NY, I don't eat Chinese food in Tokyo. Life's too short to drink bad wine, and I'd rather stick to what's truly good in a particular place rather than "broaden" my palate and end up pissed off because of a subpar meal. And yes, what you're advocating is to accept the subpar.