5khours

Touché - I love Michelin for Japan because it keeps all the food tourists who have no culinary sense, who have no appreciation for exploration, and who substitute someone else's arbitrary number for their own judgment corralled into a tiny sub-set of restaurants. Better yet would be a Michelin faux-food court in the arrivals lobby of Narita, so the star gatherers could be entirely quarantined from the rest of the country.

ksandness

Some of the best meals I've had in Japan have been at obscure little holes-in-the-wall on side streets. Just two examples from my last trip, both in Ikebukuro:
1) An Indian restaurant with five counter seats, four of which were taken up by South Asians.
2) A Chinese restaurant run by Chinese people, who served up delicious real Chinese (not Chinese adapted to Japanese tastes) food

OK, these were not Japanese restaurants. I didn't encounter any outstanding Japanese food on my last trip, although I have on other trips, such as a reasonably priced and delicious kaiseki bento lunch at a place in the basement of Kyoto station, superb crab kamameshi off a side street in Asakusa, you get the picture.

I've had clients take me to expensive places, and while the food is lovely to look at, it is not always particularly tasty.

On my own, it's the holes-in-the-wall or the department store eateries all the way.

abmj-jr

I am a back street roamer too. The best meals I have ever had in Japan were in little places I stumbled across while following locals into the alleys at lunchtime. Most are family-owned and they take pride in what they serve. I didn't even know you could get a great seafood curry until I found it on the specials board in a back-alley place in Okayama. Admittedly, a little Japanese language ability can help but the owners will usually go to great lengths to accommodate those without.

None of the places I have enjoyed ever had any kind of star rating. I guess that is important to some folks. I just want a good meal and maybe a laugh or two with some local folks.

LapLap

I like to take in as wide a range of experiences as possible. And I’m grateful that Tokyo allows me to cover a wider spectrum than my budget allows me to in London (there’s also a far smaller chance of coming away disappointed, although it does happen).
“Gourmet” restaurants offer me meals I will never cook at home. But they can also offer interesting insights into certain ingredients that I may be unfamiliar with or previously uninspired by.
Hole in the wall restaurants may also offer meals I would never cook myself (ramen is an apt example) or a revelatory new way to think about and improve food I already cook and am familiar with.
There are also small restaurants that specialise in cooking with a local ingredient that can transform my appreciation of it. What’s wonderful about these is that it is highly unlikely that a Michelin starred restaurant elsewhere in the world will ever match their preparation of this small establishment’s speciality. Fukagawa Juku is a small restaurant that elevated my enjoyment of clams as well as making me feel a connection to Tokyo’s past. My love of soba was made permanent at Shinano, many years ago. https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1309/A130905/13010567/
I suppose that when a place has a Michelin star it gives a diner a sort of “psychic shield”. Perhaps it’s a feeling that their own tastes could be ridiculed if they are open about them and they will be revealed as some kind of oik. I’m fine with that. I like peasant food. I am not interested in only eating like an aristocrat. Which is just as well, as I couldn’t afford to anyway.
Turns out I’m going to Shiogama (near Sendai) on this next trip. I can afford to eat sushi there. Tuna is excellent in Shiogama, but so are the sardines. Both are so wonderful I couldn’t tell you which I prefer. The exquisitely sliced sardine sushi in Shiogama is an example of a specific local, low status, ingredient that can be taken to unexpected heights.

od_sf

They're not mutually exclusive. Most of the Michelin starred restaurants in Tokyo are fantastic and a few are overrated. And obviously there are hundreds of amazing restaurants in Tokyo that do not have, and will never have a Michelin star.

od_sf

This is a really close-minded outlook to have, it is just as close-minded as only wanting to visit Michelin starred restaurants.

Example: if you ask the hardcore local Tokyo sushi enthusiasts (who couldn't care less about Michelin) what the best sushiya in Tokyo is at the moment, many will say it is Amamoto. Amamoto happens to have two Michelin stars. Feel free to discount it outright because it is in the Michelin guide. Me, I'll definitely eat there if I get the chance.

Just because one enjoys Michelin-starred restaurants doesn't necessarily mean that they cannot also appreciate back alley mom-and-pop shops as well.

Pickles

That's very nice. My favorite sushi place in Tokyo has 4 comments in Tabelog, no stars, and not mentioned anywhere. And that's by design, walking off the street isn't going to get you a meal. And it's never terribly crowded, can get a table with a couple of days advance notice. How good is it? As good or better than anything else you've had in Tokyo, stars or no stars. And this is coming from me, who's been going to Saito when you just walk in off the street into the parking lot of the Bicycle Building and sidle up to the one counter. Even now, I could get in if I wanted to, as their landlord in their new location is a long-time friend of mine. Would I be interested? Certainly, but I don't get fainting spells if I don't, like the OP (and perhaps you) would. So it all depends on what level of "enthusiast" you are talking about.

tt7

++1. Perhaps our taste buds aren't that refined but give me one of the ramen joints on the 10th floor of Kyoto Station or the tempura + soba place over on the 11th floor or the back-street yakitori place near the AirBnB we were staying in near Toji Temple or the izakaya we stumbled across around the corner where we weren't quite sure what we were eating (even though it was self-selected from the bowls on the counter.... if it looks and tastes good, sometimes it's better not to ask....) or the French bistro we found down the street from the washi store behind Kyoto City Hall...

We all have our preferences and to each their own. Personally, I have no interest in eating in Michelin-starred restaurants and would resent the cost of doing so, which would be wasted on us. Obviously, for other people, YMMV.

ksandness

Speaking of following locals, one of the early memorable meals in Japan came about when I had some banking business to take care of in Nihonbashi. When I was finished, it was lunchtime, but no obvious restaurants were in sight. Then I spotted a group of women in "office lady" uniforms, so I figured they'd know where the reasonably priced eateries were. I followed them down an alleyway, at the end of which was an incongruous building that looked remarkably like a farmhouse. I ordered a basic "set" of shogayaki (stir-fried pork with ginger) with the usual accompaniments, everything perfect and no more expensive than any other hole-in-the-wall.

I never had another reason to go to Nihonbashi, but I've had a lot of similar experiences over the years.

5khours

I'm not saying Michelin starred restaurants are bad (some of the best meals I've ever hard were at Michelin 3*s,) I just don't like star gatherers and I don't like being in the same restaurants with them.

abmj-jr

Don't beat around the bush 5k. Tell us how you really feel.

evergrn

As a Japanese person, and I think a lot of Japanese are like me, I couldn't care less about going to Michelin places in Tokyo but am a sucker for it when visiting a major foreign city (eg, HKG). I suspect OP might be similar in that regard. I've tried to go to Michelin places in HKG but, at the end of the day, the whole Michelin thing is a bunch of bs. Peninsula's Spring Moon hasn't changed in quality since 5-10 yrs ago. So why is it Michelin-starred now but not back then? Tim Ho Wan deserves a star? 3 stars for Bo Innovation?

Anyways, I agree with someone above who said to follow the Tabelog rating. I don't always agree with Tabelog rating scores either, but it's the best we've got. Otherwise stick to the brand/chain you know and trust, which is what I do most often in Jpn. If you just follow where the locals are going, you might just follow them into Saizeriya. Hole-in-the-wall can be more often miss than hit, and chances are the ramen or sushi at such place will not be as good as Ichiran or Katsu Midori.

LapLap

I have to retract this part as being a little exaggerated. More of a “rule of thumb” in this forum than a common denominator. Still, I certainly do fully respect and enjoy (as well as learn from) the wide range of tastes and views shared here.
Thank you all!

Pickles

+1. Completely understand that these are conflicting requirements. The trick in Japan is finding those places that for some reason are just as good as the ones giving fainting spells to the star feckers but remain ignored in the circuit. And then when going there, do your best to make sure the places remain on the ignore list of most of these clowns.

Pickles

This is funny because it's true. Japanese aren't immune to the "value-for-money" fallacy either. Sometimes you'll see a long line at some eatery, line up to see what the fuss is all about and be intensely disappointed afterwards. The common denominator of all of these places? They're incredibly cheap and the portions are big.