Sukiyabashi Jiro, the 10-seater sushi restaurant that was the subject of a very famous documentary called Jiro Dreams of Sushi, has been stripped of its three Michelin star title in the latest 2020 edition of the guide for a reason you may not have guessed.
Famous for the world’s best and most priciest sushi, Sukiyabashi Jiro also has a reputation for being the hardest restaurant to get a reservation at. Up until this year, you could be paying up to 150,000 yen, or approximately 41,900 baht, just to secure your seat in an upcoming month or months at Sukiyabashi Jiro’s original Ginza honten. And that’s not all. You couldn’t just log onto a website or call to book. Reservations could only be done through a distinguished local hotel’s concierge, and only once you get the reservation and show up (on time) will you then be able to start dropping some serious cash for the 20-piece omakase course and sake pairing. But this is all already a thing of the past.
This year, in response to its own overwhelming popularity, Sukiyabashi Jiro upped its exclusivity to invitation only, and this is why Michelin has taken back the three stars it has given the restaurant since 2007, when Michelin first arrived in Tokyo. But what happens to a restaurant when you take away its Michelins? Absolutely nothing. If anything, the impossibility of Sukiyabashi Jiro is what makes us covet a seat there even more.
In any case, despite the Jiro snub, Tokyo still maintains itself as the city with the most Michelin-starred restaurants in the world with 226. And, if you’re looking for three-star restaurants in Tokyo, here are all 11:
See also: Thailand Tatler’s Top Japanese Restaurants of 2019
