Michelin Guide Tokyo RAMEN 2021

The Michelin 2021 Guide for Tokyo is here. Let's check out the shops!

1:05 - History of Michelin ramen in Tokyo (2015-2021)
5:33 - Other Japanese ramen rankers
6:27 - The "kodawari" points of each shop
15:36 - My opinions

#michelin #ramen #tokyo

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by Biocratic

[ramenadventure]

There's a high probability I made some errors in my research. Ramen Adventures is a solo team these days. Please let me know. More importantly, let me know your experiences with Michelin.

[raffdeleon]

bro, watch this in 2021 and watching this again in 2022 lol you just made my ramen crawl hard! So many good shops I wanna hit up.

[giangiacomobadalamenti]

That's BS Tsuta is amazing! Last year I spent a couple of months in Tokyo for work (I'm Italian) and I was lucky enough to eat in all of the ramen shops with the Michelin Star, my favourite was Nakiryu (best tan-tan men ever, and if you go there order the ramen side dishes). But what I found out is that the Michelin inspectors are less rigid about giving stars in Tokyo than in any other country I've ever visited, where of course you need exellent food quality, but also an extremely good service. Tzuta was the only ramen shop I've been with a Michelin star level service (from an European point of view), and of course exellent food. Now I don't really care about the service but to give you an example at Soba House Konjiki Hototogisu I was kicked out by the chef while my girlfriend was still eating because of the line outside. He basically said to me "finish your beer because we've got the line outside" :) Don't get me wrong, we laughed about that, I do realize that you can have a grat dinner for about 1.200 ¥ (which is AMAZING) and they have no more than 20 sits, but if a shop owner do that in Italy the Michelin Star Police will come and arrest all of his family :))
PS: I also ate at Nakajima a Michelin Star restaurant specialised in sardines where you can get a lounch set for about 1.000 ¥... don't miss it if you're in Shinju-Ku

[mkmk]

I wish I could give this multiple thumbs-up. You really out-did yourself with the camp, Brian! I highly enjoyed your video as always

[darkerthanblackk]

Loved the video. You can tell you put a lot of work into it. Have you seen the interview clip where Marco Pierre talks about why he returned his Michelin stars? Very interesting. Such a badass. :]

[demsla]

I find the criticism of the Michelin list as disconnected odd given how few of the shops don't appear on the other lists

[cassidycatterall-davis]

I did a visit in 2019 and hit up all 3, 1 star places. Nakiryu was my favorite of the 3. Really amazing bowl, even the instant ramen you could get at 7-11 were the best instant noodles I've had. That was my Typhoon ramen to get me through until the trains were up again.

Toy Box was really on point, Mugi to Olive, which I didn't see on here, might of lost their bib? was really amazing and a stand out bowl. I tried to make it out to Home Made Noodles but they were closed for the entire month I was in japan. T.T

That's all the bowls that really stood out to me off the Michelin list. Tons of others that I crushed, but I could go on forever about all the ramen I ate that month.

I did also go to some other Michelin restaurants while I was there. Went to the 3 star Ryugen and another 1 star, thought it was 2, should of been 2, Tapas Molecular Bar. Both were great but I honestly preferred the flavors and environment that Tapas brought to the table.

[yongjunrhee]

Love the content as always, Brian (been following your blog since 2010). Agree with your point about Michelin favoring "refined" restaurants and tastes (for better or worse), whereas locals generally favor restaurants that are more easily accessible and affordable... but I guess since The Michelin Guide's goal is to promote travel, their choices make sense for tourists looking for something unique.

With that being said, tourists who rely strictly on Michelin, or any one guide for that matter, are definitely doing themselves a disservice as they'd be missing out on classics like Kikanbo (watched your Ramen Roundtable... couldn't believe it wasn't on the 2019 Tabelog Hyakumeiten!)

[astroboy]

Loved the puns Bryan!!!😁
But seriously love how you explained the Michelin all about the stars!!! Thanks!!!👍🍜
And pukkun is everywhere there!!

[SujunM]

Thanks so much! This is a god send as a new ramen enthusiast!

[einfachnurleo]

I had the chance to visit Nakiryu (14:44) and eat their Tantanmen. It was great! The shop is pretty small though and I had to wait about 1, 5h to get in ^^- (its probably longer when you usually go there. I was "early" and had like 12 people in front of me but when I came back out the line was more like 30 people). The shop is very small

[RunEscaqe]

Garasha in Takadanobaba is my favorite.

[DatSuKid]

I tried Tsuta in January of 2020. It tasted... ok?
Like don't come to SF just to try it, but if it ever re-opens and you're in town, you at least won't be too bored.
Tsuta felt pretty forgetable compared to say Rakkan Ramen in LA, which has more reasonable prices and in contrast hasn't temporarily closed.

[c]

I am going to be in Bed - look forward to checking it out in the morning

[Optimus]

Thanks for great information Brian.
In Bangkok, now Tsuta finally open the branch here and we are all excited. I tried it already and think it's good but not the level that many people expected ( I never had the original one in Tokyo before, but the bowl I had here is more complex with the mix of many sauce.)

I think the biggest question is the same as you: Why the most ramen shop in michelin are out of other guidebook. It seems like michelin guy preferred shintan-style clear broth than rich-and-creamy tonkotsu...

[saviyou]

lol @ the faces you make after each pun

[xZodax]

I'm quite a fan of this style as well so I can't say I disagree with their choices haha. Though I'm french, I may be biased in some way!
Kotetsu was already on the "almost made it" kinda list last year iirc. They had a celebratory bouquet in the shop last january. I'm quite a regular there so I was a bit worried we'd see more queuing but it has stayed quite minimal, lots of locals going there I feel, I can recommend their Shio.

[NarutoFreak]

I believe Tsuta wasn't on the 2020 Michelin list either. I remember being pretty surprised last year.

[Zojirushi..]

Michelin may be french but there are more stars in Japan than France.

[jameslerner]

What happened to mensho? I’ve tried Tsuta in San Francisco it was horrible. Noodles were over cooked, the broth was unseasoned and even the egg was over cooked!