Forget Michelin stars, these three Tokyo restaurants serve up dishes to remember

The Japanese capital has over 80 restaurants with Michelin stars, but Sushi Shin, Inua and Motif are not among them; don’t let that bother you, though

If it’s innovative cuisine and creative cooking you’re after, then look no further

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The bee larvae claypot rice at Inua restaurant in Tokyo, Japan, is more expensive than sea urchin and highly nutritious, with a distinct nutty taste and texture.

Published: 12:30pm, 1 Nov 2019Updated: 12:30pm, 1 Nov 2019

At last count, Tokyo offered food lovers restaurants with no fewer than 230 Michelin stars to their name, including 13 with three stars and 52 with two stars. In contrast, even Paris can only boast two-thirds as many, and just nine restaurants that have achieved the culinary holy grail of three stars.

While Michelin stars are always controversial and endlessly debatable, they are still a useful guide to a certain standard of quality. It was surprising, then, that none of the three Tokyo restaurants I visited recently hold even a star between them – at least for now.

Sushi Shin by Miyakawa, opened in April and sitting 38 floors up in the Mandarin Oriental, is the first restaurant in Tokyo by chef Masaaki Miyakawa, who’s from Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island. He opened Sushi Miyakawa, in Sapporo, Hokkaido, in 2014, and it now has three stars.

Hong Kong food lovers might recognise his name – he was the executive chef of three-Michelin-star Sushi Yoshitake (now called Sushi Shikon).

A chef goes to work at Sushi Shin restaurant in Tokyo. Photo: Chris Dwyer

This being Japan, aesthetics are everything, even if the setting with stunning views of the Tokyo skyline is enticing enough. Diners pass through an elegant screen made with a woodworking technique that dates back more than 1,300 years, then there’s the impossibly smooth counter made from 350-year-old hinoki cypress wood, the elegant stage for Miyakawa’s Edomae-style sushi.

Edomae refers to the old name for Tokyo, Edo, and the bay, or “mae”, in front of it. In the early 19th century, it was the name given to sushi sold on the street, where fish was preserved in vinegar, salt and soy, while wasabi added flavour and also acted as an antibacterial agent.