日本美食魅力不輸給法國

Tokyo is once again the brightest star in the culinary universe, according to the 2011 Michelin guide.

Japan's capital was awarded more stars than any other city by the tire company's newly released restaurant guide, which includes outlying cities Yokohama and Kamakura for the first time. The 2011 volume goes on sale Nov. 27. Tokyo increased its envious roster of three-starred restaurants to 14 â ' that's three more than last year.

It was enough for Tokyo to edge out  Japan's gastronome-centered cities to the west - Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto - as the reigning restaurant city by the French publication for the fourth consecutive year. The western part of Japan enjoyed the culinary crown for a brief period when Michelin heaped three-star ratings onto a dozen restaurants in late October.

But Tokyo didn't need the newly added Yokohama and Kamakura to reclaim its title, unlike the Kansai area guide. No restaurants in the two cities on the outskirts of Tokyo received three stars. Two restaurants in Yokohama mustered two stars and 24 restaurants from the two areas total received one star.

The four newcomers into the three-star circle, like the ones already in the honored pack, mostly specialize in Japanese-styled cuisine: sushi, traditional Japanese, tempura and blowfish, known as 'fugu' in Japanese.

Perhaps in a tip to trying economic times in Japan, this year's guide includes a new feature -- a 'bang for your buck' type image of a pile of coins, indicating the restaurant offers a menu under 5,000 yen ($60).

But let's not make this into a domestic kitchen competition. Japan would be proud to know that the number of Michelin's highest-rated restaurants in the Tokyo and Kansai areas combined â ' 26 â ' officially ties the country with France as the crème de la crème of where to eat.Â據米其林(Michelin)餐館指南，東京再度成爲烹飪界最耀眼的明星。

在這家輪胎企業最新公佈的餐館指南中，日本首都獲得的星級比其他任何城市都要多，該指南還首次收入了地處邊遠的橫濱和鎌倉。米其林2011年餐館指南於11月27日上市發售。東京令人羨慕的三星級餐館數增至14家──比去年多出了三家。

這足夠讓東京擊敗西部的日本美食中心──大阪、神戶和京都──連續第四年成爲這家法國出版物評選出的美食天堂。當米其林10月底向十餘家餐館大量授予三星評級時，日本西部地區曾短暫地享受過這尊美食界的王冠。

但東京並不需要依靠最新加入的橫濱和鎌倉來重新奪回自己的頭銜，這一點與關西地區的餐館指南不同。東京周邊的這兩座城市中沒有一家餐館獲得了三星評級。橫濱有兩家餐館得到了兩星評級，兩個城市中共有24家餐館獲得一星評級。

和其他有幸獲得三星評級的餐廳一樣，新近獲得三星評級的四家餐廳也是大多以日式菜餚見長：壽司，傳統日本菜，天麩羅和河豚。

也許是對日本困難經濟時期的一種提示，今年的指南增加了一個新特色──“物超所值”的功能以一堆硬幣的形象作爲一種標識，表明這家餐廳的菜單價格在5,000日圓以下（約合60美元）。

但我們還是不要把它變成一場國內美食之爭吧。日本應該感到自豪，東京和關西地區總共獲得米其林最高評級的餐廳數量（26家）已經使日本在美食之都的稱號上正式同法國平起平坐了。