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Tokyo, the neon-clad home of the pickled sea-slug and horseradish chocolate, has eclipsed Paris, London and New York to become, officially, the most delicious city on earth.

The Japanese capital was handed the coveted crown yesterday by Michelin, the French tyre company whose Guides Rouges have been every bon vivant’s bible for more than a century.

Eight restaurants, including two high-end sushi joints – one of them with fewer than a dozen seats – were awarded three-star status in the first Michelin Guide for Tokyoafter a selection process shrouded in almost obsessive secrecy.

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A total of 150 restaurants in the city received at least one star.

Only one non-Japanese chef, Joel Robuchon, made it into Tokyo’s top eight. Gordon Ramsay’s lone restaurant there, opened with great flourish at the Conrad Hotel two years ago, remains, for this year at least, starless.

As well as the expected showing of hard-to-book sushi restaurants and classic kaiseki dining, the full list features three fugu houses, where specially trained chefs prepare the intensely poisonous puffer fish so that the eating experience is not fatal.

The number of starred restaurants – Paris and London boast 148 between them – beats all other locations covered by the guides. Tokyo was now, said the compilers, the undisputed “world leader” in fine dining.

Although Tokyo’s gourmet triumph is sure to send ripples through the culinary world, residents of the city are unlikely to be surprised. Fine eating is something of a national obsession and the preparation of the perfect dish is seen as a natural extension of the national spirit of “monozukuri” – the “making of things”.

The quality of ingredients also plays a vital role: Tokyo is home to the world’s biggest fish market, and the prefectures that border it produce some of the finest meats, fruit and vegetables in the world.

Dozens of magazines and about half of all prime-time television in Japan is in some way related to food and eating. Many shows exist simply to keep viewers updated on the staggering number of new restaurants opening in Tokyo every week.

One mystery, though, is why it took Michelin so long to recognise this. Part of the answer, said chefs at yesterday’s celebrations, may lie in the nature of the “undisclosed judgment criteria” applied by the inspectors. How easily, said one, can the Canard au Sang on offer at the Tour d’Argent in Paris be compared with a plain bowl of steamed koshihikari rice?

The delay may also be down to the gargantuan task and cost of actually visiting the restaurants. The compilers said that the most surprising discovery was not the quality of the food in Tokyo but the sheer number of restaurants. The 150 establishments that achieved a star grade were whittled down from a starting lineup of 190,000.These were cut to a shortlist of 1,500 by a team of five European and Japanese inspectors. There then followed 18 months of anonymous visits by the Michelin inspectors and the rigorous application of the guide’s arcane judgment.

About two thirds of the Michelin list is occupied by restaurants from the eight principal styles of Japanese dining. Tempura, the deep-fried cuisine based on Portuguese cooking, makes several appearances, as does the teppanyaki style so beloved of devotees of Kobe beef.

The one-star list includes a famous grilled eel restaurant that sometimes has queues more than 200 yards long during the summer eel-eating season.

Classic French cuisine prepared by Japanese chefs is also well represented among the star winners.

Michelin’s move into Japan is part of a drive by the food guide to broaden its scope and modernise its image after it was almost knocked off its perch by bad publicity and criticism from leading chefs. It has expanded its guides, writes less cryptically and gives more description of the food and service at the establishments it visits. It has also expanded its guides to 21 countries and more cities, recently adding Los Angeles.

British and British-based chefs had nothing but praise for Japanese cuisine. Jean-Christophe Novelli, who has won four Michelin stars, said: “They have been waiting for this recognition for a long time . . . the Japanese are very conscientious, very committed cooks. They pay the most detail to food of anyone on the planet. They are also the best in terms of sourcing ingredients.”

Alastair Little, former head chef at L’Escargot and founder of two London restaurants, said: “I’m not at all surprised . . . the Japanese are absolute perfectionists with food and that would appeal to the Michelin guide.”

Garrey Dawson, head chef and part-owner of the Riverside Brasserie in Bray, Berkshire, said: “I particularly like Japanese food because of the array of different dishes . . . you won’t get palate fatigue with Japanese food.”

Sample menu

Funazushi Crucian carp pickled in salt for a month, washed, pickled again with cooked rice and matured for at least six months

Takoyaki Octopus dumplings with chopped onions, cabbage and pickled ginger topped with Aonori seaweed or dried tuna

Koyadofu Tofu “freeze-dried” by a traditional method. Courses cost 25,000 yen (£111) each. Up to 11 may be taken

Source: Genyadana Hamadaya, one of the three-star restaurants

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