June 13, 2013 – Michelin has published the 2013 Special Edition MICHELIN guide Hiroshima, which lists the region’s best eating establishments. 278 restaurants, 48 ryokans and 36 hotels are featured in the guide.
For the first time, Michelin inspectors visited Japan’s Hiroshima region, with the goal of helping readers to find its best restaurants, hotels and ryokans (Japanese inns similar to a bed and breakfast). Their travels enabled them to discover gastronomy that is rooted in Japanese tradition as well as local culinary specialties like anago (salt-water eels) and okonomiyaki (Japanese crepe). In addition to the extensive food offering, the inspectors noted very high-level cooking standards based on top-quality ingredients and carefully prepared dishes. The 2013 selection also includes the region’s first three-star restaurant – Nakashima – located in the city of Hiroshima, which joins the select circle of the world’s very best restaurants. In addition, two stars were awarded to 5 restaurants and one star to 23 restaurants and 1 ryokan.
Motonari Adachi, Executive Director – Singapore office, JNTO further commented ” With the launch of Tokyo edition in 2007 as the first Michelin Guide in Asia and the increase in Michelin starred restaurants we have come a long way to being known as one of the world’s top gourmet cities (Tokyo). Today Tokyo has more Michelin stars than any other city in the world. With the introduction of Michelin special edition guidebook of Hiroshima, it clearly demonstrates that cuisine in Japan is gaining momentum through which there has been a rise in demand for the local cuisine in the restaurants.”
Alongside the starred restaurants, the 2013 Special Edition MICHELIN guide Hiroshima lists 49 Bib Gourmand restaurants, chosen by the inspectors for their excellent value for money. All offer a complete menu for no more than 3,500 yen (£23). Featuring a very broad array of cooking styles that includes Japanese curry, ramen, udon, yakiniku and yoshoku, as well as Thai, Italian, French and Spanish cuisine, the wide range of establishments enables readers to find exactly what they’re looking for, regardless of their budget or desires.
“We’re very pleased to expand our collection with this new guide, which will allow lovers of Japan to discover the gourmet dining scene in Hiroshima,” said Michael Ellis, International Director of the MICHELIN guides. “The inspectors began preparing this Special Edition in autumn 2011, and their diligent efforts have allowed them to unearth and showcase a number of culinary treasures that are particular to Hiroshima and illustrate the region’s gastronomic wealth, including such specialties as anago, okonomiyaki and dishes made with oysters. This represents the first time that these cooking styles have been featured in a MICHELIN guide. In the end, this very broad selection will enable our readers traveling in the Hiroshima region to discover local dishes.”
The MICHELIN guide collection comprises 24 editions available in 23 countries. The latest addition to the collection, the 2013 Special Edition MICHELIN guide Hiroshima, is the fourth guide introduced in Japan following the MICHELIN guides to Tokyo-Yokohama-Shonan and Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe-Nara, as well as the 2013 Special Edition MICHELIN guide Hokkaido.
The 2013 Special Edition MICHELIN guide Hiroshima was released in Japan on 17 May 2013. The selection comprises 362 establishments, of which 278 restaurants 48 ryokans and 36 hotels.
Specifically, it includes:
1 three-star restaurant
5 two-star restaurants
23 one-star restaurants and 1 one-star ryokan
49 Bib Gourmand restaurants
For a full list of the establishments listed in the 2013 Michelin Guide to Hiroshima, click here.
Find out more about visiting Hiroshima here visithiroshima.net. For more information visit www.jnto.go.jp/eng
