Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Michelin Guide gave top billing to 11 restaurants in Tokyo, vaulting the Japanese capital over Paris as the city with the most three-star eateries.

All but one of the nine Tokyo restaurants that won Michelin’s highest accolade last year retained their rating this year; traditional Japanese restaurant, Hamadaya, lost one of its three stars. Esaki, Sushi Saito and Yukimura were promoted to three-star from last year’s two. Paris, home of the Michelin Guide, has 10 three-star restaurants; the 2010 edition for Paris will be published in March.

“Tokyo is an unbelievable city for food,” said Oyvind Naesheim, executive chef at Nobu Hong Kong, in an interview. “The passion and perfection at some top Tokyo restaurants show us why this city is so outstanding in fine dining.”

The third edition of Michelin’s Tokyo guide is going on sale as Japan’s economy grew at its fastest pace in more than two years because of increased government and consumer spending. While restaurant spending in September was flat from a year ago, sales at noodle shops and Japanese eateries bucked the trend and rose at least 5 percent, said the Japan Foodservice Association.

Of the 197 restaurants selected in this 2010 Tokyo edition, two-thirds serve Japanese food, including common culinary styles such as fugu, soba, sukiyaki, tempura and sushi, Michelin said. French restaurants, including one by Joel Robuchon, took three of the 11 three-star slots. Tokyo has a total of 261 stars, more than any of the cities Michelin covers in 23 nations. New York has four three-star restaurants.

Hamadaya, bumped to two stars, declined to comment.

‘Very Happy’

Takashi Saito, master chef of Sushi Saito in the shopping and entertainment district of Ginza, said news that the restaurant has won three stars, “hasn’t really sunk in yet” and that he’s “very happy.”

“Tokyo has great quality ingredents, from the sea, from the mountains,” said Jean-Luc Naret, director of Michelin Guides, in an interview. “The quality of the chefs is excellent, passing down techniques from generation to generation.”

Nobu’s Naesheim, 29, said comparing Tokyo and Paris isn’t fair because of their very different culinary traditions. Naret said the 160,000 restaurants in Tokyo, versus about 40,000 in Paris, helps explain why the Japanese capital has so many of the world’s top eateries.

Michelin’s debut Tokyo edition came under fire from local media critics who claimed it showed a foreign bias and a dearth of local knowledge.

‘For Japanese Readers’

The guide is “local, because it is made with Japanese inspectors and Japanese editorial team, and made firstly for the Japanese readers,” said Bernard Delmas, president of Nihon Michelin Tire, in a statement.

Michelin says it rates restaurants for their food and drink based on a set of “unpublished criteria.” One star indicates a very good restaurant, two means excellent cuisine worthy of a detour, while three denotes exceptional cuisine deserving of a “special journey,” Michelin says.

Michelin & Cie., the world’s largest tiremaker, has been publishing its restaurant and hotel guides since 1900, at the start of the automotive era. Distributed for free until 1920, the guide was originally meant for chauffeurs and included tips on using and repairing tires.

The Tokyo guide is in English and Japanese and will feature only starred restaurants. It goes on sale in Japan on Nov. 20.

The restaurants awarded three stars are:
Esaki, Classic Japanese                 (New)
Ishikawa, Classic Japanese
Joel Robuchon, French
Kanda, Japanese
Koju, Japanese
L’Osier, French
Quintessence, French
Sushi Mizutani, Sushi
Sukiyabashi Jiro Honten, Sushi
Sushi Saito, Sushi                      (New)
Yukimura, Classic Japanese              (New)

To contact the reporters on this story: Makiko Kitamura in Tokyo at mkitamura1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 17, 2009 02:31 EST