Great, now I have to go to Japan.

February 15, 2008

I really enjoyed this Washington Post story about Tokyo’s surfeit of great restaurants. The Michelin guide just released its first edition covering the city, canvassing its 160,000 restaurants (almost eight times as many as New York City) and granting an astonishing 191 stars (Paris has 98, NYC 54). The story is kind of about that, but it’s mostly just a snapshot of a cooking culture that values integrity, diligence, and freshness.

The curry bun is a sweet doughnut wrapped around a deep green dollop of mild English-style curry. The onions in the curry are slow-fried for four hours. Once cooked, the curry is given a day of rest before it marries its doughnut. Only about 400 of these buns are made each day, all by hand.

“I have found the perfect harmony of curry sauce and dough,” explains Hideki Okubo, who experimented with spices and curry powder for six months until he got it right.

That was 24 years ago, and his curry bun has since become something of a legend in Tokyo. Okubo said he has been offered lucrative deals to mass-market it but has never seriously considered doing so.

“A restaurant has to have one thing that stands out,” he said. “For us, it is our bun.”

And that’s not even from one of the restaurants with a Michelin star. I’m kind of obsessed with this stuff (even though I never cook anything with more than three ingredients) and I really dug this story. Two thumbs way up.

Posted in Etc