๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ The Tabelog Award 2024
The number of awards compared with 2023 is:
๐ฅ Gold: 30 → 35 (+5)
๐ฅ Silver: 100 → 101 (+1)
๐ฅ Bronze: 340 → 320 (-20)
The "Best New Entry" award is awarded to the ten restaurants with the most votes and ostensibly on the list for the first time. As you'd expect, the five Debut Silver restaurants win this (no Debut Gold this year). The remaining spots are taking by four restaurants that have won awards prior to 2023 and have won Gold or Silver this year following relocation ("No award to Gold/Silver" on my list below) and by Hirosawa which is probably the hottest restaurant on the list - the only new opening in 2023 to win Best New Entry. New also this year is a "Chefs' Gold" award which only award-nominated chefs can participate in.
Of the new Gold, Silver and Bronze restaurants, I've reviewed Kasahara, Ginza Kitagawa, Sushi Akira, Amandier, Chiba Takaoka and Sushidokoro Yamato. I've also been to (but not reviewed) PRESENTE Sugi, Makimura, Takiya, Bia, TSUSHIMI and Ishimaru and can recommend them all though Makimura, Takiya and maybe Bia are the only ones I will repeat.
This year, unlike last, I haven't immediately made any reservations since the announcement. Of the new or newly-promoted Gold and Silver restaurants, I'd like to visit Sushi Ikko, Sottaku Tsukamoto, Yukimoto, Gourmandise and Sushi Miyakawa. All of these are either difficult to book or introduction only and/or far from Tokyo so I don't expect to be visiting these any time soon. Sushi Ikko moves to Tokyo in the summer. (Let's hope he doesn't do a Niitome.) Debut Silver restaurant LA CASA DI Tetsuo Ota is fully booked until the restaurant closes in 2026 so not much hope of getting in there. (Michelin is the guide we love to hate but at least they don't award restaurants you can't actually book). Bronze restaurants I don't pay much attention to: there's just too much churn at this level from year to year. However, the Debut Bronze restaurants Auberge eaufeu, Rin and Isoda were already on my to-visit list.
A number of restaurants failed to retain their Gold/Silver award. As I've mentioned before, the nature of the voting process means that restaurants can flip/flop from year to year so I wouldn't take this necessarily as a drop in quality.
Before the changes from 2023 some insight into how the awards actually work.
⁉️ How does the Tabelog Award voting process work?
To be considered for an award a restaurant had to have a score of 4.0 for a month or more in the past year. 456 restaurants were up for nomination for 2024 and 456 restaurants won an award. In other words, the Bronze award is automatic. Attaining 4.0 is no mean feat and most restaurants will never achieve it. Also, this is the most transparent of part of the process of the Tabelog Awards. But just be aware that it's conceivable that there are restaurants that have won a Bronze award but haven't actually got many votes.
Restaurants are awarded Gold and Silver based on the number of votes by Tabelog users. Voting took place between November 1-14 2023. First you're invited to select up to 30 restaurants "you think are delicious."
- On Tabelog, you're only supposed to score a restaurant based on "the deliciousness of the food", and not take value for money, atmosphere and service into account. The same guidance applies to award voting.
- The small print states "We determine the winners of each award based on the number of valid votes received from among those who have voted and have visited at least a certain number of the nominated restaurants and meet our specified criteria." In other words, "thanks for voting but we may choose to ignore you".
- You don't get to nominate a restaurant as Gold/Silver/Bronze.
- While you can book a large number of restaurants by Tabelog, I counted literally three Silver (and zero Gold) restaurants that take bookings via Tabelog. What that means is there's no way to verify that the person voting for the restaurant has actually been. Moreover, you're not required to have left a review for a restaurant to be able to vote for it (in fact, you don't have to have reviewed a single restaurant to be able to vote). What's more, the vote guidance states you don't have to have visited the restaurant in 2023. If you've ever visited the restaurant the guidance states you can vote for it.
Despite its flaws I do find Tabelog scores and Awards (excepting Bronze) generally the best indicator of the quality of a restaurant in Japan. You need to understand how they work but Michelin is just too inconsistent, generally behind, doesn't cover the whole of Japan and too many excellent restaurants are excluded either by policy or at the chef's/owner's request (chefs don't have discretion outside Japan). The only other alternative is Gault & Millau, which does cover the whole of Japan and doesn't have the same exclusion policies Michelin does.
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