A new Michelin Guide for Tokyo in 2024 dropped last week, just in time for me to wrap things up here with “The Michelin Files.” This will be my last installment for the time being, but it’s focused on two of my favorite Japanese foods, yakitori and curry. Due to its proximity to a certain yakitori restaurant, I’ll also circle back to where I started with this series — sushi — and talk about one famous restaurant in town that might be impossible for anyone but a head of state to book.

Every year, the 50 Top Pizza World list recognizes the best Neapolitan-style pizza inside and outside Italy. Though a pizzeria in Naples naturally tops the 2023 list, there are also a couple of Tokyo restaurants on there — one of which, The Pizza Bar on 38th, climbed the rankings from #16 to #4 this year.

Located on the top floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Nihonbashi, The Pizza Bar on 38th is also listed as a Bib Gourmand selection in the Michelin Guide (though prices are more in the one-or-two-star range). Normally, the restaurant, run by Rome-born Chef Daniele Cason, can only accommodate eight guests around its marble-top counter. However, when we ate there for Sunday brunch last month, it had expanded beyond this setup. The counter was closed off and they had everyone seated in the adjacent dining room of the hotel’s other Italian restaurant, K’shiki.

This may have been because The Pizza Bar on 38th was temporarily serving a special combined menu with Tokuyoshi, the namesake of Chef Yoji Tokuyoshi, who runs Alter Ego, another one-star Michelin restaurant in Central Tokyo. For three days in October, this limited-time omakase (chef-curated) tasting menu allowed guests to dine on the cuisine of two Michelin chefs for the price of one.

Tokyo has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other city in the world. The current count is 200, and when you factor in other Bib Gourmand, or value-type, restaurants, that brings the total number with Michelin recognition up to 422. No wonder Anthony Bourdain once said, “If I had to eat only in one city for the rest of my life, Tokyo would be it.”

As its name implies, “The Michelin Files” is a series where I’m documenting my experiences with some of those Tokyo restaurants that have been featured in the Michelin Guide. I can’t claim to have my finger on the pulse of the city’s culinary scene, but I’ve dined at a growing list of featured restaurants, and I’m always looking to broaden my horizons more.

In the last edition, Tokyo’s only three-star Michelin sushi restaurant was up for discussion. This time, we’re going to the opposite end of the price spectrum to look at a mix of five ramen and gyoza shops, which will get you fed without breaking the bank. Three are from the 2023 guide, but two are also from the 2016 guide, when a ramen shop received a Michelin star for the first time anywhere.

Update: 12/18/2023. It seems I caught this restaurant at the raw, fish-tail end of its three-star run. In the 2024 Michelin Guide (which I’ve written about now for Explore), another Ginza joint named Harutaka has dethroned Sushi Yoshitake as the capital’s reigning three-star champ. Sushi Yoshitake still has two stars.

I first ate Tokyo’s only current three-star Michelin sushi out of a food truck. That may sound like a contradiction of culinary trappings, but in hindsight, marrying fine dining with street food was a good place to start my Michelin journey. It’s a journey I’ve accelerated of late, using the famous restaurant guide to seek out new dining experiences in Tokyo. And it’s a journey that peaked last night with a more formal, sit-down meal at Sushi Yoshitake in Ginza.