NEW YORK -- Dining in Tokyo -- a city of gourmands that is notoriously difficult to navigate if you don't speak the language -- just got a whole lot easier.

The first-ever English-language Zagat Survey of Tokyo Restaurants has hit bookstores on both sides of the Pacific.Its glossary of Japanese culinary terms -- covering everything from "amiyaki," a type of grilling on a griddle, to "zashiki," a traditional tatami room for parties -- may also come in handy in places like New York, where the number of Japanese restaurants has surged in recent years.

"Putting together this guide was a real eye-opener," says Tim Zagat, the New Yorker who, with his wife, Nina, publishes the famously hard-hitting surveys based on comments from average diners who volunteer to rate and comment on restaurants.

"It was an introduction to many types of food new to Western diners, and some of our knee-jerk views of the Japanese turned out to be totally wrong," he says.

"When we started, we weren't sure we'd get good comments that were both opinionated and humorous. We thought the Japanese would be too polite to create a good hard-hitting guide. To our pleasure and surprise, we were totally wrong."

The diners surveyed -- mostly Japanese since questionnaires were printed only in their language -- turned out to be so harsh when granted anonymity that some comments in last year's Zagat Japanese-language Tokyo guide were cut from the new English-language version.

The most popular restaurants tended to be French, Italian and American, with New York Grill topping the list with its "huge portions . . . sized to the American stomach" and decor so lovely that "even a sub-par date looks good here."

But their choice for the best restaurant in Tokyo was Sutaminaen, a Japanese barbecue place where fans "burst into tears of joy" when tasting "the best meat in Japan."

A close second for finest cuisine was the "working-class neighborhood unagi (eel) joint" Obana, despite the wait of 30 minutes or more for a meal "since they start with live eel."

Also featured are many categories of dining spots that may raise eyebrows among the uninitiated. Hidden among the noodle places, sushi spots and steak houses are restaurants specializing in boar, blowfish, garlic, horsemeat and tongue.

And the dining spot Ganso Kujira-ya is dubbed "one of the last places where you can stuff yourself silly with whale." The comments note that those who fret about the whale-hunting ban can relax for now; they've stocked up with a "variety to make you dizzy."

There's also a hefty selection of "cigar friendly" and "dress code" restaurants and even one place, Kagiya, where "they still don't allow female-only groups in this day and age."

Strangely, though, only one place, Charlie House, is listed under the category of Ramen houses which serve a popular variety of noodles.

View Comments

Tokyo surveyors ate out an average of 5.6 times a week, out-dining every other Zagat city -- including New York, where surveyors ate out only about 3.4 times a week. They also tended to be younger than in other cities, and, unlike elsewhere, a majority -- 57 percent -- were women.

The more than 1,800 surveyors who rated the guide's 1,100 dining spots were also a lot tougher judges than those who surveyed dining spots in guides already out for over 50 U.S. cities in addition to Paris and London, Zagat says.

"It's considered an art form in Tokyo, and clearly diners take their meals very seriously," he says.

Although the guide's introduction admits that some establishments "turn away newcomers without connections, while others make no concessions to non-Japanese speakers" -- thus the need for a glossary -- there are still plenty of places to explore among Tokyo's thousands of restaurants.

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.