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If you don't read the byline (Momofuku's David Chang), you'd be excused for thinking it's written by a doofus who's not really worried about actually constructi

If you don't read the byline (Momofuku's David Chang), you'd be excused for thinking it's written by a doofus who's not really worried about actually constructing an argument as opposed to lining up opinions. I like Chang, but I can't take his piece seriously with a sentence like this: > I genuinely don’t give a fuck about any other place on the planet. I just want to go to Tokyo to eat. Look at the other food cities in the world, such as Paris. Can’t live there, because I don’t want to eat only French food. It’s great for a week and then you know what I want? Anything but French food. I believe he occasionally frequents hip modern French restaurants in Paris, many of which are essentially focused on taking a modern twist on classical "haute cuisine" and making it less pretentious and even more adventurous. So it's a little rich to see him go on about Tokyo when after going to his favorite Ramen joints there a few years ago, I still couldn't find one that could touch my experiences at Kotteri Ramen Naritake in Paris — a decidedly Japanese export run the way a Ramen joint is supposed to run and yet the best Ramen I've ever had anywhere in the world. Tokyo is an amazing place to eat. No argument about that. But putting down other culinary destinations just because you easily get bored of the main food style there is a little lazy. I've had amazing food in Tokyo without trying to play it safe. Yet, I could flip his "argument" about French food in Paris and say that when you get bored of Japanese food (or Japanese reinventions of other foods), then maybe Tokyo would get old for you. What's far more likely is that he (Chang) has an intense emotional attachment to Tokyo's food scene and that it gives him perpetual pleasure. And that's great, for him. For anyone curious of his claims, just watch Mind of a Chef's Japan episode with David Chang, it's a marvel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cJm1zny0Bw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cJm1zny0Bw PS: Yes, I'm French, from Paris, and just as fucking biased as he is.

JumpCrisscross 10y ago
I don't know about his reputation elsewhere, but at least in New York, it is a consensus that he has overextended in favour of scale over quality. ("Momofuku" is a reference to be inventor of instant ramen.)
ekianjo 10y ago
> So it's a little rich to see him go on about Tokyo when after going to his favorite Ramen joints there a few years ago, Having travelled all over Japan, in my experience the Ramen in tokyo is OK but certainly not the best anyway. The Ramen culture varies a lot depending on the region and I find other regions more to my taste (Sapporo is an excellent place for Ramen joints). And the "Tokyo is the best" for everything gets really really old. Maybe it's the best for some people, but let's avoid making blanket statements all the time.
paulsutter 10y ago
> when you get bored of Japanese food (or Japanese reinventions of other foods), then maybe Tokyo would get old for you. No, sorry, Tokyo really has amazing food of all kinds and not mere "reinventions". Italians here admit the Italian food is better on average than in Italy, the American food is better here than back home, etc. I won't get into French food in Tokyo, which is superb, I will leave that comparison to you. If you haven't been in Tokyo, you really have no idea what you're talking about. There are more Michelin starred restaurants here than Paris, London, and New York combined. And more importantly: only half the Michelin starred restaurants in those cities are any good. On the other hand, only half the good restaurants in Tokyo accept a Michelin listing because the other half doesn't want to deal with the tourists it brings. So the real ratio is even more lopsided. Ps, Momofuku is overrated and David Chang's personality is tedious, but that doesn't make him wrong about Tokyo.
nmerouze 10y ago
You're clearly not biased about Naritake. I've went to Ramen places all over Japan and Naritake is just so awesome!
gommm 10y ago
To each his own. I'm French, I've lived in Paris and in Japan (in Kyoto with occasional stays in Tokyo). I'm biased though because even though I'm French, I tend to enjoy Japanese food more than French food. I'd say that Tokyo has a much more diverse choice of food and that the best non-japanese restaurants in Tokyo tend to be as good or better than the restaurants in their respective countries. In France, a lot of foreign restaurants tend to adapt their food to the local palate whereas in Japan, they are more likely to be authentic. Paris is also a good place for food but outside of French food and modern cuisine, there's not enough diversity and it gets a bit boring for me after a while. Kotteri Ramen Naritake are decent but not great. Most ramen shops in Nakano are better than them and it cannot touch my favorite ramen place in Kyoto. That said, I tend to think that everyday Japanese food in relatively inexpensive eateries is much better in Kyoto than in Tokyo. And it's a better place to try Kaiseki food than Tokyo. And the author's argument are not great either. Convenience store food is not that great. I'd never qualify their egg-salad sandwich as amazing when there are so many kissaten that make way better egg-salad sandwiches. Convenience store food is at best decent.
icanhackit 10y ago
Paris and Tokyo are amazing food destinations for different reasons and, though I'd say I ultimately prefer Tokyo, most of my "What the fuck happened here?" moments happened in Tokyo. Like ordering a crab linguine only to be served a pile of fettuccine glued into a single solid mass with what looked and tasted like congealed Kraft cheese spread and the perfectly empty exoskeleton of a blue swimmer crab placed on top of it - like they had someone suck every morsel of meat out of it with a straw. There was no miscommunication: the elegant Japanese girl sitting next to us ordered the same thing and almost had an aneurysm wondering what universe her crab meat had disappeared to. Her expression similar to someone preparing for a particularly powerful sneeze that never came. I prefer Paris for relaxing - nothing better than sitting under the heated awning of a Parisian cafe with a table to yourself, a book, a pint of beer, a black coffee, a pouch of tobacco and watching people walk past. Well, pint[s] of beer. Or a bottle of wine.

JumpCrisscross 10y ago

I don't know about his reputation elsewhere, but at least in New York, it is a consensus that he has overextended in favour of scale over quality. ("Momofuku" is a reference to be inventor of instant ramen.)

ekianjo 10y ago

> So it's a little rich to see him go on about Tokyo when after going to his favorite Ramen joints there a few years ago, Having travelled all over Japan, in my experience the Ramen in tokyo is OK but certainly not the best anyway. The Ramen culture varies a lot depending on the region and I find other regions more to my taste (Sapporo is an excellent place for Ramen joints). And the "Tokyo is the best" for everything gets really really old. Maybe it's the best for some people, but let's avoid making blanket statements all the time.

paulsutter 10y ago

> when you get bored of Japanese food (or Japanese reinventions of other foods), then maybe Tokyo would get old for you. No, sorry, Tokyo really has amazing food of all kinds and not mere "reinventions". Italians here admit the Italian food is better on average than in Italy, the American food is better here than back home, etc. I won't get into French food in Tokyo, which is superb, I will leave that comparison to you. If you haven't been in Tokyo, you really have no idea what you're talking about. There are more Michelin starred restaurants here than Paris, London, and New York combined. And more importantly: only half the Michelin starred restaurants in those cities are any good. On the other hand, only half the good restaurants in Tokyo accept a Michelin listing because the other half doesn't want to deal with the tourists it brings. So the real ratio is even more lopsided. Ps, Momofuku is overrated and David Chang's personality is tedious, but that doesn't make him wrong about Tokyo.

nmerouze 10y ago

You're clearly not biased about Naritake. I've went to Ramen places all over Japan and Naritake is just so awesome!

gommm 10y ago

To each his own. I'm French, I've lived in Paris and in Japan (in Kyoto with occasional stays in Tokyo). I'm biased though because even though I'm French, I tend to enjoy Japanese food more than French food. I'd say that Tokyo has a much more diverse choice of food and that the best non-japanese restaurants in Tokyo tend to be as good or better than the restaurants in their respective countries. In France, a lot of foreign restaurants tend to adapt their food to the local palate whereas in Japan, they are more likely to be authentic. Paris is also a good place for food but outside of French food and modern cuisine, there's not enough diversity and it gets a bit boring for me after a while. Kotteri Ramen Naritake are decent but not great. Most ramen shops in Nakano are better than them and it cannot touch my favorite ramen place in Kyoto. That said, I tend to think that everyday Japanese food in relatively inexpensive eateries is much better in Kyoto than in Tokyo. And it's a better place to try Kaiseki food than Tokyo. And the author's argument are not great either. Convenience store food is not that great. I'd never qualify their egg-salad sandwich as amazing when there are so many kissaten that make way better egg-salad sandwiches. Convenience store food is at best decent.

icanhackit 10y ago

Paris and Tokyo are amazing food destinations for different reasons and, though I'd say I ultimately prefer Tokyo, most of my "What the fuck happened here?" moments happened in Tokyo. Like ordering a crab linguine only to be served a pile of fettuccine glued into a single solid mass with what looked and tasted like congealed Kraft cheese spread and the perfectly empty exoskeleton of a blue swimmer crab placed on top of it - like they had someone suck every morsel of meat out of it with a straw. There was no miscommunication: the elegant Japanese girl sitting next to us ordered the same thing and almost had an aneurysm wondering what universe her crab meat had disappeared to. Her expression similar to someone preparing for a particularly powerful sneeze that never came. I prefer Paris for relaxing - nothing better than sitting under the heated awning of a Parisian cafe with a table to yourself, a book, a pint of beer, a black coffee, a pouch of tobacco and watching people walk past. Well, pint[s] of beer. Or a bottle of wine.