Since 2007, we have been making efforts in the Restaurant sansaro, Sushi and fine japanese cuisine offer authentic Japanese quality and to introduce Japanese cuisine & culture to the guests in Munich.
Behind the scenes, we are continuously working to get even better in every area, to find better and better material, to give the chefs the space they need for intensive preparation and cooking so that our food can evoke a memory of Japan.
For this we have from the beginning consistently and constantly relied on experienced, Japanese chefs and worked out with you again and again how an authentic interpretation of Japanese cuisine can look and taste for German guests in Munich.
Above all, we are grateful for the encouragement of our numerous regular guests, including many people who have lived in Japan for a long time for professional reasons or who eat in exquisite restaurants all over the world again and again. But also many guests who just want to have a good time with good food, who like Japanese cuisine or who want to try it out carefully. Sushi & japanese cuisine want to approach.
Restaurant sansaro in the Guide MICHELIN 2022
Since 2022 we are now also on the radar of the Guide MICHELIN and are incredibly proud that we are initially listed in the Guide with a so-called "Assiette", a plate, a brief mention:
the SUSHIYA sansaro in Munich is a Guide MICHELIN restaurant since summer 2022!
This is of course a special pleasure and honor for us - and a great motivation to continue working for the best quality.
Guide Michelin & Japan: it's complicated 😉
The Michelin Guide, which has been published since 1900 (stars were awarded starting in 1926), was first published in New York in 2005, San Francisco in 2006, and finally Tōkyō in 2007.
Since then, the guide has been expanded to other regions such as Ōsaka and Kyōto and now seems to have gained a foothold in Japan.
Japan ranks first in the Michelin Guide
In 2020, the gourmet website Fine Dining Lovers compiled a list of Michelin-starred restaurants in various regions of the world. The results were astonishing: Tōkyō took first place, Kyōto third and Ōsaka fourth.
Paris came in second with 119 restaurants. In contrast, Tōkyō had almost twice as many Michelin stars, with 226 restaurants.
Japanese cities are thus at the top of the world in culinary terms from the point of view of the Michelin Guide, a renowned, experienced and originally French institution.
Where does that come from? And how can Tōkyō be the best city in the world in terms of gastronomy?
Tōkyō is huge - and full of lovers of good food
First of all, as a metropolis of millions, Tōkyō simply has an outstanding number of restaurants. For example, there were 160,000 restaurants in Tōkyō in 2011, compared with only 10,000 in Paris. This difference is likely to increase year by year.
Japanese craft specializes
Second, the Tōkyō edition contains a very detailed categorization of Japanese cuisine.
For example, many Japanese restaurants outside of Japan offer sushi, yakitori, gyoza, etc. all in one restaurant.
In contrast in Japan is the orientation of Japanese restaurants more specializedThis means that most restaurants specialize exclusively in tempura, udon, soba, yakitori, eel, fugu, and sushi, Kaiseki etc.
This comes to the Japanese Spirit of craft specialization The guests do not expect an all-round restaurant, but they accept that the individual chef, the individual restaurant knows his craft very well and they approach this restaurant with a certain respect.
Finally, Japanese cuisine is not grouped into a single category in the guide, but is rated individually for each cuisine, resulting in many restaurants being awarded stars.
Fond of (good) food
And thirdly - bringing the first two points together - the Japanese are simply crazy about (good) food. They are real gourmets!
The chefs may be enthusiastic craftsmen, the Japanese cuisine rich in tradition and in its way special link between culture and terroir or surrounding waters - none of this would help if there weren't millions of people in Japanese metropolises who enthusiastically visit the particularly good restaurants, who share a deep enthusiasm for good food, and who always strive not only to make the best, but also to eat the best.
It's like our restaurant: we can survive only by the fact that every evening many people come to us, who love and understand our quality. Our restaurant sansaro is not visible at a crossroads, but hidden in an inner courtyard. We have very few chance guests - and incredibly many appreciative regulars. Only through this we can survive at all, only through the visit and support of our guests we can order the good material, pay the rent, employ the cooks.
In short, apparently the Japanese appreciate good food, so restaurants that try to deliver the best quality are opening in high numbers in Tōkyō, Kyōto and in Ōsaka and are able to survive.
Universal culinary criteria of the Guide Michelin
But no matter how many restaurants there may be in Japanese cities, how many people find them particularly good there - they can be only then receive a star if they meet the following criteria established by Michelin in the eyes of the experienced and well-trained Michelin testers:
- High quality of the ingredients or raw material
- High level of cooking technique and perfection of flavors
- Originality, personal touch
- Value for money: is the offered craft & raw material in reasonable proportion to the selling price
- Consistent quality, on the one hand over the menu, and on the other hand over time
When you read this list, you now also understand why we already started a few years ago to ban one or the other dish from the menu, which the guests love and which are offered in all kinds of expensive and cheap "sushi" restaurants in Munich, and why we - for a restaurant of our size and structure - put an unusual amount of effort into our homemade desserts.
Because we have already decided a few years ago that we only offer the dishes which we stand behind completely. We want to show what we are proud of and what we ourselves would like to eat. And we take pleasure in always improving all the details as far as possible, always finding and trying new things.
The recognition of the Michelin gives us now with it right, strengthens us in the fact that we consistently omit "margin bringers", which every normal restaurant actually needs to be able to work economically, and concentrate further on that, of which we are enthusiastic ourselves!
Here we are publishing an extensive article about the Guide Michelin in Japan - please check back later for full details.
Interim conclusion Michelin:
After a few months of Guide Michelin listing, an exciting, somewhat unexpected feedback is already emerging for us: Guide Michelin does not mean "better company" or even "celebrity factor" for us.
It means even more appreciation for good material for us, Contact with other cooks, which also focus on sustainability. It turns out that the Guide and many guests who come to us through the Guide Michelin, especially value food quality and carefully selected and expertly treated material. Our attention to detail is honored.
It is an incredible motivation and encouragement to continue on a path that has not always been easy and to focus even more on good, high-quality and - where possible in the sushi sector - regional material. We look forward to the next 15 years!
