Tokyo has now more Michelin three star restaurants than Paris, according to the latest edition of the gastronomical guide.

Japan as a whole also beats France, with 32 establishments granted the maximum grade, against 25 in the guide’s home country. Paris has just 10 three star eateries.

Of Tokyo’s 160,000 restaurants, 16 were awarded top marks, 52 got two stars and 179 were deemed worthy of one star by the authors of the Red Guide.

Germany now ranks second behind France as the European country with the most three-starred eateries, after Michelin inspectors handed out a third star to a contemporary restaurant that centers its cuisine on the aromatics of food.

In the 2012 edition of the Michelin Guide Germany, La Vie, in Osnabrück has become the ninth restaurant to earn the highest ranking possible from the red book.

Inspectors also promoted 10 new restaurants this round, to give the country a total of 32 two-starred establishments.

Japan has overtaken France for the number of restaurants with three Michelin stars, according to the latest guide to the nation’s western cities to be released on Friday.

Japan is now home to 29 establishments that hold the highly coveted three-star rating, against 25 in France.

The latest version of the Michelin guide to Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe this year adds the former capital Nara and will be available both in Japanese and English.

The Michelin New York Guide for 2012 is out and the inspectors have spoken, crowning two more restaurants with their top culinary honor, bumping up the star power for another two, and demoting another.

After languishing for years with one star, Eleven Madison Park steered by chef Daniel Humm has vaulted to the top to join the exclusive three-star club, home of gastronomic stalwarts Daniel, Jean Georges, Le Bernardin, Masa and Per Se.

The opening this week of Shang Palace restaurant will at long last answer an unresolved question: Is Paris ready for truly gourmet Chinese cuisine and the prices that come with it?

That the capital of fine dining might give an ambitious Asian eatery the cold shoulder is not unimaginable.

For most French people, Chinese eats rhymes with bottom-of-the-food-chain takeout, not 80 euros for lunch and 120 for dinner per head.

Only one Chinese establishment in Paris has ever shined in the Michelin Guide firmament, and then only fleetingly. Modest by comparison, Chen Soleil-Est earned its lone star — literally front page news across France — in 1999 and lost it in 2007.

French celebrity chef Joel Robuchon on Wednesday announced the opening of two restaurants at a casino resort in Singapore, his first outlets in Southeast Asia.

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, a workshop-inspired concept with chefs closely interacting with guests, and the more formal Joel Robuchon Restaurant will open on Thursday at the seaside Resorts World Sentosa complex.

Robuchon, 66, has received more stars from Michelin, the leading guide to fine dining, than any other chef in the world with a total of 26 so far.