Japanese chef wins 3 Michelin stars in France for 1st time

January 28, 2020

Paris--French restaurant Kei in Paris run by Japanese chef Kei Kobayashi won three stars in the 2020 Michelin Guide for France published on Monday.

Kobayashi from Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, became the first Japanese chef to earn the highest rating in the prestigious guide for restaurants in France.

After working as a cook in Nagano and Tokyo, Kobayashi went to France in 1999. He was trained by big-name chef Alain Ducasse and opened the Kei restaurant in the first arrondissement of Paris in 2011.

The restaurant earned one star in the 2012 Michelin Guide and won its second star in 2017 to become the second two-star restaurant in France run by a Japanese chef.

"Thank you, France," AFP quoted Kobayashi as saying at Monday's ceremony to announce the latest Micheline Guide for France.

Racine, a French restaurant in Lance, northeastern France, run by Kazuyuki Tanaka from Japan, won two stars in the 2020 guide. Jiji Press