It's official: Tokyo is the world's culinary capital. For more than a century, Paris has had more restaurants with three Michelin stars than any other city, but the new Tokyo 2009 guide has equalled the score. Combined with the fact that Tokyo has more stars in total than any other city, it can finally declare itself the leader. The guide is only the second ever edition for the Japanese city; the first edition, published last year, stunned the world, as Toyko was awarded 191 stars, an astonishing result compared with the 97 stars that Paris scooped. However, Paris still insisted it had the edge, with nine three-starred restaurants compared with Toyko's eight. But now Tokyo has taken the top spot thanks to Ishikawa, a restaurant in the Shinjuku area, specialising in labour-intensive, seasonal Japanese food, which has just been upgraded from two stars to the prestigious three-star club.

'Japanese cuisine is dynamic, diverse and interesting,' says Michelin director Jean-Luc Naret. 'It is worth the travel.'

And it is those words, 'worth the travel', that are behind the esteemed triple-star status - indicating 'meals worth a trip', while two mean 'meals worth a detour' and one star promises an 'excellent meal'.

But, while Tokyo continues to boast the highest number of total stars in the world, the French argue it has an unfair advantage because it has a staggering 160,000 restaurants in all, while Paris only has 15,000. Tokyoites and Parisians will be on the edge of their seats waiting for the 2009 guide to Paris, published in March, which may return the city to the top spot.