Poll: Japan Leads in Fine and Diverse Dining, but Lacks Veggie Options

The huge growth of culinary global travel has seen foodies flock far and wide to experience the best of new cultures through their tastebuds, with Japan up there among the best but with room for improvement in some categories.

Osaka, for example, took honors as the world’s third-best city for fine dining, while Tokyo boasted the most extensive variety of cuisines, but came fifth and Osaka eight among cities offering the fewest vegan and vegetarian options, according to a recent global survey.

Although Osaka features more Michelin star restaurants than Barcelona, it has fewer fine dining restaurants, revealed the extensive poll by UK-based Titan Travel.

While there are many restaurants to enjoy local cuisines, Tokyo has more Chinese and Italian than any other kind of foreign restaurants, making the Japanese capital the best place to sample recipes from around the world.

“Taking a trip away to fulfill our culinary curiosity is more popular now than ever. This year, the global hospitality market reached nearly ¥741.5 trillion and is forecast to grow to ¥912.5 trillion by 2027. Sampling local cuisine is a fun and educational way to discover culture and history and it can also support the local economy and even improve your health and well-being,” said Rachel Fernandes of PR firm Digitaloft.

The Food-Lovers’ Index survey dived deep into some of the world’s most popular destinations, looking at their restaurant availability across a multitude of categories. Tripadvisor data and Michelin-star restaurants helped determine which locations host the world’s best cuisines, making them the ideal food lovers’ destinations.

“By looking at the availability of vegetarian, vegan options, fine dining, and child-friendly restaurants, it also revealed the cities with the best options for food lovers of all tastes and diets.”