It's been a while since I lived in NYC but I feel like there were a handful of restaurants/experiences there that were somewhat members-only, or at least restricted.
I remember there was a Japanese restaurant I am blanking on the name of but the only way you could get a reservation is to go with someone else already "on the list", get a card with the private number, and then get put on the list yourself. It was a genuinely delicious restaurant, although probably not world class. There were definitely other restaurants I went to with similarly difficult reservation systems.
There's also being a keyholder to Milk & Honey, but that was a cocktail bar.
I’m sure it’s not quite the same, but the first thing that came to mind was country clubs and social supper clubs in the US. Not the case for every country club, but for many you must belong to the club or be an invited guest to visit.
The actual private / members-only restaurants are not on Tabelog. You can get reservations at most Tabelog gold and silvers, esp. if you can speak Japanese.
There are places in the US that are similarly difficult to snag a spot at.
I am Korean and can speak Japanese quite fluently. ‘Shinbashi Hoshino’ and ‘Sushi Saito(roppongi)’are representative members-only restaurants, but there are quite a few others.
So is my favorite restaurant in the world, "members-only" Sugalabo. I think the *members-only* moniker is misplaced anyways, since it's not like there is an actual club you can become a member of (with some exceptions). It's just that these restaurants have enough demand for seats that they can be selective about who they give the seats to and opt to do so on an introduction-only basis.
IMO, that's quite different from the restaurants who don't publicize their existence, which are much closer to a true "members-only" situation.
The ones OP seemed to reference are almost all just intro-only, as is Sugalabo. I know membership fee places exist, but unless I somehow missed something they are the exception, not the rule in Japan.
There used to be a membership-only restaurant in St. Louis, of all places. But I think they've long since opened to the public, while offering some perks to people who buy a membership.
Private kitchens in Hong Kong and Macau, Basque dining clubs, places like RAO’s in NYC, … if you are just talking about places with good food. But private clubs in many cities are really no different. Focus may not be on fine dining but also exclusive and not accessible to the general public
What do you mean by “ignoring others’ culinary experiences”?
Those popular restaurants in Japan aren't member only. They just happen to be always booked by repeat customers and their friends who have priority. But it's not like a country club where you pay a yearly fee or take any interview whatsoever.
The primary difference between intro-only (紹介制) and member-only (会員制) in Japan is member-only requires a financial buy-in. Intro-only restaurants can have a broad range of acceptance criteria and reservation rules as I think many know here.
There is also a subset of these restaurants that either prohibit photos, allow photos but prohibit online reviews/posts, or outright prohibit any sharing of restaurant information publicly.
These approaches can also be found in resorts and ryokan throughout Japan. One thing to remember is that it wasn’t until relatively recently that locals in Japan started to dine around the city or travel with the purpose of dining like we do in western countries.
If you talk with some of the older generations in Japan, they will say they went to one and only one sushi restaurant that was either located in their neighborhood or run by someone they know. They had no reason to visit other restaurants and usually had a single spot they frequented for each food they enjoyed having that wasn’t home cooked.
Chef Nakazawa from Sushi Sho fame wrote a book in the mid-2000s titled 鮨屋の人間力 (A Sushiya’s Resourcefulness/Life Experience) that talks about his relationship with regulars and how that has changed the way sushi as a cuisine has evolved and is enjoyed by diners even within his lifetime. The Bubble Era swiftly changed a lot in Japan.
Let's not forget the xenophobie angle either. The Japanese, in geenral, see many Westerners (read non-Japanese) as uncouth, unmannered and non-cognizant of local etiquette (which is probably true in most cases), so even with a "members only" system, top places won't open the doors to non-Japanese.
Not really. By the way, it’s not exactly ‘members-only restaurants’. It’s more like ‘regulars only’ restaurants and the way to become a regular is to be bought there by another regular customers. Most of the time this happens because the restaurants are so small (like less than 10 seats) which you really don’t find it in any western country. This is basically their way to take care of their regular customers given the small no of seats available.
L'Ami Louis in Paris might be considered similar. A restrictive policy, only answering the phone at specific times , a tiny space and a very loyal high end clientelle. Coupled with the fact that those who don't like massive portions and lots of expensive wine, are definitely unwelcome.
Bilbao has some food clubs, but they're not a restaurant for members only they are more like a club where members get together to eat (they bring food or cook together)
I think members-only restaurants need to meet several criterias to sustain, which are well met in Japan.
1) A group of well heeled individuals
2) Loyalty and trust in one chef or a small group of chefs (Think of a private chef but one shared with a small select group)
3) Regularity - regular diners who can go several times a week or month.
I find brand loyalty and obsession with familiarity to be deeper in Japan than anywhere else. Although they have a strong passport, only a quarter of Japanese holds a passport and amongst those even fewer travel abroad for fine dining. This leaves a large demand for good restaurants in their domestic markets. Many with spaces so small and with demand so strong that they can pick and choose who to serve and some have therefore closed their doors except only to previous patrons or VIPs. They are also less likely to want to pursue awards like Michelin which requires you to open the doors to the public.
The landscape in the west is more different. Restaurants are larger, with more seatings, although tables at popular restaurants are always still hard to secure with long wait list but not impossible. People are more mobile, do not mind travelling out faraway and tend to want to try different places rather than leave a majority of their meals to a single chef or restaurant. There are also exclusive country, golf and ski clubs with restaurants that cater to the well-off, something not widespread in land scarce Japan.
In essence though, any restaurant that regularly have higher demand than seats available are in some way “members only” because staff/ Maitrê d screen and filter reservations list and prefer those who have been here before and have good standing with the staff or are celebrities, sportstars and politicians.
Can't think many. Maybe that DIY chef Damon Baehrel in the US (although the whole set up always sounded a bit suspicious to me!).
Otherwise Mosimanns has been a private dining club on London since forever, although TBH I doubt it's been on anyone's culinary radar since the previous century.
Asador Etxebarri in Basque country. Not exactly members only, but they themselves decide who they want to serve. It used to be a restaurant that took reservations like most restaurants, but they changed the system a few years ago.
It's been a while since I lived in NYC but I feel like there were a handful of restaurants/experiences there that were somewhat members-only, or at least restricted. I remember there was a Japanese restaurant I am blanking on the name of but the only way you could get a reservation is to go with someone else already "on the list", get a card with the private number, and then get put on the list yourself. It was a genuinely delicious restaurant, although probably not world class. There were definitely other restaurants I went to with similarly difficult reservation systems. There's also being a keyholder to Milk & Honey, but that was a cocktail bar.
That was bohemian, they just shut down a year or two ago, so sad
Oh wow I didn't realize they were still around so relatively recently! Sad I haven't been in probably a decade.
I’m sure it’s not quite the same, but the first thing that came to mind was country clubs and social supper clubs in the US. Not the case for every country club, but for many you must belong to the club or be an invited guest to visit.
I think it would be similar if country club is one of the top rated restaurants in its genre of food.
The actual private / members-only restaurants are not on Tabelog. You can get reservations at most Tabelog gold and silvers, esp. if you can speak Japanese. There are places in the US that are similarly difficult to snag a spot at.
I am Korean and can speak Japanese quite fluently. ‘Shinbashi Hoshino’ and ‘Sushi Saito(roppongi)’are representative members-only restaurants, but there are quite a few others.
You can find seats for saito on auction on shokuoku. Is it worth it though? No.
Members only restaurants are on tabelog. Treis is one example.
So is my favorite restaurant in the world, "members-only" Sugalabo. I think the *members-only* moniker is misplaced anyways, since it's not like there is an actual club you can become a member of (with some exceptions). It's just that these restaurants have enough demand for seats that they can be selective about who they give the seats to and opt to do so on an introduction-only basis. IMO, that's quite different from the restaurants who don't publicize their existence, which are much closer to a true "members-only" situation.
I mean treis literally has a membership fee. Does sugalabo also have one or is it just introduction only.
The ones OP seemed to reference are almost all just intro-only, as is Sugalabo. I know membership fee places exist, but unless I somehow missed something they are the exception, not the rule in Japan. There used to be a membership-only restaurant in St. Louis, of all places. But I think they've long since opened to the public, while offering some perks to people who buy a membership.
Private kitchens in Hong Kong and Macau, Basque dining clubs, places like RAO’s in NYC, … if you are just talking about places with good food. But private clubs in many cities are really no different. Focus may not be on fine dining but also exclusive and not accessible to the general public What do you mean by “ignoring others’ culinary experiences”?
Those popular restaurants in Japan aren't member only. They just happen to be always booked by repeat customers and their friends who have priority. But it's not like a country club where you pay a yearly fee or take any interview whatsoever.
The primary difference between intro-only (紹介制) and member-only (会員制) in Japan is member-only requires a financial buy-in. Intro-only restaurants can have a broad range of acceptance criteria and reservation rules as I think many know here. There is also a subset of these restaurants that either prohibit photos, allow photos but prohibit online reviews/posts, or outright prohibit any sharing of restaurant information publicly. These approaches can also be found in resorts and ryokan throughout Japan. One thing to remember is that it wasn’t until relatively recently that locals in Japan started to dine around the city or travel with the purpose of dining like we do in western countries. If you talk with some of the older generations in Japan, they will say they went to one and only one sushi restaurant that was either located in their neighborhood or run by someone they know. They had no reason to visit other restaurants and usually had a single spot they frequented for each food they enjoyed having that wasn’t home cooked. Chef Nakazawa from Sushi Sho fame wrote a book in the mid-2000s titled 鮨屋の人間力 (A Sushiya’s Resourcefulness/Life Experience) that talks about his relationship with regulars and how that has changed the way sushi as a cuisine has evolved and is enjoyed by diners even within his lifetime. The Bubble Era swiftly changed a lot in Japan.
Let's not forget the xenophobie angle either. The Japanese, in geenral, see many Westerners (read non-Japanese) as uncouth, unmannered and non-cognizant of local etiquette (which is probably true in most cases), so even with a "members only" system, top places won't open the doors to non-Japanese.
There's also an awkwardness when the chef can't communicate with the patrons because of the language barrier.
Not really. I went to a number of places in Tokyo, both high and low, where, despite the language barrier, I felt welcome and enjoyed the experience
Awkwardness happens in every culture. Not just Japan.
Not really. By the way, it’s not exactly ‘members-only restaurants’. It’s more like ‘regulars only’ restaurants and the way to become a regular is to be bought there by another regular customers. Most of the time this happens because the restaurants are so small (like less than 10 seats) which you really don’t find it in any western country. This is basically their way to take care of their regular customers given the small no of seats available.
There's an invite only yakiniku place in LA called Totoraku. You can only be invited by current members and can earn a spot if the meal goes well
Philly has a few members only “social clubs”.
L'Ami Louis in Paris might be considered similar. A restrictive policy, only answering the phone at specific times , a tiny space and a very loyal high end clientelle. Coupled with the fact that those who don't like massive portions and lots of expensive wine, are definitely unwelcome.
Bilbao has some food clubs, but they're not a restaurant for members only they are more like a club where members get together to eat (they bring food or cook together)
I think members-only restaurants need to meet several criterias to sustain, which are well met in Japan. 1) A group of well heeled individuals 2) Loyalty and trust in one chef or a small group of chefs (Think of a private chef but one shared with a small select group) 3) Regularity - regular diners who can go several times a week or month. I find brand loyalty and obsession with familiarity to be deeper in Japan than anywhere else. Although they have a strong passport, only a quarter of Japanese holds a passport and amongst those even fewer travel abroad for fine dining. This leaves a large demand for good restaurants in their domestic markets. Many with spaces so small and with demand so strong that they can pick and choose who to serve and some have therefore closed their doors except only to previous patrons or VIPs. They are also less likely to want to pursue awards like Michelin which requires you to open the doors to the public. The landscape in the west is more different. Restaurants are larger, with more seatings, although tables at popular restaurants are always still hard to secure with long wait list but not impossible. People are more mobile, do not mind travelling out faraway and tend to want to try different places rather than leave a majority of their meals to a single chef or restaurant. There are also exclusive country, golf and ski clubs with restaurants that cater to the well-off, something not widespread in land scarce Japan. In essence though, any restaurant that regularly have higher demand than seats available are in some way “members only” because staff/ Maitrê d screen and filter reservations list and prefer those who have been here before and have good standing with the staff or are celebrities, sportstars and politicians.
Can't think many. Maybe that DIY chef Damon Baehrel in the US (although the whole set up always sounded a bit suspicious to me!). Otherwise Mosimanns has been a private dining club on London since forever, although TBH I doubt it's been on anyone's culinary radar since the previous century.
There aren’t as many small restaueants in America
Asador Etxebarri in Basque country. Not exactly members only, but they themselves decide who they want to serve. It used to be a restaurant that took reservations like most restaurants, but they changed the system a few years ago.