【Kyoto】Strolling and Eating at Nishiki Market, “Kyoto’s kitchen”

We arrived at Kyoto Station. The time was 11:44. We hadn’t had lunch yet. So…this time we went to Nishiki Market, the “kitchen of Kyoto,” to have lunch! Since we had come all the way to Kyoto, there were many things we wanted to eat! Nishiki Market is truly a jewel box of food where you can enjoy a little bit of everything.

Four hundred years ago, Nishiki Market was one of the three fish wholesalers authorized by the Edo shogunate in Kyoto. Although this was the beginning of Nishiki Market as a full-fledged fish market, in fact, it is estimated that a market already existed in this area long before that, in the Heian period. So, Nishiki Market has a history of 1,000 years. Amazing.

Nishiki Market is often said as “Kyoto’s kitchen” because it is the place where all the seasonal ingredients are gathered. Not only do it offers ingredients necessary for kyoto cuisine restaurants such as kyo yasai (Kyoto vegetables), yuba (bean curd), namafu (wheat gluten), hamo (pike conger eel), and river fish from Lake Biwa, but it also has ingredients necessary for “obanzai” (side dishes) for home cook in Kyoto. Nishiki Market, where one can find Kyoto’s unique ingredients, is very popular not only with locals but also with tourists. I visited on a Sunday around noon, and the market was so crowded that it was difficult to walk through. It is fun just to walk around, so it is understandable that so many people visit the market.

Kyoto pickles. Looks good! The taste of pickles made in the traditional way is different every year.

My daughter wanted to eat crab kamaboko-yaki. Crab kamaboko, not crab, for 400 yen? I was a little bit surprised (I felt that was expensive), but this was also a memory of the trip. If the daughter is happy, the parents are happy too.

With a sideways glance at the Kobe beef steak skewers, we move on to the next restaurant…

Yuba was still on my mind, so I decided to try the Yuba Cream Croquette. The croquettes are deep-fried using Kiyoe, a top quality olive oil produced at an olive farm in South Australia. Delicious.

Taiyaki with a shelf life of only one minute. Taiyaki is a popular baked fish-shaped cake with various fillings such as “anko (sweet red beans” and “custard cream”.

It was very popular and there was a long line. An-butter (butter & red bean paste) is the most popular, but I prefer custard cream. It was freshly made, warm, and very hot. The custard was very delicious.

Black bean tea we got at the store. It was fragrant and delicious. It warmed me up and made me feel warm.

Roasted chestnuts were also sold at the same store.

I walked around only a small part of Nishiki Market. Nishiki-koji-dori, or Nishiki Market, stretches about 390 meters from east to west, and is lined with a variety of stores on both sides of the street. It is arcade-covered, so you can enjoy a stroll even on a rainy day!

Nishiki Market is a fun place to store, and we hope you will visit and enjoy it.