I’m very excited because today I will be going to Nishiki market, which is the kitchen
place of Kyoto. I will be exploring it with Ninja food tours. So I’m very excited to
get some insight into the culture, into the food, into the marketplace. Come along.
When you see like these flags outside the restaurants it means that they’re open open
for business. When they aren’t there that means they’re closed.
i’m here with Yuma of Ninja food tours.
How long have you had this company, ninja food tours?
It’s been three years. This is our third year. Third year? And what inspired you to
do food tours and why ninja? That caught me, that ninja part.
Ninja is a very catchy word but ninja also means expert, so with our food tours, we are
hoping for you to you know, for you to be a food expert in Japan.
OK, I want to be a food expert.
And I used to do corporate finance job in the states to, but I just got bored being
glued to my PC all day long. I thought why not come come back to Japan and do something
different.
So right now we are at Issen Yoshoku -- it is the first restaurant To sell okonomiyaki
in Kyoto.
I thought they were real.
So what do you think of the okonomiyaki here? She doesn’t say much.
The way this is different from other okonomiyaki is like in Osaka,... Osaka Will mix the okonomiyaki
all together all the ingredients, but Kyoto will create it like a pancake or a crêpe
wrapped up. Now inside there are scallions, onions, some egg, shrimp and ginger. Shrimp
there’s konyaku in here which is like a diet food, there’s no calories. I love it.
That means I can eat a lot.
A whole medley going on in my mouth.
So many ingredients, a lot of things just exploding all at the same time. Osaka‘s
okonomiyaki has kind of already found that unison melted together and it creates one
experience.
This (Kyoto) one creates an experience where your mouth is working in many different ways,
many different flavors are going off individually.
So this one is like multi flavored pop rocks.
There are some okonomiyaki restaurants where you’ll get the ingredients and you’ll
have to cook it and prepare it for yourself.
Over 170 shops. Kyoto cuisine -there’s a lot of cooking with that dashi broth. I smell
a little bit of the bonito in here with the Dashi. It’s tamago is very soft and kind
of fluffy light, the dashi broth kind of pulls it all in. It gives it a little bit more of
a hearty flavor, not eggy.
In fact it takes away the eggy ness of it.
This is called hamo eel.
I’m not a huge fan of eel but this tastes amazing.
The tempura batter around it just so crispy. You can taste the oil in it.
The eel itself is very fluffy it’s very fluffy I love the salt. I’m tasting the
salt granules.
Oh, it’s good. I want more.
This hamo is definitely a must try in Kyoto. It’ll rock your mouth.
And that’s takoyaki.
During peak hour, it’s hard not to feel a little overwhelmed by the crowds, but this
market has got an interesting variety of foods that has the flavor of Kyoto. You kind of
have a diversity going on here.
There’s a lot of things. As well souvenirs, cool souvenirs.
Snoopy is not very Japanese but no harm in checking this place out.
They have snoopy dango.
Uji It’s kind of like the home of Matcha tea green tea.. Peanuts and bean jam I don’t
know.
A Charlie Brown inspired desert. Even though there’s a level of pedestrian quality to
the food here, there’s a sort of mixture between street food but household cuisine.
So you’ll find a there’s a strong sense of pride going into the food here.
You won’t find too many foods that are hyped or Instagram mobile because the foods here,
they actually taste really good.
This is where you have Kyoto meat. See you have a quail, sparrow, duck.
That’s eel guts. And eel.
OK so this when you can pick like the squid and she will grill it for you right there.
All this is the Kyoto okonomiyaki, so they fold it over like a crepe or a taco. Wow.
That’s cute.
In this market you find a lot of signs that say no eating and walking.
You’re supposed to eat in front of or off to the side of the vendor that you bought
the food from.
It’s also supposed to help dissuade like dumping your trash anywhere else.
One thing Kyoto is really known for is for their way of preserving foods, so in this
case, some things are dry, other things are pickled and that’s things that you would
certainly try or experience in Kyoto foods.
These pickled vegetables here are pickled through the things that they ferment the sake
with. So you’ll find after they squeeze the rice and ferment it for the sake, they
will use it for the food and vegetables.
It’s kind a looks like a radish. Daikon. This is pickled bamboo shoots.
This is supposed to be a specialty of Kyoto. It’s pickled with soy sauce. Very nice and
the bamboo shoot is very soft.
I like that. And almost has kind of like a Little bit of salty plum like flavor to it.
Let’s try the egg plant. I didn’t know you could pickle them.
I have some wasabi with sesame right here, nice. It’s interesting how this market or
Japanese food here has all the small foods that you would never think are anything other
than vegetables.
OK this is the actual wasabi that they used to make wasabi. So this is the actual bonito
that they shave down to have these bonito flakes.
Actually our strawberry season is in winter because we do eat strawberry shortcake on
Christmas Day. A lot of Japanese farmers use green houses to farm strawberries.
I feel like it’s light. And you said it’s water down. Yeah. It’s still sweet though.
It’s still very sweet.
Fishcake is another thing you might want to try when you’re in Kyoto because there’s
no food or rivers around here in Kyoto and there is a strong sensibility about fresh
Foods in Japan, you find that the seafood that they do have they found a way to keep
the flavor fresh or alive.
Butter potato fish cake. It’s basically a fish cake with soft potato in it with a
buttery taste. I don’t even know how to relate it to anything I’ve tried, because
I haven’t tried this like anything like this before.
Whats in there? It’s ginger and cod fish.
Definitely the ginger is kind of like absorbing some of the fish cake taste. It’s kind a
got a very gingery zesty feel to it. I feel like it’s cleaning my palate somehow from
the fish cake.
One must try thing is the tofu here in Kyoto and that’s because the water quality of
Kyoto happens to be really good, so like the tofu is farmed in this water, creating a good
quality.
Now the shop has a lot of tofu products. They have soy milk donuts.
You can smell it from here. Ha.
Smells like good old fashion funnel cake.
Lightly sugared. This reminds me a funnel cake, Slightly milky flavor.
It would be good for dipping.
Very creamy.
It’s different with sauce but it’s also got a very sesame flavor.
It’s not like the ones I’ve tried back home in the states. Thank you.
Look at this character. For ¥350 I got the brown sugar soy bean flour.
This soft serve is made of soy milk.
Actually there are a lot of things on this menu that I want to get.
I already tried the donuts. I was going to go back for more, just to take it on the road.
But this sidetracked me.
There’s no eating and walking, so obviously I have limited choices. How to do this with
my camera. Because I only have one hand to hold this in one hand to hold the camera I
guess I’m gonna have to do The leak.
OK, Kinako. I inhaled a bunch of Kinako, which is soy bean powder. I totally forgot.
It’s a different flavor. It’s not milk.
It’s kind of got that earthy flavor of Kanako. It’s not super sugary like ice cream.
It’s lightly sugared, you can taste a little bit of the brown sugar. So I found see this
is nice. OK.
Some there to how I tried to talk to that was milky and creamy, it’s kind of got that
like same idea. Good choice. And I’ve got a cute little character right there.
OK right here I have some green tea.
This is one of the teas which Kyoto is known for as well as matcha green tea.
Next up I’m going to an all matcha shop to try some Matcha ice cream.
Oh, she’s cutting the match mochi.
Since this is a shop with all Matcha products from desserts, tees, to snacks. Wow this looks
a little funky.
It feels very light. Very milky with a little bit of bitterness to it.
Peekaboo, you can see a little cone in the back.
Look at this consistency right here, this.
Another concentrated form of Matcha is actually really strong and bitter like bitter, so a
lot of these products are mixed with Matcha.
It’s kind of soft in the flavor a little.
Thanks for watching took out my Japan video playlist for more in-depth videos about these
places and check back from our GRRR travel videos where I take you inside my solo travel
adventures.
Comment below to let me know what you think of this video.
Till then travel safe smart and fun and I will see you in Kyoto. May the GRRR be with
you.