10 Kyoto Must-Try Culinary Delights

Though I spent most of my Asia trip eating epic food, I feel my culinary experiences in Kyoto deserve their own entry. From horse meat sushi to red bean mush-filled raw dough-esque pastries, here we go, in no particular order…

The Best of Kyoto Cuisine

1. Conveyor belt sushi

Sushi does not get much more traditional than this. You sat down at the ‘bar’, and just started inspecting the little plates of sushi, maki, sweet potatoes and raw horse meat that were sliding by in front of you on their little conveyor belt.

Whatever struck your fancy, you just took it and ate it. The colour or the design on the plates determined the price (You had ‘normal’, ‘fancy’ and ‘red tuna with quail egg’.)  The waiter calculated your final bill from the number and style of plates you had stacked up in front of you at the end of your meal.

Needless to say, it was all scrumptious, though I did skip the raw horse meat. (And yes, apparently it’s a delicacy.)

 

2. Thrice cooked chicken

Yes, maybe ye fancy people have ordered a steak at a restaurant and requested for it to be raw, medium or well-done. But did you know that this can be done with chicken, too? (sort of)

The same evening as conveyor belt sushi I had dinner number 2 (yes, can you honestly say you should keep your dinners at one per day when in JAPAN?) at this famous chicken place one of my new-found Japanese friends took me and a bunch of the other hostellers too. Their specialty seemed to be chicken cooked at three different levels.

The first dish we got was the raw – a barely-butchered, basically uncooked chicken (ok, I’m sure it was cooked, but not much…). The second dish we got was scorched, BLACK chicken. See picture.

We also got ‘normal-cooked’ chicken.

I believe, however, they were all intentionally cooked that way, and apart from the alien texture of the ‘raw’ chicken, they were all extremely scrumptious.

We also sampled Japanes sake, of course, which came in little cups slightly bigger than a shot glass. It tasted of alcohol. There’s not much else I can say.

A lovely evening, and nice having two Japanese people with us too, who were able to order the right dishes and teach us the right way to eat the various delicacies.

The restaurant staff surprised us by bringing some extra dishes too…

Our last ‘dish’ will be revealed at the end…

3. Goodies on sticks

The next evening, with a different group of hostel pals, we found ourselves at another great Japanese restaurant. We ordered various foods, mostly meat and veggies on sticks, then got seconds of the stuff we liked. Also Japanese XL-sized beer.

 

4. Nishiki food market foods

Nishiki food market is a famous market a few minutes walk away from my hostel, just off Teramachi shopping street.

Though it boasted far fewer tasters than I hoped for (the exception being dozens and dozens of different types of pickles sold nearly literally at every other shop), I had a pleasant time strolling around. My lunch consisted of a few savoury pastries and a few sweet ones, some delicious, some less so.

Top 3 exotic goodies of Nishiki food market:

#3: Noodle-pastries. You can do a lot with a few noodles.

#2: The exquisite, succulent taste bud-pampering experience of…

I must admit, I didn’t try this one, I consider myself vastly inferior to food as complex and intricate as this.

#1: So, you enjoy eggs? Great. Oh, and you also enjoy a bit of good seafood? Excellent. How about sea creatures with their brains replaced by quail eggs?

Well, let me introduce you to…

If you, oh dearest reader, have any knowledge about my opinions on eating octopus, let alone octopus head, let alone octopus head with a popping, half-cooked egg in it… Well, I didn’t try it.

 

5. Japanese dumplings, gyoza

Highly recommended.

 

6. Hot (well, warm) canned coffee from vending machines

It’s true.

7. Green tea KitKat

 

8. Traditional salmony breakfast

It looks cool, I agree, but, as written in my travel journal: “verdict: hmm. ***. shlda gone w/ noodles” Ah well, culture. (I also had no local helpers by my side advising how exactly these should be eaten…)

9. Nama Yatsuhashis

THE BEST SWEET THING IN THE WORLD. I could give up drinking chocolate milk, playing Settlers, petting hamsters and eating Hanna’s cheesecake bites if I could just be eternally surrounded by them. (Okay, maybe I exaggerate. But you get my point.) So, remember the golden temple, Kinkakuji? Anyways, despite its sparkling beauty, the best was THE EDIBLES.

No need to define the word ‘perfect’ in dictionaries anymore, just insert this picture.

When I first tried a taster, my first words to K and A were, “So raw dough is a thing!?” I was astounded. My life had suddenly got 568% better.

Seriously, I would happily pursue an illegal marriage with these. I would give up my own life for these. Like seriously.

Ok yeah yeah we know, so what are they?

Yatsuhashis are Japanese confectionaries made out of glutinous rice flour, sugar and cinnamon, explains Wikipedia. They come in a variety of flavours, and have different perfection-themed pastes inside (red bean paste is the most traditional). I learnt later that they come in two styles – baked (yatsuhashi) and unbaked (nama yatsuhashi), explaining why the ones I tried tasted unbaked.

We walked through all the stalls, and I sampled every single nama yatsuhashi I could find (multiple times if the saleslady didn’t look at me too judgmentally).

Ah, it was bliss.

 

10. Finally,

if excellent flavour is not enough, Kyoto also provides you with entertainment for your eyes as well, as you try and figure out how to appoint the herdness of noodles without entering the backfat.

And now some art for you from the thrice cooked chicken place…

What is your favourite Japanese delicacy?

4eva yours,

Emzy

xxx