Kyoto Foodie: Where and what to eat in Kyoto

Wagashi: Kuromitsu Dango (黒みつだんご)

Kuromitsu Dango is a simple and tasty wagashi that combines mochi, syrupy kuromitsu and powdery kinako.

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Demise: Narazuke Moriguchizuke Tsukemono

The food courts of department stores in Japan are a near other-worldly experience. The offerings are exquisite in taste and beauty and nearly boundless in regional and seasonal variation. In addition to the regular stores, there are ‘demise‘, small stands that sell a product from a different region or local, small shop [...]

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Train Food and Seasonal Everything in Japan: Sakura Onigiri, Nanohana Tempura Onigiri (さくらおにぎり・菜の花天婦羅おにぎり)

Just before catching a bullet back to Kyoto, I ducked into the omiyage/gourmet food court at Shinagawa Shinkansen Station (in Tokyo) to get some omiyage for Paku and some ‘bento’ for my two and a half hour train ride back to ‘old’ Japan.

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Ichigo Daifuku: Spring Has Arrived! ‘Good Fortune’ Rice Cake with Fresh Strawberry (苺大福)

Ichigo Daifuku (苺大福) is a modern wagashi (Japanese confection) that combines the traditional daifuku (大福), literally ‘great fortune’, with a fresh strawberry!
Ichigo Daifuku signifies the coming of spring as strawberries come into season at the end of winter.

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Nishiki Market - Kyoto-no-Daidokoro (Kyoto’s Kitchen) 錦市場商店街

At Nishiki Market there are many old ‘shinese‘ shops selling everything from Japanese pickles (tsukemono) to the finest Japanese cutlery, as well as a number newer and novel shops, such as tofu doughnuts. Shinise come in the form of an old shop renovated and transformed into a vegetable [...]

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Gion Koishi — Kakigori (shaved ice) in Gion (祇園小石)
Hard to believe that ’shaved ice’ could be elegant and sophisticated, so Kyoto!

Gion Koshi, ameya (candy shop) is surely the best known place in Gion, and probably Kyoto for kakigori (shaved ice). Shaved ice in Japan actually has a very long history, dating back more than a [...]

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