Japanese STREET FOOD in Kyoto!! Nishiki Market & High-End KAISEKI in Japan!

welcome to Japan I'm Luke Martin and this is our street food guide to [Music] Kyoto so this morning I'm at the Nishiki Market this is known as Kyoto's kitchen it's like your One-Stop shop for all traditional Kyoto foods and it's quite touristy but they're serving very traditional authentic foods from kioto you have to visit here if you're a tourist it's a covered shopping street it's been here for over a th years but the actual building itself has been here for about 400 years so we're just going to take a tour through the Nishiki Market show you guys all the delicious foods to try and we're here with Japan Wonder travel the best tour company in all of Japan if you are doing any trip to Japan make sure to check out Japan Wonder travel cuz they have all kinds of Great Food Tours in Japan and we're on their Niki tour right now so let's [Music] go [Music] so for our first stop on the nashiki market tour we stopped at this tofu shop so specializing in all things tofu but what really caught my eye was this automatic dut dispensing machine they have at front so it's kind of just like plopping the donuts into the oil and then moving them along like conveyor belt style but these aren't your typical Donuts these are soy milk Donuts so soy milk is what's used to make tofu this is a tofu shop and we've got a bag of the soy milk Donuts here these guys are super fluffy tiny little things not covered in Sugar just plain let's give this a try still hot and fresh oh man they're so fluffy they're like a biting into a pillow not a strong flavor I can't say it tastes like tofu a little bit sweet all about the texture though just fluffy yum so we have another one of their products another uh soy based product this is the tofu skin they call it tofu skin it's kind of just like the top layer of the soy way that they kind of peel off and I've got this shoyo here I'm going to put soy sauce a little bit in the corner here and then they've also given me some Wasabi and just look at the texture that one of my favorite things also very good in like a hot pot very good [Music] fried the flavor is definitely just the wasabi the show you but the texture of the tou skin is like silky silky smooth delicate try another one here get a little bit of that Wasabi well actually that's really yummy the texture is beautiful silky smooth yum if you're a tofu lover this it's basically just thin slices of tofu yumet might had a lot of good looking food that you want to try it all at once but the most important R is you have to finish your food before you get going um eating while walking is not allowed here so have to finish it first one more thing this tofu shop has is its own tofu vending machine they have vending machines for everything here in Japan they've got tofu they've got the Yuba which we just tried the tofu skin and they even have these dog treats that are soy based dog treats healthy for your dog you can find everything here in Japan in a vending machine [Music] so we just came right next door to the tofu shop we just had donuts and now I'm having uh ice cream so definitely not the healthiest breakfast you can have here in Kyoto that's for sure but I couldn't pass up on trying this because this isn't your typical soft serve ice cream as you can see it's got this red tinge and that's because this is saimi ice cream so Japanese seven spice it's like a Chili spice that you can put on pretty much anything here never seen it in ice cream though so this will be my first time [Music] trying it's actually not as strong as I thought tastes pretty much just like a regular vanilla ice cream oh actually once you swallow it you can start to feel a little bit of the spice in the back of your throat it's not spicy but it's a Japanese seven spice so it's like a complex flavor yeah actually the longer it sits on your tongue the more you can taste this aimi actually really good spicy ice cream this is definitely the first time I've ever tried it it's actually really good this is it right here Sashimi ice cream [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] awesome so we just stopped at another shop that's selling all kinds of different things they they're making some fresh tempura so battered and fried uh different things but they also had this really interesting looking uh I it looks like crab lag but it's not totally a crab lag this is it right here you can see it's way too big to be an actual crab lag this was uh 400 Yen it's actually a mix of crab and uh fish cake so it's like imitation crab let me try to pull it apart oh it's super super string I'm just going to grab with my fingers here and this one has been grilled over top of u a gas grill and go for a little dip oh it's just like falling apart little dip in the soy sauce here mhm MH it's imitation crab it's pretty good not my favorite a little bit Smoky and the texture is like fish cake there's a ton of stuff to try here some of it a little bit catered towards Taurus maybe like that fish cake but some of it very authentic but there's just so much to see here look at all this fresh seafood so I just popped into a little isaka and Kyoto is very famous for it's sake because of the water quality the groundw is really high quality pure groundw they can make really good quality sake here in Kyoto and this is definitely not part of a balanced breakfast today's video ice cream donuts and sake I don't recommend eating that for breakfast but we're on a tour so that's what we're going to have you can see that served in this little box and then it's overflowing that's the traditional style so after you drink it you can take the box and pour it in let's give this a try I can smell it already oh it's actually really really good super smooth if you've never had sake it's not like a strong alcohol but it's also not like a wine it's got a sweetness to it it's rice wine goes down very very smooth we're going to have some food with this though too so we've got some food to enjoy with our sake the first one back here is the um egg omelette but this is a special Kyoto style it's called Dashi Yaki so it's it's a omelette made with Dashi there's also green onions in it's different than the one in Tokyo which will be like sweet this one's more Savory and then this back here is called nfu it's a gluten wheat gluten that's been deep fried and it's topped with miso you can see let's try a little piece of this omelette back here though you see just how juicy it is all of that Dashi coming out of it to Kyoto Specialties [Music] here yeah oh that is really really good that burst in your mouth with all the Dashi a little bit of a green onion flavor taste it down with some Sak yeah yeah that's totally different than the tamago that I've tried at like sushi restaurants in Japan it's usually almost like a dessert a dander meal it's really sweet sorry in the tago in Tokyo completely different than the one here in Kyoto this is going to be my first time ever trying this one it's called n mafu so it's it's fried gluten oh the yeah oh wow it's kind of like osji really gummy chewy and then it's got that Tangy kind of miso on top goes good with the sake too there's some daon radish shredded or grated on the side here and then with a little bit of soy sauce you can put it on top of this I should cut it in these are really juicy and good I love [Music] this totally totally different than the tomago you're probably familiar with usually with sushi this is really good nice with the D top up my my sake here that's so cool such an interesting culture around drinking here that is super good sake too I thought it was going to be like too much to have at 118 but honestly it's super smooth and delicious finished off with our sake and the nice part about Niki Market is you can just stroll along and every stall has something new to see and try so we're just like 5 10 m down from the last one we're at the next one [Music] [Music] now so this next shop has some different types of seafood some of them grilled some tempura and this is something I've actually never tried before it's called H so this is a sea eel there are different types of eels to try here in Japan there's unagi there's anago and then this is hamo I've tried the other two but I've never tried this one before so tempura fried and uh salted you can see little piece of fish on the inside and apparently these are pretty bony so takes quite a technique to make sure there's no bones in it let's try [Music] really crunchy crispy and then nice fresh soft fish on the inside salty too you don't really need a sauce for this and just have it like this with a little bit of salt on top actually really good you see it's got pretty thick batter on it but it's also a fair piece of fish on the inside or [Music] eel so he's chopping up the humo here and you can see that he's he's already removed all the bones but you can see there's like millions of little cuts that he had to make in each one to remove all the bones to get that beautiful delicate fish and this is the final result and then over here she's frying them [Applause] [Music] up [Music] tip for coming to Nishiki Market well go on Japan Wonder travels tour first of all but if you are coming by yourself uh come early in the morning most of the shops open around 9:30 10 but if you come around noon it's going to get insanely busy in here Kyoto is definitely suffering from a bit of over tourism so you're going to want to plan your trip accordingly so this little guy right here is something you're going to see at the Niki Market because this is one of the most famous things to try here this is called Taco tago which means octopus egg so inside of the the head of this little guy here there is a boiled egg I guess maybe it's a quail's egg because this one's pretty small and years years ago I came to Kyoto and I remember trying this and I was not a fan whatsoever so let's try it out let's see if my taste has changed [Music] yeah it's really juicy look how much juices coming out of that yeah it's got a boiled egg on top it's really like strong Seafood flavor with a little bit of almost like a tastes like a sweet sauce on the outside and this bright red octopus just such a strong Seafood flavor it's really overpowering yeah still not a huge fan but definitely can handle it better than the first time I tried it let's try one of these little [Music] tentacles chewy fishy not my favorite but you got to try it I don't think I've ever seen this anywhere else in Japan only here at the Niki market and M's going to try for the first time now just want to say this is slute forc me to try this one so I have to try oops to be honest kind of Scar but actually The Taste is not as scary as I thought it's going to be it's a little sweet but because it's kind of like a it's sweet and it's cold but I don't know this is like a symbolic food of kyodo that you have to try and you have to come here and try and you know you ate the egg over the head look at look at the top now look at this it's hard to I can't bite it anyways it's it's not as scary as I thought like L scared me it is a little bit weird that it's s of cold though I think the cold thing is the weird part yeah not a huge fan of the octopus but apparently mink likes it a lot so maybe it's just that I don't have the Asian Taste Buds that she does but we're going to go right across the street to the next one we're going to have a beef cotlet so this is a beef shop they've got all kinds of different uh beef products Wu here in Japan and anytime you have beef it's going to probably be the best beef you've ever eaten at least for me every time I come here you get a steak you get anything with beef it's just the quality is just so much better than anywhere else in the world but we actually ordered up their beef uh cutlet or croquet these are also really delicious you can get these all across Japan they're these breaded deep fried sometimes stuff with beef minced beef or you can get them with different things this one is fresh fresh out of the fryer super hot probably going to burn my mouth but try it anyway Co you can see the steam coming off of it it's so delicious I think there's onions in there as well minced beef super juicy but so crunchy on the outside yeah this is the quality of the beef be is just insane that is awesome yum so that's it for the Nishiki Market really amazing Market you have to visit it uh Kyoto is definitely not as famous as some of the other cities in Japan for its food scene such as Osaka which is very famous but what Kyoto is really known for is its beautiful ancient architecture its temples so we're finished off with our Nishiki market tour we're going to head on a little bit of a temple tour and we're going to show you some Temple food some vegetarian Buddhist Cuisine but first let's go explore the beautiful yuanji [Music] Temple [Music] so we are at rangi temple one of the thousands of temples you can visit here in Kyoto this is the city of beautiful temples and Japan is known for its Four Seasons we visited previously in Sakura season but now it is Autumn it is fall you can see the colors of the um they call these migi These are the little Maple I don't think they're maple leaves but they kind of look like maple leaves and it is just beautiful colors of orange and yellow and green and red this is maybe even more beautiful than SAS and actually for sure this is more beautiful it's so much more colorful and yeah everywhere he looks just like a stunning picture opportunity we're going to go inside the temple now it's a famous rock garden Temple so let's go see the rock [Music] guard so this is the ranii rock garden probably the most famous rock garden in all of Japan so it's kind of kind of like a gravel area that they rake that gives it this sort of wavy texture and then there's a couple big rocks uh in between that have a little bit of moss growing on them uh it's like a zen garden but I will say the peacefulness is kind of taken away when the big tour groups arrive I came to this exact same Temple about 8 years ago and I had the whole place to myself I was able to sit there and utter silence you know Japan is definitely having a problem with over tourism the uh highest recorded Rec record of Taurus coming in was just October 2023 even higher than prepandemic levels so it spoils it a little bit but still an incredibly beautiful temple one of the most popular in Kyoto and then with the autumn colors you get these pops of red and yellow it just makes it even more beautiful so that was the temple with the rock garden but honestly I think the park surrounding it is even more beautiful it's more of like a garden the entire thing very well man cured and we're just going to take a walk around take in all these beautiful sites of these incredible autumn [Music] colors I love Japanese Gardens every time I come to Japan I love to visit Japanese Gardens but in the fall it's just like such an incredible Vibe it probably is my new favorite season even better than sakuro season and here at the ranii temple there's actually a restaurant inside of the temple grounds which is all vegetarian Buddhist monk Cuisine which is famous here in kyota so we're going to go have a tofu [Music] lunch this has got to be one of the most beautiful restaurants I've ever been in in my entire life this is directly inside of the real Ani Temple grounds and they only serve one dish it's yofu it's like a tofu hot pot and sitting on tatami floor sitting on the ground look at this beautiful view behind me in a traditional Japanese building just waiting for the yofu to arrive this is just incredibly incredibly beautiful though so this is their only dish on the menu their yo dofu it's a tofu hot pot so traditional Buddhist monk food there's a lot of monks here in Kyo tofu looks like some veggies in there I see like one one little shitake Mushroom in there let me grab a piece of tofu here and then we've also got this sauce back here I'm just going to dump the whole thing in the sauce here and try that so delicate silky silky smooth sauce is just very light showya sauce with some sesame seeds but all the flavors coming from that sauce cuz it's a very light um not very flavorful dish whatsoever I'm so bad at sitting on the floor my legs are killing me right now but got to got to do it cuz it's part of the atmosphere part of the experience also have a little pickled daon here pickles in Kyoto are very very famous a little bit sweet actually quite salty this is just such a peaceful restaurant listening to the water running looking at at the beautiful leaves uncomfortably sitting on the tatami floor but still wether so coming from manishi Market to here it's like a different world this is so peaceful and one R here you have to be good at Ying Chopstick cut it in a half let see if I'm good enough oh yeah fting my milk there is really a ton of tofu in here just a little bit of veggies as well very healthy healthy food it's simple but delicious and yeah like Mick was saying you're going to be really good at using Chopsticks to deal with a silk silky smooth to and I think I'm going to have to get my lag amputated after this completely cut off the cirulation so if you're ever visiting the rangi temple you can try out this incredibly beautiful uh restaurant tofu restaurant the food good but the view is what it's all about here their Garden is just stunning I want one of these at my house in the future so we just left the tofu restaurant and now we in a beautiful walking Street of Koto which is also one of the most famous tourist spot and because it's getting colder I just got myself a Mach latte that's good warming me up so this is n zaka it's a beautiful little walking street that leads to the K Mizu Dera Temple which is our ultimate destination it gets dark really early here like 4:45 Sunset so we're trying to get there before the sunset but I don't know if we're going to make [Music] it this is insane the amount of Taurus here is just crazy look at this it is just literally an endless flow of tourists lots of Chinese tourists lots of American tourists lots of Japanese tourists it is just seriously crowded here like I have never seen anything quite like it and tie toist too and a lot of tie tourist too you hear all kinds of different languages here we've just made it up to the gate to the entrance to K misera we're going to try to make our way up try to swim our way up through the crowds it's like salmon swimming Upstream [Music] so tonight for dinner we are at restaurant called kobu This is a Michelin star restaurant and they're specializing in kaiseki so kaisi is the quintessential Kyoto Cuisine it's similar to an omaki where as it's a set men menu chosen by the chef and it's seasonal so every season it's changing so we're going to sit down for a multi-course meal at this beautiful restaurant traditional Japanese style and show you all the different dishes that we're going to be trying tonight before our meal starts we're just taking a little tour of kobu and it's quite an intense operation that they have here so it's so seasonal that they actually have different plates and dishes for every single month so 12 different sets not only the plates changing every single month but they also have different artwork for every single month to kind of represent the season what you're seeing around Kyoto so it's a serious operation so there's 12 different private dining rooms all private dining rooms here at kobu that's the traditional kaisaki style so we're going to go back upstairs and start eating so we've got our own private room just like everybody who dines at kobu and we got an incredible view of a little Japanese garden there it's sitting on the floor but there's actually like an indent in the floor so luckily I'm not going to destroy my knees at this [Music] restaurant so let the show begin the first dish has arrived well actually starting off with the sake so she just came and brought us a a beautiful looking sake and we have our first dish this is actually a crab dish so it's crab that's been wrapped in turnup and then there's some crab meat here that is mixed with like the the crab miso or like the head juice jues and this just looks absolutely beautiful even the presentation of the dish is so beautiful he was just telling us a story downstairs that sometimes the new newbies working here will maybe break one of these plates and some of these plates go for like hundreds thousands of dollars let's try our first bite oh my gosh yum I'm not sure if it's Yuzu but it's got a jelly on the top that has like a little bit of a citrusy flavor and then like a crunchy turnup and and then creamy crab meat on the inside oh my gosh we're off to a good start and it's served nice and chilled taste with a little basake so this is the the crab meat mixed with some of the tamali the the head juices really delicate Super Fresh yum dish number two beautiful presentation this is a a flat fish and then it's served on top of this is called Shiro you can see right here it's actually Cod sperm Sachs definitely doesn't sound appetizing but it's very popular here in Japan and then it's got the ponu sauce and then served with some um some Wasabi let's [Music] try it's very good it's actually very light in flavor not a very strong flavor well hit a Wasabi ponzu the sperm sack explodes in your mouth to put it bluntly all right my first time trying the sperm sack oops destroy it [Music] already how do you describe that GRE me m mhm I mean if you don't know what it is is just like you eating jelly with all of a sudden like birds in your mouth it's it's good experience definitely the first time I've ever eaten the the sperm Sachs on camera probably the last too and that Wasabi like the real Wasabi here just hits differently like so much better than the horseradish or whatever you're getting in Canada it just goes straight up your nose though you got to go really gentle with it dish numberers three and beautiful lacquer Bowl this is part of the experience just seeing all these incredible presentations and this one is a crab soup so it's like actually like a crab dumpling and I'm not sure if you can tell but there is an entire crab shell there let me just try the soup first with some Yuzu on top as well it's like a really thick kind of gelatinous soup you can taste the crab a little bit salty a little bit Sweet let's try some of the the crab meat or that dumpling inside so I'm not really sure what I'm what I'm looking at here but it seems as though yes okay so this is a crab shell and then the inside is like they they called it a dumpling but it's it's like steamed I'm guessing oh yeah look at all that crab meat lots of crab so far in this meal no complaints at all that's even better than the first crab dish super super fresh crab stringy just melt in your mouth I'm not totally sure what's in that soup but it's really like complex Rich broth yum there's a lot of meat in there I'm just going to keep picking away at this this is awesome getting deeper into the the crab dumpling here and you can see that bright orange crab row those eggs oh this one's really good there's a ton of meat in there it's really Pack full yeah so delicate you know crab here in Japan is just something you have to try like everybody talks about the wagu beef or the Otoro tuna but the crab here is some of the best crab every time I come here yum okay next up beautiful box once again oh and I think like part of the part of the reason they serve it in a box like that is because as soon as you open it you get all of the aroma this is a fried dish so this is taro that has a mullet r um and then it's on top of a little bit of a some sort of a gelatin as well and oh man I'm just destroying it I hate doing this because the it looks so beautiful you don't even want to touch it but you have to if you want to eat it and then I can see some Yuzu on top of it as well let's try M creamy creamy Taro and then mullet row so dried mullet eggs on the inside very salty but the Taro is just so creamy and then whatever that batter is that's fried in is amazing you get a little bit of Yuzu and then I think that's like a Yuzu gelatin or something on the bottom there as well this is very unique I've never had anything like it that Taro just completely melts in your mouth you okay next up we've got the a dish served in this earth and wear pot it's kind of bubbling away here and this is going to be my my first time ever trying this dish actually quite a few things so far in this meal the the Cod sperm Zach and the uh mullet row I actually have never tried that either and then this one right here if you look inside we have a somewhat controversial menu item this is sharks fin so very popular in not only in Japan but also in uh China it's full of collagen full of fat and it's just falling apart in my Chopstick so I got to go in with my spoon there's also some tofu in there as well and uh like it or not this is definitely something Japanese people like to eat let's [Music] try wow the texture is not what I was expecting at all it's it's almost like the texture of the crab like it's stringy it kind of falls apart in your mouth it's got layers and layers and layers but it's also very like glutenous and fatty and then this broth that it's in is a really thick and creamy broth it's actually very good like the the texture is incredible somewhere between like a mushroom and like crab meat I'd say somewhere between there so I'm going to try a tofu here oops M doesn't taste like a normal tofu I can taste a little bit of like Sesame I'm not sure but it's delicious I'm not sure you can tell on the camera but it is like super stringy like I don't know how to explain it like the crab meat like it just falls apart piece by piece or almost like if you've ever Stingray it's kind of like Stingray so my first time trying it I mean it's a very premium ingredient you're only going to get it at a restaurant that's highend like this one I think it's more of a texture thing than a flavor thing the flavor is dominated by that broth which is like a Dashi with some chicken stock some ginger that tofu is really different than normal tofu too it it has Sesame in it you can taste sesame and it's not like it doesn't kind of melt like a tofu but it's more like got a texture of almost like Mochi like it's kind of gummy chewy in your mouth it's different good though yeah you can taste Sesame it's like mji it tastes like Sesame mooji almost like a tonga and with Mochi or with Sesame so we're nearing the end of our our meal we've got a couple couple other things that just came out this here is our rice dish and it's got a piece of anago so eel and then there's some really interesting ingredient in there it's called lily bulb like the Lily um flour I guess and then the bulbs right there and then we've got a miso soup in us here it's a red miso I love this Locker wear and then we've got some um this is like a kelp that's been um cooked in soy sauce and then pickled squash back there but let me just try piece of this anago with some of the rice getting quite full though they serve the rice at the end of the meal to kind of top you up and get you full I'm going chease it with one of these Lily Bal so many ingredients I've never had before in this meal even after eight years of doing this there's still things I've never even tasted before didn't even know you could eat yum it's actually a little bit sweet it's got the texture of a like a boiled potato and that's a beautifully cooked anago eel on top of the rice yeah this is going to fill me up for sure what a meal for dessert we've got a beautiful uh coconut ice cream with strawberries and if you know any about Japan you know that the strawberries here are of the highest quality in the world and sometimes they can go for just astronomical prices wow there's also some caramelized nuts in there as well that strawberry is just so juicy and I will say I've eaten at a lot of restaurants a lot of fancy restaurants like this one and one thing that these fancy restaurants tend to screw up is dessert not here that is an amazing dessert that's probably the best thing of the meal actually the dessert incredible coconut ice cream with caramelized I think that might be um Chestnut and then with the strawberry oh my God that's like the best dessert I've ever had yum it's like caramel popcorn and Strawberry Shortcake and coconut incredible yum what an incredible incredible experience more than a meal it's seriously an experience one of the best desserts that I've ever had at any restaurant in the world uh definitely check out konobu the information for it will be down in the description box a kaiseki is something you must try when visiting Kyoto and also huge thank you to Japan Wonder travel the best tour company in Japan if you're visiting Japan uh make sure you check them out they have awesome tours food tours around the country and also thank you to the Kyoto newspaper for helping us set up the uh experience here at kobu and huge thank you to you for watching make sure if you haven't already subscribe hit the Bell icon so you're notified when I post the next one and I'll see you guys on the next episode chop travel bye

Channel: Luke Martin

Views: 133,291

Keywords: food, street food, japan, japanese, japanese food, japan food, japanese street food, japan street food, street food in japan, kyoto, kyoto food, kyoto travel, what to eat kyoto, kaiseki, luke martin, chopstick travel, chopsticks travel, chopstick travels, nishiki market, what to do kyoto, 24 hours of japanese foods, food guide kyoto, osaka, tokyo, travel japan, luke martin japan, kinobu

Id: n_jpsISu4ME

Length: 37min 18sec (2238 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 17 2023