Nishiki-Koji food market and kaiseki in Kyoto

NB. Photos and edits in purple added 04/06/07

KYOTO day trip from OSAKA: As our day in Kyoto drew to an end, we made a quick visit to Nishiki-Koji food market before dinner, a covered alleyway of pickles, fish, freshly shaved bonito flakes, newly harvested rice, bags of eggs, barrels of green tea and plenty of locals passing through.


Octopus tentacles


Pickles


Pickled daikon


Baby squid


Freshly shaved bonito flakes

The smell from the fresh bonito flakes was incredible. They smelt of intense dashi broth, salty and fishy and of the sea. The deep dusty pink colour was also rather special.


Pumpkins


Pickle samples

The usual Japanese etiquette for pickle sampling is to use the tongs to place the pickles on your palm, eat and then wipe your palm on the wet teatowel provided.


Fish cakes


Snacks on skewers


More pickles


Tempura


New season rice


Sea snails


Dried fish


Potato noodles
(using the wooden noodle pressing tool just like on Iron Chef!)


Oysters

We treated ourselves to a kaiseki dinner at Tagoto Meigetsuan, a restaurant kindly recommended by Cass yesterday (thanks! that was perfect timing!).


Tagoto Meigetsuan

We feasted on 10 courses of seasonally selected dishes for 8,400 yen. We started with an amazing mouthful that was white and creamy and fatty. This was fish stomach, we later discovered. It was so very good.


Course 1 Hassun: Fish stomach in a yuzu vinegar dressing;
the silver vessel contains chilled umeshu plum wine

Highlights included plenty of suzuki, also known as Japanese sea bass, a sweet white fish with firm but moist flesh. There was sashimi, a beautiful parcel of fish sushi wrapped exquisitely in bamboo leaf and tied up like a mandolin, a starchy sticky lily bean jam bun and a selection of Japanese spring vegetables in a light tempura that included a mild green chilli, angelica spear and butter bur sprouts. The angelic spear was a tendril from a fern, sweet and delicious with a slightly nutty taste. The butter bur sprouts were round balls of green that were quite bitter and almost medicinal. Both have fleeting seasonal availability.


Course 2 Owan: Suzuki (Japanese sea bass) in consomme


Suzuki (Japanese sea bass) flipped to show the skin


Course 3: Sashimi


Course 4: (left) baby leek shreds with salmon roe;
(middle) bamboo parcel;
(right) octopus, broad bean, prawn and salted fish


Unwrapped bamboo parcel of fish


Broad bean, octopus, prawn and salted fish


Course 5 Yakimono: Suzuki (Japanese sea bass) with ginger bud


Course 6 Mushimono: Lily bean dumpling with jam


Lily bean dumpling


Course 7 Tempura: Japanese spring vegetables of
green chilli pepper, butter burr sprout and
Japanese angelica spear


Course 8: Firefly squid with broccoli and mountain yam


Course 9: Soup, pickles and rice


Course 10: Dessert
(L-R) Butter bur sprout ice cream, grapefruit jelly
and fresh mochi

Dessert was a trio of treats. There was super fresh mochi, soft and cool on the throat, and dusted with roasted rice powder. In the middle of our ice cold platter was a segment of bitter grapefruit jelly, set in the rind of a real grapefruit. On the left was a small scoop of pale green ice cream made from the butter bur sprouts. This was a little bitter but quite addictive really.

"It tastes like a plant should", I said to Veruca. "Maybe it reminds me of the sap from grass or daffodils that you used to taste with hesitation when you were little because you were sitting on the grass and bored."



A quick trip on the shinkansen and we returned to Osaka. Somehow enough time had elapsed for us to generate an appetite for crepes. These are everywhere, cooked fresh on the spot, filled with your selection of fruit and ice cream, then squiggled over with tonnes of fake cream before being twisted round into a cone shape and wrapped tightly in coloured paper.


Crepe Ojisan


Crepe menu


Crepe maker


Triple crepe power
(left) Ice strawberry and banana 400 yen
(middle) Rare cheese, strawberry and pie 400 yen
(right) Strawberry and custard 400 yen


Strawberry and custard crepe 400 yen

I had the rare cheese, strawberry and pie crepe. The "rare cheese" tastes like a lightly whipped cream cheese, reminding you of a light ricotta cheesecake. The cheese is spread over the crepe, drizzled with strawberry syrup and then spooned over with crumbled shards of golden baked pastry (the "pie", one presumes). The oiliness of the fake cream sends a small shudder down my spine, but when you're standing on a street in Osaka, crepe in one hand and cream all around your lips, there's nothing more you can do than break into one great big happy smile.

Tagoto Meigetsuan
Shijyo-agaru Yanaginobamba Nakagyo-ku
Kyoto, Japan
Tel: +81 (075) 212 8811

Nearest subway: Karasuma-line Shijyo station
Nearest train: Hankyu train Karasuma station exit #13