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Best Food in Kyoto

Kyoto is the former capital of Japan and hundreds of years of history have left it a great wealth of culinary culture like Kaiseki Cuisine, Yudofu, Matcha, Soba, and Kyo Tsukemono Kitano. Only in Kyoto, can you taste such authentic food. In addition, Kyoto also owns classic Japanese food like ramen of several tastes, delicate Sushi, and Wagashi.


6 Top Food Unique to or Especially Known in Kyoto

1. Kaiseki Cuisine

Kaiseki, the top cuisine in Kyoto, usually consists of 7 dishes: Sashimi, grilled food, fried food, simmered food, soup, rice, and dessert. Due to its principle – to make customers feel the change of season through dishes, Kaiseki Cuisine is featured by its changeable menu. The chief would always use seasonal vegetables, fish, or seafood to cook a delicious meal for customers. You can taste different dishes in different months, like the fresh bamboo shoot in April, peas in May, honmoroko fish from Lake Biwa in July, and Tricholoma matsutake in autumn.

2. Yudofu

Japan has several hundred years of history to eat Yudofu, and Kyoto’s Yudofu is especially known for its underground water of high-quality. The most regular way to cook Yudofu is by simmering it in kombu soup. While eating, dip Yudofu into soy sauce or mustard and then sip the kombu soup. Many Kyoto people would brush a layer of sauce. In addition, the grilled Yudofu is also delicious for the crispy Yudofu texture matched with a layer of sauce of sesame and Kudzu root. The greasiness of sesame would be balanced by the vegetable aroma of Kudzu root and Yudofu.
Chefs are Preparing Food for Customers
Yudofu Restaurant

3. Matcha & Matcha Dessert

Matcha Dessert
Matcha Dessert

Uji, Kyoto is the home to the best Matcha in Japan. Drinking a cup of pure Matcha tea, you can taste the bitterness with a hint of sweetness and smell the fragrance of plants. Also, Kyoto people unleash their imagination about matcha desserts to the extreme: matcha ice cream, jelly, babakua, and match parfait. Among them, matcha parfait can’t be missed as it combines the above matcha food. Its bitter taste of match would naturalize the sweetness of sugar.

4. Kyo Tsukemono Kitano

Kyo Tsukemono Kitano is a kind of pickle. People usually choose local vegetables, including white radish, eggplant, and pumpkin, to marinate in salt, sugar, or sauce. The marinated vegetables maintain the aroma of vegetables and absorb the salty taste of the sauce, thus very delicious. As a dispensable appetizer in many Japanese cuisines, Kyo Tsukemono Kitano would be cut into thin pieces while eating.

5. Soba

Compared with Udon and Ramen, Soba is preferred by more people in Kyoto. The noodle is made by buckwheat, thus healthy for your health. To add unique tastes, some restaurants sell soba with matcha, sesame, and sea sedge added. Generally, there are three different sobas: cold soba, hot soup soba, and cold sauce soba. They have different dishes. For example, hot soup is usually matched with long onions and chills; while cold sauce soba with Cucumber, shredded egg, and seafood.

Hot Soup Soba with Several Dishes
Soba

Customers in a Japanese Restaurant
Japanese Restaurant


6. Shojin Ryori Cuisine - Vegetarian Cuisine for Monks

Apart from Kaiseki Cuisine, Kyoto is also famous for Shojin Ryori Cuisine, which is suitable for vegetarians. The Cuisine was for Buddha monks in the past and now acceptable among common people. It usually consists of todu, seasonal vegetables, and sea sedge, without any fish, meat, or onions. A qualified cuisine works to satisfy your tongue tip by 5 flavors: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, fresh.

Other Delicious Food in Kyoto

1. Sushi

Sushi, a world-famous food, should also be tried while you are in Kyoto. In Kyoto, Mackerel Sushi, also called Saba Sushi is very popular. The marinated Mackerel smells good after being soaked into vinegar. In addition, the added kombu in Sushi enriches its tastes.

Chefs are Making Sushi
Sushi Restaurant

A Piece of Sushi with Sauce
Sushi

2. Ramen

Ramen is one kind of chewy noodle loved by most Japanese people. The classic taste in Kyoto is one ramen whose soup is cooked by boiling chicken bone, seafood, and fish.

A Bowl of Soup Ramen with Onions
Ramen

Hitsumabushi of Kansai Style
Hitsumabushi

3. Hitsumabushi

Like Ramen, Hitsumabushi is another popular street food in Japan. In Kyoto, you can taste classic Kansai style Hitsumabushi: eels are grilled above fire without being steamed, which makes eels taste chewy, and crispy outside but soft inside.


4. Wagashi

Wagashi, a traditional Japanese dessert, is usually cooked with glutinous rice flour, sugar, and red bean paste. Common types of Wagashi are Manju, Sakuramochi, Monaka, which may have different pastes including chestnut paste, green pea paste, and red bean paste.