Kyoto Food: Color and Scents from Kobo-san market

21st December 2008

These are the photos taken at Toji (東寺) Last monthly flea market of 2008. I sampled and tried many small snacks when browsing at Kobo-San flea-market today.

This stall sells steamed red bean paste bun – nothing special, it is just like any of the Chinese version.

Matcha pancake – Instead of the anko red bean paste, this is filled with Matcha paste. NICE!

Takoyaki – Squid balls like snacks at hawker stall at the street side or market. The balls themselves are quite doughy, inside there’s some squid usually a tentacle. benito flakes, aonori and a special thick soy-sauce like sauce. Some of them were rather raw but overall it is worth the try.

There were stalls selling this fish-ball like sticks which actually made of mochi, a rather common snacks in Kyoto which is quite popular among the locals. Also in the flea-market, one can find the kyoto style marinated vegetables or pickles or in Japanese Tsukemono (漬け物), sweetened black beans (kuromame 黒豆日本) and other sort of beans.

There were also plenty of stalls selling kyo yasai (京野菜) and a lot more stuff that I have not seen or heard before, all originated from Kyoto or Kansai region. It was a very interesting stroll in the market.

In short, the market is colourful despite of the wet and dull weather, the smell of the food, the scents of the pickles and the colourful ceramic, wagashi and used kimono brighten up the morning.