Nishiki Market & Tendon Makino Kyoto Teramachi

Known to locals as “Kyoto’s pantry”, Nishiki Market is Kyoto’s largest traditional food market, famous for its fresh produce and speciality ingredients. Nishiki’s charm is in its immediacy. Originally, opened in the 14th-century as a fish market, there are a few hundred shops, some no bigger than a kitchen, crammed into the long, narrow cavern, which runs parallel to Shijo-dori. The two streets are like chalk and cheese. Where Shijo-dori is lined with luxury stores, banks and chain shops, Nishiki is all hustle and bustle. Competition for your senses is everywhere. The air is filled with the smell of fresh fish, pickled vegetables, roasted chestnuts, ground sesame and tofu doughnuts, as well as cries from the workers pounding mochi. Nishiki is where you’ll find everything that goes into washoku — Japanese cuisine — on display such as tsukemono (Japanese pickles), fresh tofu, Kyo-yasai (Kyoto vegetables), wagashi (Japanese sweets), tea, and fresh fish and shellfish. Some shops sell takeaway food such as skewers of yakitori, fresh sashimi and the iconic skewers of baby octopus, plus a tantalizing selection of restaurants found amid the shops like the popular Tendon Makino Kyoto Teramachi which specialize in bowls of hot crunchy freshly made tempura served on rice, known as 'tendon' with portions so big the lid just won't fit on top.

The bustling centuries-old covered Nishiki Market in the heart of Kyoto

Enormous palm-sized Japanese Miyagi oysters 

Large Japanese Tsubu-gai or weeks

Ready to eat skewers of freshly grilled scallops, octopus and squid

Nishiki's iconic grilled baby octopus stuffed with a quail's egg

Many shops sell takeaway food such as skewers of yakitori and fresh sashimi 

Fresh Japanese chestnuts

Branches of fresh edamame

Traditional Japanese dried vegetables and seaweed

Nara Zuke traditional Japanese pickled gourd pickled prepared in a mixture of sake lees and mirin 

Fresh hot peanuts sold by the bag

Japanese food stall with fried chicken Kaarage and Ika Shoga-yaki for nibbling on-the-go

How could we resist these hot fresh vegetable gyoza

Nishiki's famous Aritsugu knife and kitchenware shop is generally full of 

professional chefs and gourmands 

The popular Tendon Makino Kyoto Teramachi at Nishiki Market,

which specializes in tempura

There's always a lineup outside this iconic tempura restaurant,

and guests need to write down their name and tempura order before they are seated

The outdoor Tendon Makino Kyoto Teramachi menu

Chef prepare the pre-ordered tempura immediately but only once the diners are seated

Famous for their lighter than air tempura, generous portions and reasonable prices, 

there's a lineup all day long

Japanese Black Soybean Tea

Ice cold glass of Kirin Beer

Asari-no Sakamushi which is a soup of Japanese Littleneck clams steamed in sake

Makino’s most popular dish - Tendon-ro - with conger eel, wild shrimp, squid and clam kakiage, egg, nori, maitake mushrooms and shishito green pepper tempura

The egg tempura is still runny because each order is made only after the chefs get the order, 

for the freshest tempura